{
  "id": 9858353,
  "title": "Beyond the session: delayed effects of prefrontal theta-burst stimulation onthe liking of newly learned melodies",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/beyond-the-session-delayed-effects-of-prefrontal-theta-burst",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-25T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.20.753042v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The study examines the impact of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on the reward cycle associated with music appreciation. Reward mechanisms in music involve a cycle where a stimulus provokes pleasure, reinforcing behaviors that lead back to it. Music is a prime example of an intrinsically pleasurable activity that can be learned and engages reward-related brain circuits. TMS can modulate activity in cortical areas connected to subcortical regions associated with pleasure.\n\nIn this study, 23 participants with varying musical experience underwent a within-subjects, counterbalanced crossover design. They received either intermittent TBS (iTBS, excitatory) or continuous TBS (cTBS, inhibitory) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in separate sessions. Before stimulation (T0), immediately after (T1), and 24 hours later (T2), participants rated the pleasantness of short piano melodies. After stimulation, they learned to play the melodies, and pitch and rhythm accuracy were evaluated during three performance phases.\n\nNotably, the increase in liking from T0 to T2 was significantly greater following iTBS than cTBS, a difference observed across the 24-hour interval that includes both learning and sleep. Interestingly, pitch and rhythm accuracy remained unchanged between conditions at any phase, despite improvements across trials in both. These findings suggest that TMS to the left DLPFC can produce delayed, condition-dependent shifts in musical liking without a corresponding change in early skill acquisition.",
  "summary": "Reward operates as a cycle in which a stimulus produces a pleasure response, and the degree of pleasure experienced reinforces the behaviours that lead back to it. Music provides a useful model for examining this cycle because it is intrinsically pleasurable, can be learned, and engages reward-related frontostriatal circuitry that overlaps with circuitry involved in primary and secondary rewards,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}