Great music is 'as good as sex'

Listening to great music is as good as sex, according to new research.

It sparks the same part of the brain triggered by a delicious meal or a night of passion.

Scans found areas in the brain's 'pleasure' centre became active when people heard a song for the first time.

And the more the listener enjoyed what they were hearing, the stronger the connections were in the reward region known as the nucleus accumbens. This is operated by the chemical dopamine which promotes desire.

The study by scientists at McGill University, Montreal, pinpoints the specific brain activity that controls the decision to purchase music.

Participants listened to 60 previously unheard music excerpts while undergoing fMRI (functional resonance imaging) and provided bids of how much they would spend for each item in an auction.