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The relationship between music and the brain
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The relationship between music and the brain
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Have you ever given much thought about what goes on in the brain when you listen to music? Almost every human being listens to some type of music from country music all the way to religious music. Thinking about it, does music help with anything, is it just something humans like spending their time with or does it harm us in any way or form? I will am going to tell you about what the brain releases when a person listens to music, how music helps people with Alzheimer’s, and other small things that music does to the brain.
First of all, when a person listens to music that they enjoy, dopamine is being released in the brain, making the person feel pleasure. This pleasure that the person is feeling is considered a reward system that is in the brain. The person who is listening to music releases dopamine right before they even start listening to the song and while the person listens to the song, during their favorite parts, dopamine is released in larger portions (Pappas). Since dopamine is released in larger portions during the person’s favorite part of the song, he or she gets “chi...
Mannes, Elena. "www.npr.org/2011/06/01/136859090/the-power-of-music-to-affect-the-brain." Mannes, Elena. The Power of Music to Affect the Brain. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011.
Music and the Brain: Processing and Responding (A General Overview). For any individual who either avidly listens to or performs music, it is understood that many melodies have amazing effects on both our emotions and our perception. To address the effects of music on the brain, it seems most logical to initially map the auditory and neural pathways of sound. In the case of humans, the mechanism responsible for receiving and transmitting sound to the brain is the ears.
Whether you’re a devoted music enthusiast or you just listen to the radio to pass time, we all listen to music. However, when listening to music, nobody stops to think about what they are doing. Nobody stops to contemplate how the music they are listening to affects them psychologically. We just listen to the music and enjoy ourselves. In fact however, a great deal of research has been done to determine the psychophysiological effects of music. Many studies have been conducted to determine whether music can help people who suffer from psychological and medical disorders, Scholars continually debate whether music can influence behavior, and researchers are attempting to understand what is happening in our brain when we listen to music.
Music is defined as vocal or instrumental sounds combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion, but music is not bound by its meaning. Music can be almost anything a person wants it to be. No one can put a date on the beginning of music. Some say it began before humans spread around the world or possibly originated in Africa. A conclusion that most people would agree on is that music has been around for mostly all of time. Whether or not people know it, music is a key aspect of their lives, and it affects them in many ways. One may begin to question why do humans participate in and enjoy music so much? This question can never have a concrete answer, but many have ideas of what might be the reason.
But as long as the note is in the right context, it sounds fine. As humans, we have grown to develop a sort of musical grammar in detecting a wrong note. We develop an awareness to the knowledge of the rules of how certain sequences are made, very much like grammar with linguistics. Now, musical grammar can be a lot more complex than just a sour note, and can greatly differ depending on the culture you were raised in. And just as with language, this grammar has to be learned. The evidence being that infants don’t seem to be sensitive to this (21).
It is true that music has a compact link to our emotions. Music assists people to overcome the bad situations in their life, just like it did for Sonny, the barmaid, or some other people in the Harlem. Music has a tremendous effect on people’s mind because it makes them feel relax and comfortable, especially the soft classical music. It helps distressed people to stay smooth and peaceful. In fact, music is a remarkable way to ease our stress.
Also children as young as 3 or 4 years of age are able to recognize basic emotions in music (Cunningham & Sterling 1988). Emotional contagion it has been argued, facilitates the mother-infant bond (Darwin 1872), as well as social interaction in general terms (Preston & de Waal 2002). In support of this, this emotional contagion seems to create liking and affiliation (e.g. Lakin et al. 2003) which is perhaps beneficial for social interaction (Juslin, P.N. and Vastfjall D., 2008, p.565).
The brain is a very powerful organ, no doubt. It tells your body how to react and what to do. But what happens when you listen to music? How does your brain react? Let’s take a look.
There have always been discussions of the effects music has on ones behavior, and how it’s related to Psychology. The truth has never really been verified among common knowledge, but it’s usually something that intrigues people. They say heavy metal and rap can make teenagers violent, sad and depressing music can make teenagers sad and depressed, and some say it’s best to listen to classical music when doing schoolwork because it makes your brain more active. There have been many people that reported how music has effects on their behavior. It can lift their mood, “fuel the fire” when they’re angry, or even make it easier for them to fall asleep. People never really get the chance to research the actual science of music, and how it changes people attitudes.
Music is one of the few things that has remained constant through the centuries this world has existed. Not only does music provide entertainment, it also has several effects linked to it. Music allows emotions of happiness and sadness to arise. From those emotions, physical effects, negative or positive, can occur. Music has a profound effect on the emotional, social, intellectual, and physical aspects of a person.
Music and the Brain. (n.d.). Music and the Brain. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from http://tdlc.ucsd.edu/research/highlights/rh-music-and-brain-2011.html
Despite the miniscule negative effects of music on memory, the powerful ability of music to trigger memory production and recall is undeniably beneficial. The profound effect of music on memory and learning makes music a great tool for helping people who want to improve cognitive function, whether they need to receive treatment for a mental illness or learn new information. Music has proven to be a wonderful tool in the arena of improving the symptoms of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Music has the power to “shift mood, manage stress-induced agitation, stimulate positive interactions, facilitate cognitive function, and coordinate motor movements” (Clair). With all of these positive benefits, music is undeniably advantageous.
Music has incredible effects on the brain and body! Ever since the beginning of time, music has been around. It can influence the way a person thinks and behaves, and also social interactions. Teens are more susceptible to this (Revatto 1). Music can be used in therapy by helping people with depression, and can even be a more natural way to heal the body (“How Music...” 1). In some cases, songs and melodies can help or make diseases worse. Music is a powerful thing and can affect your brain and many other things in your body in numerous ways.
Cooper, Belle. " How Music Affects and Benefits Your Brain."lifehacker.come. N.p., 11 22 2013. Web. 3
Music is can be a very complicated and delightful at the same time. Music affects our bodies in several ways when engaging with it. The complicated and delightful apparatus we call music affect people physically, psychologically, and is great with healing emotional affliction, strengthens emotions, and is known to cure illness. Music also plays an influential role in the socialization of teenagers. Mainstream music is available practically everywhere. It is conveniently accessible over the internet, radio, individual recordings and other forms of technology