音乐对我们的重要性，小编在此自不用赘言。但你知道到底是什么让我们对音乐产生共鸣呢？科学家发现大脑里的多巴胺分子解释了音乐影响人类情绪的原因。
Did Pavarotti finishing Nessun Dorma give you chills? If so, you can thank the molecule dopamine for those shudders of delight. Because a new study shows that musical thrills stem from the same brain chemistry responsible for the joys of food, sex and other more tangible rewards. The work appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Many of the activities that give us pleasure are things that we, as a species, need to survive, like the aforementioned eating and mating. But what about more esoteric enjoyment, from evocative music or other works of art? Do they tickle the brain the same way?
Two women volunteered to watch sad movies and have their tears collected. Twenty-four men were then asked to sniff the movie tears or a saline solution. The men noted no particular smell in either sample of salty water. But the men’s own body chemistry could tell the difference.
To find out, scientists recruited subjects who reliably gets shivers when they listen to an affecting score. These chills are a more consistent, in-the-moment measure of pleasure than asking subjects to describe what they’re feeling.
The scientists then used brain imaging techniques to find that dopamine peaks along with emotional arousal. Such induced dopamine release could explain why people put a high value on some music. And why music can manipulate our emotions.
聆听帕瓦罗蒂演绎的咏叹调《今夜无人入睡》会不会令你激动得起鸡皮疙瘩？若真如此，你应该感谢那些让你因欢喜而颤栗的多巴胺分子。因为，《自然神经科学》上刊登的一项新研究表明，音乐引起的激动跟食物、性及其它实物回报所引起的快乐一样来源于大脑里的同一种化学反应。
研究人员知道老鼠眼泪中含有的信息激素会给其他老鼠传递信息。因此，他们在人类的眼泪中也寻找着类似的信号。
许多给予我们快乐的活动都是我们作为一个物种需要生存下去所做的事情，例如前面提到的饮食和交配。而对于更深层次的享受，从动人的音乐到其它领域的艺术欣赏，它们令大脑产生愉悦感觉的方式也是如此吗？
为找到答案，科学家们征募了一些志愿者，他们一听到感人的乐章就会颤栗。同让志愿者描述其感受相比，这些颤抖所反映出的快乐更为持续一致、即时即刻。
随后，科学家们利用脑成像技术发现多巴胺随着情绪唤起而到达峰值。这种诱发起的多巴胺的释放解释了为什么人们对某些音乐评价极高，以及为何音乐可以影响我们的情绪。