why do some people love music – and others don't
Think of your favorite piece of music to get a sense of why some individuals love music and others don't. When the music swells or the chorus begins, do you get shivers? Or are the first few bars enough to send shivers down your spine? Although having no clear survival utility, listening to music can be a tremendously pleasurable activity. It's one of the most enjoyable pastimes that individuals participate in. However, in a study published today in Current Biology, Spanish and Canadian researchers describe a category of people known as "music anhedonic," or people who don't like music. This is a fascinating phenomenon that we believe is quite rare. Importantly, these people are not "amusic," a condition caused by impairment to regions of the brain essential to sense or interpret music, which can be acquired or hereditary. The "music anhedonic" in this study has the same perception of music as the rest. They aren't folks who ...