Cannabis Dampens the Effects of Music in Brain Regions Sensitive to Reward and Emotion
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology August 30, 2017 Tom P. Freeman, Rebecca Pope, Matthew B. Wall et al. 67 citations
Cannabis dampens the brain's response to music in regions involved in reward and emotion, including the auditory cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and ventral striatum. However, when cannabis also contains cannabidiol, these dampening effects are offset, and brain activity does not differ from placebo. Despite reduced neural responses, both types of cannabis increased participants' self-reported desire to listen to music and enhanced sound perception. The findings suggest that cannabidiol may mitigate some of cannabis's effects on brain reward systems.