My friend Robert sent me a link to a great article on how music affects the brain in the New York Times. It’s well worth the read should you be as interested in the subject as I am. What it […]
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http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/dopamine-anyone/10839/
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What I wonder is that if music releases dopamine, would listening on high end system as opoosed to a traditional one release more dopamine?
Also what about the brain of we audiophiles? Is it possible that our auditory centers are wired to receive more pleasure from music than the average person? I mean there has to be something about our “reward system” that prompts us to spend more on a power cord than most people spend on their entire music playback system.
emailists said: . . . would listening on high end system as opoosed to a traditional one release more dopamine?
Only if that particular listener prefers a high end system to a non-high end.
I know many musicians who listen with great enjoyment to very modest systems and cannot fathom why anyone would spend more than $50 - $100 or so for a play back system. They find my setups only of passing interest. The money involved is as interesting to them as the sound.
emailists said: what about the brain of we audiophiles? Is it possible that our auditory centers are wired to receive more pleasure from music than the average person?
No. We have simply decided that audiophile systems make for an amusing way to waste time and money.
I can say for me the hightened drama of hearing on a resolving system is so much more involving. Our systems are much more capable of reproducing a larger percentage of the compressions and rarifactions that happened in the room during the original event.
In the same manner that watching on a large projection (I don’t even have flatscreen tv - just projectors doing as large as a 15 foot image.) When you get that large it envelopes the peripheral vision and characters are life size or larger. It’s a different experience than watching on a small screen.
In that sense high end is like large screen projection in it’s immersive quality.
However, the best projection will still never fool you into thinking what’s in front of you is live.
High end audio can do that trick with the right version of the right recording, and it’s thrilling when it happens.
euphonite said: emailists said: if music releases dopamine, would listening on high end system as opoosed to a traditional one release more dopamine?
Let's not forget that it is OUR own perception of pleasure that triggers the reward called dopamine.
This is why even the ANTICIPATION of the event or substance will trigger the production.
So if a great song comes on the car radio, I could be equally "rewarded" as a session in Paul's new listening room.
It is all in my head.
Let's look a bit further and consider what life and our governing decisions would be like with a steady flow of dopamine. I don't mean to the point of intoxication but it would seem that "things" are nicer during those enhanced moments and this is why we like creating them.
We also produce dopamine when something unpleasant ceases to occur and this is why we feel the "relief" that comes with it.
So if doing things that produce dopamine is rewarded with enhanced feelings of happiness, then, there may be a "middle" state where our "thinking and perceptions" produce just enough to keep a grin on our faces.
And maybe "Enjoy The Music".
Gordon said: Let's not forget that it is OUR own perception of pleasure that triggers the reward called dopamine.
Exactly. If owning and using a high end system provides pleasure for you, it produces dopamine. The majority of music lovers do not feel this way and find other things and experiences of greater interest.
Gordon said: . . . even the ANTICIPATION of the event or substance will trigger the production.
Fascinatingly, we typically derive more pleasure from anticipation than the event itself. For example, studies demonstrate people get more pleasure out of anticipating a vacation than the vacation itself.
emailists said: In the same manner that watching on a large projection (I don't even have flatscreen tv - just projectors doing as large as a 15 foot image.) When you get that large it envelopes the peripheral vision and characters are life size or larger.
Home theater is a good analogy. I could care less if a movie is bigger, louder, etc. It adds nothing for me. In fact, it is often annoying and distracting. If it is a good movie, it is a good movie - a rare thing. The equipment adds nothing. This is as it is for many when it comes to a high end audio system.
Elk said: Fascinatingly, we typically derive more pleasure from anticipation than the event itself. For example, studies demonstrate people get more pleasure out of anticipating a vacation than the vacation itself.
You just lit the candles on the cake.
This "anticipation" happens all day long and in everything that we do.
It is based on our past experiences and mixed with our hopes and expectations of the future.
Neither of which really exist in the present moment.
So how can we then objectively accept and enjoy the present if our perceptions are continually burdened with yesterday and tomorrow? Our "evolved" minds are well trained to compare "Y" and "T" as benchmarks and I suppose that this is why "blind testing" is a practiced trick to fool our minds into dealing only with the present?
It still does not work that well, does it? This is because we already know it is a trick and we still work hard at remembering our benchmarks.
When we get totally "lost" in a performance the benchmarks are overcome by the enjoyment and the dope just flows naturally.
The equipment indeed does not add much. On the contrary, it subtracts. And the better the equipment, the less it subtracts. At least this is my criteria for "better".
Human brain is a good "extrapolator", but the more you "subtract", the more work your brain should perform. And the more experienced you are, the more "damaged" signal you can "recover". E.g. musicians can read sheet music, they do not need an audio system at all. Think of Beethoven, for example ;)