Need a Scientific Reason to Dislike Beyonce? Turns Out Music Isn't For Everyone
Musical anhedonia describes people who get no emotional rush from listening to an uplifting melody or a motivating beat. (Getty Images)
Music has always been an important part of our culture - breaking though barriers, classes and cultures. But a new study published today in Current Biology has found that the long held idea that everyone likes some kind of music is not true.
It turns out some people don't enjoy music very much, no matter how much Beyonce you play.
Researchers from Spain and Canada found a select group of people that get little or no enjoyment from music. These people have "musical anhedonia," which means they get no rush from listening to music and likely won't shed a single tear while listening to a new Adele ballad.
The researchers performed two experiments on the group - one with money and another with music and measured their emotional responses. While 20 of the 30 subjects had some kind of emotional response to the music, measured by changes in skin conductance and heart rate, 10 of the subjects had significantly reduced response to the music.
But in case you think they're just robots, the same subjects showed a emotional response in the experiment that involved money. Appears they are human after all.