Changes in music-evoked emotion and ventral striatal functional connectivity after psilocybin therapy for depression
In patients with treatment-resistant depression, two-dose psilocybin therapy increased music-evoked pleasure that correlated with reductions in anhedonia and produced a post‑treatment decrease in nucleus accumbens functional connectivity with default mode network‑like regions during music listening, suggesting a neural mechanism for enhanced musical reward.
Authors
- Robin Carhart-Harris
- David Nutt
- Leor Roseman
Published
Abstract
Background
Music listening is a staple and valued component of psychedelic therapy, and previous work has shown that psychedelics can acutely enhance music-evoked emotion.
Aims
The present study sought to examine subjective responses to music before and after psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression, while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data was acquired.
Methods
Nineteen patients with treatment-resistant depression received a low oral dose (10 mg) of psilocybin, and a high dose (25 mg) 1 week later. fMRI was performed 1 week prior to the first dosing session and 1 day after the second. Two scans were conducted on each day: one with music and one without. Visual analogue scale ratings of music-evoked ‘pleasure’ plus ratings of other evoked emotions (21-item Geneva Emotional Music Scale) were completed after each scan. Given its role in musical reward, the nucleus accumbens (NAc) was chosen as region of interest for functional connectivity (FC) analyses. Effects of drug (vs placebo) and music (vs no music) on subjective and FC outcomes were assessed. Anhedonia symptoms were assessed pre- and post-treatment (Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale).
Results
Results revealed a significant increase in music-evoked emotion following treatment with psilocybin that correlated with post-treatment reductions in anhedonia. A post-treatment reduction in NAc FC with areas resembling the default mode network was observed during music listening (vs no music).
Conclusion
These results are consistent with current thinking on the role of psychedelics in enhancing music-evoked pleasure and provide some new insight into correlative brain mechanisms.
Research Summary of 'Changes in music-evoked emotion and ventral striatal functional connectivity after psilocybin therapy for depression'
Introduction
Music listening engages mesolimbic and limbic circuits involved in reward and emotion, with the ventral striatum (VS) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) particularly implicated in musical reward and music-induced physiological responses. Earlier work has linked reduced music-evoked pleasure and altered VS functional connectivity (FC) to trait anhedonia, a core feature of depression. Psychedelic therapy with serotonergic compounds such as psilocybin is often delivered in a setting that uses playlists to promote inward-focused emotional processing; previous studies report that psychedelics can acutely amplify music-evoked emotionality, and that the default mode network (DMN) — a set of cortical regions involved in internally generated thought — is altered during the psychedelic state and after psilocybin treatment for depression. Shukuroglou and colleagues set out to test whether psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression would change subjective music-evoked emotion and NAc (ventral striatal) functional connectivity during music listening. The study examined patients before and after a two-dose psilocybin regimen, combining visual analogue and validated music-emotion scales with fMRI to probe whether changes in music-evoked pleasure related to changes in anhedonia and to alterations in NAc connectivity with regions resembling the DMN.
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Study Details
- Study Typeindividual
- Journal
- Compound
- Topics
- Authors
- APA Citation
Shukuroglou, M., Roseman, L., Wall, M., Nutt, D., Kaelen, M., & Carhart-Harris, R. (2023). Changes in music-evoked emotion and ventral striatal functional connectivity after psilocybin therapy for depression. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 37(1), 70-79. https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811221125354
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Mertens, L. J., Wall, M. B., Roseman, L. et al. · Journal of Psychopharmacology (2020)
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Cited By (3)
Papers in Blossom that reference this study
Harding, R., Singer, N., Wall, M. B. et al. · Molecular Psychiatry (2025)
Weiss, B., Leor Roseman, •., Giribaldi, B. et al. · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction (2024)
Zafar, R., Siegel, M., Harding, R. et al. · Frontiers in Psychiatry (2023)
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