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Abstract
Music has been present in all human cultures since prehistory [1, 2], although it
is not associated with any apparent biological advantages (such as food, sex, etc.)
or utility value (such as money). Nevertheless, music is ranked among the highest
sources of pleasure [3], and its important role in our society and culture has led
to the assumption that the ability of music to induce pleasure is universal. However,
this assumption has never been empirically tested. In the present report, we identified
a group of healthy individuals without depression or generalized anhedonia who showed
reduced behavioral pleasure ratings and no autonomic responses to pleasurable music,
despite having normal musical perception capacities. These persons showed preserved
behavioral and physiological responses to monetary reward, indicating that the low
sensitivity to music was not due to a global hypofunction of the reward network. These
results point to the existence of specific musical anhedonia and suggest that there
may be individual differences in access to the reward system.