Why your body moves to music even if you don’t enjoy it

Music has a profound effect on human emotions. Some people experience deep joy from listening to a favorite song, while others remain indifferent. However, one response seems universal – the instinct to move to a beat.

A new study led by Concordia University researchers reveals that the urge to move to music exists independently of musical enjoyment.

This discovery challenges the assumption that pleasure and movement are always connected in musical experiences. The research focused on individuals with musical anhedonia, a condition where people do not feel joy from music.

Despite their lack of musical pleasure, they still exhibited a natural tendency to move to rhythm.

Movement without musical enjoyment

The study, led by PhD student Isaac Romkey, examined how people with musical anhedonia respond to rhythmic patterns. The researchers tested their reactions to over 50 short musical pieces, comparing them with individuals who enjoy music.

Participants with musical anhedonia were carefully selected. They had to experience pleasure from other activities like food or physical intimacy. This ensured that their lack of response to music was not part of a broader emotional or neurological issue.

Additionally, they had to show normal pitch and rhythm perception and could not have depression, which might affect their emotional responses.

After listening to each piece, participants rated both their level of enjoyment and how much they wanted to move. The researchers expected those with anhedonia to report less pleasure but still feel the natural urge to move to groovy music.

Unexpected findings in groove response

Romkey and his team had a clear expectation based on previous research.

“Normally, we would expect to see an inverted U-shaped response to rhythmic complexity, meaning that we want to move to music that is of medium complex rhythms as opposed to music that is very simple or very complex,” said Romkey.

However, the results did not align with this prediction. People with musical anhedonia did not show lower groove responses than the control group.

Instead, their results suggested that movement itself could generate pleasure, even when the music was not inherently enjoyable to them.

For individuals with musical anhedonia, the instinct to move seemed to override their usual lack of enjoyment. This finding suggests that rhythm and movement play a more fundamental role in musical experiences than previously believed.

How the brain responds to rhythm

Music affects multiple areas of the brain. Romkey and his colleagues believe that the urge to move is linked to the dorsal striatum, a brain region involved in motor control.

Pleasure, on the other hand, is primarily associated with the ventral striatum, which is responsible for reward, motivation, and goal-directed behavior.

This distinction may explain why people with musical anhedonia still feel compelled to move to music. Even if their ventral striatum does not respond strongly to music, their dorsal striatum remains active, triggering movement and possibly generating pleasure through physical engagement.

Romkey and his team are now working to explore this connection further.

“For future studies, we are going to look at differences in functional and structural connectivity in the brain between anhedonics and controls in the dorsal and ventral striatum using imaging techniques including MRI and magnetoencephalography,” he said.

Some are less likely to move to music

The reasons behind musical anhedonia remain largely unknown, but evidence suggests a genetic component. Some people may be born with differences in how their brain processes musical pleasure.

The fact that these individuals still respond to rhythm with movement suggests that the ability to groove is deeply ingrained in human biology.

This research could lead to a better understanding of why music is such a universal aspect of human culture. Even for those who do not experience musical pleasure in the typical sense, rhythm remains a powerful force that influences physical behavior.

Expanding research on musical response

Romkey’s study opens the door for further research on how movement and music interact. His team, which includes researchers from Concordia University and Aarhus University, plans to expand their work using advanced brain imaging methods.

By studying the brain’s response to rhythm and movement, they hope to uncover more about how music affects people on a neurological level. The findings could have implications beyond music, potentially influencing research on movement disorders, therapy, and human social interactions.

This study highlights the complexity of musical experience. Even those who do not feel pleasure from music still engage with it physically – revealing how deeply rhythm is embedded in the human mind and body.

The study is published in the journal PLOS One.

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