Pleasurable emotional response to music: A case of neurodegenerative generalized auditory agnosia

Authors: Matthews, Brandy¹; Chang, Chiung-Chih²; De May, Mary²; Engstrom, John²; Miller, Bruce²

Source: Neurocase, Volume 15, Number 3, June 2009 , pp. 248-259(12)

Publisher: Psychology Press, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $50.43 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Recent functional neuroimaging studies implicate the network of mesolimbic structures known to be active in reward processing as the neural substrate of pleasure associated with listening to music. Psychoacoustic and lesion studies suggest that there is a widely distributed cortical network involved in processing discreet musical variables. Here we present the case of a young man with auditory agnosia as the consequence of cortical neurodegeneration who continues to experience pleasure when exposed to music. In a series of musical tasks, the subject was unable to accurately identify any of the perceptual components of music beyond simple pitch discrimination, including musical variables known to impact the perception of affect. The subject subsequently misidentified the musical character of personally familiar tunes presented experimentally, but continued to report that the activity of 'listening' to specific musical genres was an emotionally rewarding experience. The implications of this case for the evolving understanding of music perception, music misperception, music memory, and music-associated emotion are discussed.

Keywords: Auditory agnosia; Neurodegeneration; Emotion; Music; Musical hallucinations

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13554790802632934

Affiliations: 1: Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine, IN, USA 2: Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA

Publication date: 2009-06-01