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. 2022 Aug;1514(1):142-154.
doi: 10.1111/nyas.14790. Epub 2022 May 19.

The forgotten role of absorption in music reward

Gemma Cardona  1   2 , Laura Ferreri  3   4 , Urbano Lorenzo-Seva  5 , Frank A Russo  6 , Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells  1   2   7
Affiliations

The forgotten role of absorption in music reward

Gemma Cardona et al. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Interindividual differences in music-related reward have been characterized as involving five main facets: musical seeking, emotion evocation, mood regulation, social reward, and sensory-motor. An interesting concept related to how humans decode music as a rewarding experience is music transcendence or absorption (i.e., music-driven states of complete immersion, including momentary loss of self-consciousness or even time-space disorientation). Here, we investigated the relation between previously characterized facets of music reward and individual differences in music absorption. A first sample of participants (N = 370) completed both the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ) and the Absorption in Music Scale (AIMS). Results showed that both constructs were highly interrelated (r = 0.78, p < 0.001), indicating that higher music reward sensitivity is associated with a greater tendency to music-related absorption states. In addition, four items from the AIMS were identified as suitable to be added to an extended version of the BMRQ (eBMRQ). A second sample (N = 550) completed the eBMRQ for a validation study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on the whole sample (N = 920) showed the reliable psychometric properties of the eBMRQ and suggested that taking into account an absorption facet could contribute to a better characterization of individual differences in the sensitivity to experience music-related reward and pleasure.

Keywords: absorption; music; reward; transcendence.

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References

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