Music-to My Brain: Modulation of Reward System Activity via Musical Neurofeedback

N. Singer, A. Rabinowitz, Y. Koryto-Blumen, Y. Hamrani, M. Farres-Franch, M. Doron, N. Dunsky, G. Gurevitch,
T. Hendler, A. Dagher, R.J Zatorre

bioRxiv 2026.05.04.718856; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.04.718856

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Research of a musical neurofeedback approach that enables individuals to control a validated, fMRI-informed biomarker of ventral striatal activity. Personalized pleasurable music served as feedback, becoming increasingly rewarding through acoustic manipulation as regulation improved, thereby creating a positive feedback loop.

Across three double-blind, sham-controlled studies (N=80; two with repeated training), neurofeedback enabled participants to upregulate this biomarker reflecting ventral striatal activity; in studies with repeated training, participants retained this ability even when feedback was removed.​

In the neurofeedback (but not sham) group, self-regulation success correlated with self-reported hedonic capacity, indicating behavioral relevance. Pre-post fMRI further showed that improvements in ventral striatal BOLD self-regulation were associated with EEG-based regulation performance, supporting the biomarker as a measure of ventral striatal modulation.

 

These findings reveal a mechanism for music-based reward self-regulation and offer a potential scalable, personalized approach for targeting reward dysfunction such as anhedonia.

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Music-to My Brain: Modulation of Reward System Activity via Musical Neurofeedback | bioRxiv