Musical Thrills Are Explained as a Rush of Dopamine to the Brain

Those delicious chills you get as your favorite piece of music reaches its climax? They're the result of a glorious spike of dopamine in your brain--that's the same neurotransmitter that's involved in reward, motivation, and addiction. In a nifty series of experiments published in Nature Neuroscience, researchers determined that music provokes floods of dopamine in music lovers. Study coauthor Valorie Salimpoor notes that dopamine has long been known to play a role in more physical activities like taking drugs and having sex, but this research highlights its role in other aspects of our lives.