Researchers from the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona (UBneuro) have published a comprehensive review in the prestigious journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, shedding new light on why some people experience little or no pleasure from music. The article has been included in the February 2026 issue of the journal.
The review, led by UBneuro researchers Ernest Mas-Herrero and Josep Marco-Pallarés, examines the brain mechanisms underlying specific musical anhedonia, a condition affecting a small subset of the population who do not find music rewarding, despite having normal hearing and intact responses to other pleasurable experiences. Drawing on more than a decade of research, the authors propose a unifying framework to understand how music engages the brain’s reward system, and why this process can fail in some individuals.
A disconnection between hearing and reward
Previous work by the same research team first identified specific musical anhedonia as a distinct phenomenon. In this new review, the authors synthesize behavioral, neuroimaging, and genetic evidence showing that the condition arises not from deficits in music perception or a malfunctioning reward system, but from reduced communication between auditory regions of the brain and reward-related circuits.
“A similar mechanism could underlie individual differences in responses to other rewarding stimuli,” says Josep Marco-Pallarés. “Investigating these circuits could pave the way for new research on individual differences and reward-related disorders such as anhedonia, addiction, or eating disorders.”
Brain imaging studies reviewed in the article show that people with musical anhedonia process musical sounds normally at the auditory level, yet exhibit reduced activation of the brain’s reward circuit when listening to music. In contrast, their reward responses to non-musical stimuli, such as monetary gains, remain intact. This pattern points to a selective disruption in how musical information accesses reward-related brain systems.
“This lack of pleasure for music is explained by disconnectivity between the reward circuit and the auditory network, not by the functioning of their reward circuit per se,” says Marco-Pallarés.
Measuring musical pleasure
A key contribution highlighted in the review is the development of the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ), a tool created by the UBneuro team to quantify how rewarding individuals find music. The questionnaire captures multiple dimensions of musical reward, including emotional responses, mood regulation, social bonding, movement, and the motivation to seek out music.
Studies using the BMRQ have revealed substantial variability in musical reward sensitivity within the general population, with most people showing high sensitivity, a small group showing unusually strong responses, and approximately 10% exhibiting very low sensitivity consistent with musical anhedonia.
Implications beyond music
Beyond music, the authors argue that their findings have broader implications for understanding how pleasure is generated in the brain. Rather than viewing reward sensitivity as a single, global trait, the review proposes that enjoyment of specific stimuli depends on how effectively sensory or cognitive systems interact with reward-related circuits.
“If the reward circuit is not working well, you get less pleasure from all kinds of rewards,” says Ernest Mas-Herrero. “Here, what we point out is that it might be not only the engagement of this circuitry that is important, but also how it interacts with other brain regions that are relevant for the processing of each reward type.”
This framework could help explain why some individuals show selective reductions or enhancements in pleasure for particular stimuli, such as food, social interaction, or art, while remaining otherwise healthy.
Future directions
The review also discusses emerging evidence suggesting a genetic contribution to musical reward sensitivity, with recent twin studies indicating that genetic factors may account for more than half of the variability in how much people enjoy music. Ongoing work by the UBneuro team aims to identify specific genes involved and to determine whether musical anhedonia is a stable trait or can change across the lifespan.
By integrating findings from neuroscience, psychology, and genetics, the authors highlight music as a powerful model for studying individual differences in reward processing, with potential relevance for mental health conditions involving altered pleasure and motivation.
