A functional localizer for music reward

Music is a powerful source of pleasure that engages dopaminergic reward circuitry, and increasing evidence suggests that music-based interventions support post-stroke mental health recovery through plasticity in these regions. However, no validated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) localizer currently exists to identify music-specific reward activity. Such a tool would enable tracking of therapeutic effects by quantifying functional activation and connectivity within the auditory-reward network. The present study introduces an fMRI localizer designed to isolate neural responses to musical pleasure. Twenty participants (N=22) listened to self-selected pleasurable music and neutral control (elevator) music while undergoing fMRI. Participants provided continuous and retrospective ratings of subjective pleasure and familiarity. Concurrent electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate were recorded. Self-selected music elicited significantly greater overall pleasure ratings, overall familiarity, EDA, and heart rate relative to control music. Neuroimaging results revealed significant activation in core reward-related regions, including the right ventral striatum, midbrain, anterior insula, STG, and right OFC during rewarding relative to control music. PPI analysis further demonstrated greater auditory cortex-ventral striatum functional connectivity during rewarding music listening. In contrast, control music preferentially engaged the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), posterior insula, and left STG, as compared to rewarding music. Together, these findings provide behavioral, physiological, and neural evidence that this localizer task reliably engages music reward circuitry. This localizer offers a brain-based, objective approach for mapping individual music reward responses and for tracking the therapeutic response and efficacy of music-based interventions.