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A music‑reward localizer: using fMRI to identify neural responses to musical pleasure

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Vasiliki Provias¹ (), Stephanie Yandun‑Oyola¹, Atlas Robinson¹, Anna Palumbo¹, Ellie Bean Abrams¹, Pablo Ripollés¹; ¹New York University

Pleasurable music engages the brain’s reward network, offering a unique window into the neural basis of abstract reward. Characterizing how this network responds to music is key to developing brain-based markers of its therapeutic potential. However, no validated fMRI localizer currently exists to functionally define these music reward-related regions, limiting the development of objective biomarkers for music-based interventions. This study aimed to develop an fMRI localizer that reliably captures neural activity associated with musical pleasure. Twenty participants underwent fMRI while listening to self-selected pleasurable and emotionally neutral musical excerpts (i.e., elevator music). The paradigm consisted of three runs of four randomized trials, each comprising a 60-s excerpt followed by a 30-s rest period. Behavioral ratings of musical pleasure and physiological measures (electrodermal activity and heart rate) were collected concurrently. Functional data were preprocessed in SPM12. The primary contrast of interest was pleasurable vs. neutral music. Second-level random-effects analyses were conducted using contrast images from each participant. Significant activation was observed in the right ventral striatum and bilaterally in the midbrain (substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area) for pleasurable compared with neutral music, corrected for multiple comparisons using small-volume FWE (p < 0.05). This localizer identifies neural activity within key regions of the reward network implicated in musical pleasure and may provide a biomarker of music- and reward-related brain function, supporting its application in music-based interventions.

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Audition