When you are in a bad mood, why can you feel better by listening to a pop song? This question finally has an answer.

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Have you ever wondered why certain pop songs just make you feel so good?
Have you ever wondered why some pop songs make you feel so good?
Have you ever wondered why some pop songs make you feel so happy?
Researchers studying the question found that the right combination of uncertainty and surprise is what gives listeners the most pleasure.
The researchers found that the right combination of uncertainty and surprise are what makes the listener happy.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, involved an analysis of 80,000 chords in 745 pop songs from the US Billboard "Hot 100" chart between 1958 and 1991.
The study, published in the journal Contemporary Biology, analyzed 80,000 sets of chords from 745 pop songs from the US Billboard "Hot 100" chart between 1958 and 1991.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, involved an analysis of 80,000 chords in 745 pop songs from the US Billboard "Hot 100" chart between 1958 and 1991.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, involved an analysis of 80,000 chords in 745 pop songs from the US Billboard "Hot 100" chart between 1958 and 1991.
The researchers—from institutions in Germany, Norway, Denmark and the UK—used a machine-learning model to quantify the level of uncertainty and surprise of these chords, and then asked 39 adult volunteers to rate how pleasure they found each series of chords.
Researchers from Germany, Norway, Denmark and the UK used a machine learning model to rate the level of pleasure brought by each group of chords.
Each song was stripped of its melody and lyrics so that only chord progressions were left and the results couldn't be skewed by other associations to the songs that listeners might have had.
Each song was stripped of its melody and lyrics, leaving only chord marchs so that the result would not deviate due to the impact other elements of the songs might have on the audience.
skew [skjuː]: v. Deviation, skew; twist, deflection; distortion
They found two things: that participants derived greater pleasure when they were relatively certain what would happen next but then were surprised by an unexpected chord progression.
The researchers found two things. First, participants will feel more pleasant when they compare the chords that will appear next but hear unexpected chord marchs.
However, the same number of participants found it pleasant when they were uncertain as to what would follow, and then the subsequent chords were more familiar to them.
However, the same number of participants said that they would also feel happy when they were uncertain as to what would follow, and then the subsequent chords were more familiar to them.

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"It is fascinating that humans can derive pleasure from a piece of music just by how sounds are ordered over time," Vincent Cheung, the lead researcher on the paper from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Germany, said in a statement.
Songs that we find pleasure are likely those which strike a good balance between knowing what is going to happen next and surprising us with something we did not expect. Understanding how music activates our pleasure system in the brain could explain why listening to music might Help us feel better when we are feeling blue."
" Songs that make us feel happy are usually those that maintain a clever balance between the chords that are expected to be heard next and the chords that are unexpectedly heard. Understanding how music activates the happy system in our brains can explain why listening to music can make us feel better when we are feeling down.”
Cheung told CNN that pleasure in music is linked to expectancy. Previous studies had looked into the effects of surprise on pleasure, but he and his colleagues' study also focused on the uncertainty of listeners' predictions.
Zhang Researcher told CNN that pleasure brought about pleasure is related to expectations. Previous studies had looked into the effects of surprise on pleasure, but he and his colleagues' study also focused on the uncertainty of listeners' predictions.
The songs used in the experiments included James Taylor's "Country Roads," UB40's "Red, Red Wine" and The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da."
The songs used for experiments include James Taylor's Country Roads, UB40's "Red, Red Wine" and the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da".

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The findings may help improve artistic musical algorithms and could help composers write music or predict musical trends.
results may help improve artificial music algorithms, help composers arrange or predict music trends.
"The idea is that hopefully as a scientist analyzing these patterns of pleasure in humans, you can somehow work out where music can go next," Peter Harrison, a researcher at Queen Mary University, London, who worked on the project, told "We hope that scientists can expect the direction of music by analyzing human happiness patterns," said Pete Harrison, a researcher at Queen Mary University in London, who participated in the project. ”
As part of the same experiment, the researchers also used brain imaging to locate the areas of the brain reflected in musical pleasure.
As part of the experiment, the researchers also used brain imaging to locate the areas of the brain reflected in musical pleasure.
They found the regions involved were the amygdala, the hippocampus and the auditory cortex, which process emotions, learning and memory, and sound, Respectively.
They found that these related brain regions are the amygdala, hippocampus and auditory cortex, which deal with emotions, learning and memory, and sound respectively.
Cheung added that another part of the brain, the nucleus accumbens -- which processes reward expectations -- was perhaps responsible for "directing our attention towards the music so that we will try to find out what will happen next.”
Researcher Zhang added that another part of the brain that processes the reward expectation - the nucleus accumbens - may be the organization that "directs our attention to music", "so that we will try to figure out what will happen next."
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Source: China Daily Bilingual News