Research ReportListening to music in a risk-reward context: The roles of the temporoparietal junction and the orbitofrontal/insular cortices in reward-anticipation, reward-gain, and reward-loss

•We used rewarding choruses of popular songs to examine the neural correlates of reward processing.•The verse was followed by either the chorus or noise.•Lateralized temporoparietal activations during reward-gain and reward-loss were observed.•Left-biased lateral orbitofrontal activation during reward-anticipation.•The medial orbitofrontal cortex was activated during reward-gain.

Artificial rewards, such as visual arts and music, produce pleasurable feelings. Popular songs in the verse-chorus form provide a useful model for understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of artificial rewards, because the chorus is usually the most rewarding element of a song. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, the stimuli were excerpts of 10 popular songs with a tensioned verse-to-chorus transition. We examined the neural correlates of three phases of reward processing: (1) reward-anticipation during the verse-to-chorus transition, (2) reward-gain during the first phrase of the chorus, and (3) reward-loss during the unexpected noise followed by the verse-to-chorus transition. Participants listened to these excerpts in a risk-reward context because the verse was followed by either the chorus or noise with equal probability. The results showed that reward-gain and reward-loss were associated with left- and right-biased temporoparietal junction activation, respectively. The bilateral temporoparietal junctions were active during reward-anticipation. Moreover, we observed left-biased lateral orbitofrontal activation during reward-anticipation, whereas the medial orbitofrontal cortex was activated during reward-gain. The findings are discussed in relation to the cognitive and emotional aspects of reward processing.