A researcher at Australia’s Melbourne University is currently seeking out EDM listeners to participate in a study on their brains’ tendency to “crave” the drop, according to ABC.
Kiralee Musgrove, a PhD candidate, said she hopes to understand how EDM fans go from hearing the music to actually feeling it. “We’re looking for people to help us understand why and how certain people crave what we call ‘the drop’ when they’re listening to electronic music,” she said.
Musgrove describes the basic EDM formula as very predictable. “We have the build-up — which is where the DJ is adding on layers of instruments, the rhythms are compounded, the volume is going up and everybody feels like they are being lifted up,” she said. “People are craving what happens next — which is when the DJ quite literally drops the bass, the bass drums, and the regular rhythm and melody back into the song.”
The pleasure that listeners experience when the drop hits, and the intense craving that they endure during the build-up, is something that Musgrove believes researchers can study in order to better design therapies for people with craving disorders. She said that her research could help in the creation of “personalized music therapy” methods for patients with eating disorders, self-harm issues or substance abuse disorders.
“We might be able to use music to help alleviate acute levels of craving and distress.”
Source: ABC