The Role Of Superior Temporal Gyrus In Reward Processing Of Sad Music:Evidence From FMRI And TDCS Studies

How does sad music become enjoyable on neural level still needs to be clarified.In the current research,we aimed to explore the neural basis of enjoying sad music in two studies,by using functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI)and transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS),respectively.In the first study,a parametric functional neuroimaging design was applied to investigate the neural correlates of musical pleasantness varied gradually from low to high.Participants listened to several music pieces and rated how pleasurable they sounded in real time.Activities in bilateral superior temporal gyrus(STG)but not ventral striatum,were correlated with music pleasantness,although activities in ventral striatum were observed in comparison between music listening and silence.Ventral striatum still impacted music pleasantness processing through its functional connectivity with left STG.Right STG was functionally connected with dorsal striatum and anterior cingulate gyrus as well.In the second study,transcranial direct current stimulation was used to up regulate or down regulate the excitability over right STG,observed in first study.Participants were stimulated and then listened to several music pieces.They rated pleasantness,experienced pleasure,emotional arousal,familiarity,emotion valence of each music piece and how much they wanted to hear it again.The result showed that the stimulation selectively modulated the pleasure derived from sad music and the degree participants wanted to repeat the sad music.Previous results showed a causal relationship between excitability of STG and the reward value of sad music but not happy music.Thus STG plays an important role in enjoying sad music.