Personal taste in music differs dramatically, and yet, when we hear something we like, whether Mozart or Miles, or Metallica or Macklemore, our brains light up in the same way, according to a recent study. And what's more, the research suggests, the value we place on music we've never heard before is directly associated with how much it tickles our brains.

The effect music has on the human brain has long been an area of scientific interest. Sounds on their own are bland, but when they come together in melodies and song, they can be intensely pleasing or can move us to tears, for reasons that remain obscure, biologically speaking. It is clear, however, that we associate emotions with music, and the connection between music and reward, the new study indicates, appears to have much to do with "cross-talk," or communication, between two specific areas of the human brain: the auditory cortex, which stores information on sound, and the nucleus accumbens, which stores information on emotions and reward.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while study participants listened to excerpts of music that they were hearing for the first time (to avoid influence from established music preferences), the researchers found that activity in the nucleus accumbens consistently predicted whether participants enjoyed a given excerpt of music and whether they would purchase the music. The greater the activity in the nucleus accumbens, the deeper into their pockets the participants were willing to dig when the pieces were auctioned off in the study. Increased activity in the nucleus accumbens also translated into more cross-talk with the auditory cortex, providing a basis of interaction between the two regions that has been little understood.

The kinds of music that participants purchased varied, which likely reflects individual differences in our expectations of music. Our beliefs about music are thought to develop from our prior musical experiences, with sounds and sound patterns that we learn being stored away in our auditory cortex. Those experiences frequently are linked to emotions, too. So, when music we hear jibes with what we know or expect or draws on preexisting emotional associations, we might be inclined to like it and buy it. That, hopefully, comes as good news for those who devote their careers to satisfying our impossibly complex musical tastes.

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