How Important Is the Role Music PLays In Our Mind?
In the article, This Is Your Brain On Music, by Elizabeth Landau, she states that scientists have discovered a link between music and the function of our brain. The article hits on three specific notes. One of these are the health benefits of listening to music. Landau asks “Listening to music feels good, but can that translate into a physiological benefit?” Daniel Levitin, a psychologist at McGill University in Montreal, did a meta-analysis of 400 studies, and came across one that may have answered that question. In this specific study, researchers tested on people who were about to have a surgery. At random, the subjects were put into two groups: those who would listen to music, and those
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who would take an anxiety pill. Both groups were measured by their personal anxiety and by the level of the stress hormone cortisol. The study showed that the patients who listened to the music had less personal anxiety and lower measurements of cortisol. However, Levitin said they would have to conduct further, and more in-depth studies to create better proof of these results.
But it does show there is a connection between these ideas. Another one of the points Landau made in her article was the scientific reason a person may like a certain type of music as opposed to another. Valorie Salimpoor, of the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, conducted an experiment in which 19 subjects listened to 60 clips of songs they had never heard before. While listening to these songs, they were inside an MRI machine so Salimpoor could watch the reactions inside the participant's brain. When the excerpt of the song finished, the subjects were then asked how much money they would spend on the song they listened to. Salimpoor found that the most active part of the brain throughout this process was the nucleus accumbens. This part of the brain is responsible for forming expectations. She found the more activity in the nucleus …show more content…
accumbens the more money people would pay for the music.
But the problem with this study is the amount of participants. More accurate results would come from more testing, but because the use of an MRI machine is so complex and expensive, these results will be very difficult to achieve. The last topic Landau discusses is the question “are we all hearing the same thing?” It makes sense that people have preferences to the music they listen to based on past experiences. Leviti found based on brain activity, there are more similarities between music listeners than one would think. Seventeen subjects listened to four symphonies by William Boyce while in an MRI scanner. Like Salimpoor’s study, the number of participant is small due to the cost. The researchers found synched brain patterns, and similar activity in the same parts of the brain. This suggests the subjects share the way they perceive the music and the experience they undergo as they listen. Levitin states that in this way, music has the power to unite people. "It's not our natural tendency to thrust ourselves into a crowd of 20,000 people, but for a Muse concert or a Radiohead concert we'll do it. There's this unifying force that comes from
the music, and we don't get that from other things." The information in This Is Your Brain On Music has the potential to be a major change in the medical field, however it does not provide enough evidence to support these claims.. When I found this article, I thought there was no way there could be any connection to health and music. However, after reading the article, it makes sense. If I have had a long day, I will often listen to music with inspiring lyrics, or fast paced tracks to wake me up. If I am feeling angry, flustered, or just need to get something done I will listen to slower music with no lyrics to calm down. The fact that people in anxious situations feel less uneasy is completely logical based on what I have experienced. This discovery that music can change one's mood has the potential to replace all kinds of drugs, from the anxiety drug explained in the article to anti-depression drugs. Music can help us boost our mood with much less dangers and side effects than drugs, but there is not enough experimentation to show that this is an effective way to replace these drugs. The next experiment is all about how each person decides what kind of music he or she likes. Every knows what kind of music they like. But I had never thought much about the scientific side of that. Before this experiment conducted by Valorie Salimpoor, another scientist ran a different experiment getting about the same results, so Levitin claimed that Salimpoor was simply restating what had already been discovered. Even though this may be true, I think this is a step in the right direction! The fact that more people are producing the same results is showing that this is a theory that has the potential to become fact. In the scientific method, you are supposed to test an experiment multiple times, or have multiple trials. This will produce more accurate results, however because MRI machines are so difficult to get your hands on, it is hard to say if these theories in the article will one day be fact, or be regarded as coincidence. The last topic this article makes is that humans may perceive music in the same way. Some people say that nobody reads the same book as another person, because you might be reading the same words, but it means different things to each individual. I thought this would be the case for music too, and it still may be the case because of the underwhelming evidence. However, I do think it is more likely that we do share the same experience. I thought music can mean different things to an individual based on past experiences, what you have been exposed to, and so many more contributing factors. I was surprised that people can share the way they perceive the music, but Leviti was right when he said not many things can unite people like music. Like Leviti said, not many people will voluntarily go to a loud, hot auditorium full of thousands of rowdy people. On the other hand, when all of those rowdy people share a liking of music, they will go, and thoroughly enjoy it. In conclusion, scientists have discovered links between our brain patterns and music, but more testing and experimenting needs to be done to confirm these theories.
Ma begins his paper by referring to the argument made by University of Southern California professor, and well established neuroscientist, Antonio Damasio. This argument states “that feeling and emotions expressed in art and music play a central role in high-level cognitive reasoning,” (Ma 258). Ma elaborates on this by mentioning how new advances in neurobiology have made it more clear that the human brain uses dual neural pathways for thinking processes, one for critical thinking and one for empathetic thinking (Ma 258). By doing this, Ma is able to show his audience that his ideas are supported by highly respected intellectuals in the complex field of neuroscience. Ma continues to add logic to his argument through his discussion of equilibrium. Ma piggybacks on the widely-accepted idea that equilibrium is the key factor for the survival of all forms of life. He states that, “Evolution is the balance between stability and the changes necessary to cope with new challenges in the environment,” (Ma 259). Ma implies that this “balance” is necessary in all aspects of life, including cognitive reasoning. This argument is very perspicacious in the appeal that it incorporates such widely-accepted
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 has become increasingly popular in today’s society. When we are listening to music, our brain does much more than just process the sound. Music has been known to be able to affect human emotions and moods. The brain first categorizes sound into music through interactions between the low-level and high-level processing units (“How Our Brains Process Music”). The whole task begins with the auditory cortex in the brain which first receives a signal from the eardrum which in turn activates the cerebellum (“How Our Brains Process Music”). The cerebellum is the part of the brain that assists in coordination, precision, and timing of movement (“How Our Brains Process Music”). The ear and the cerebellum together as the low-level processing units allow the brain to start analyzing the sounds and break down the auditory stimulus into pitch, amplitude, timing of different notes, etc (“How Our Brains Process Music”).
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.
THESIS When the human brain is used for ten minutes straight, it generates enough electricity to power the Sears Tower for forty-eight seconds. That’s more than a hundred floors of electricity powered. (7). The brain creates more brainwave signals than every cell phone signal in the world at one time, in one second of use. When humans listen to music, we generate three times the amount of electricity and brainwaves. (6). Music is widely used to express ourselves thoroughly. Bruno Mars’ “Unorthodox Jukebox” album does just that. It expresses. It allows us to express how we feel about something going on in our life. When music is heard, our brain is overloaded with Dopamine which produces immense amounts of love for whatever we are thinking about. Bruno Mars’ album, “Unorthodox Jukebox”, is the most influential album of this century.
No matter what you listen to, music has a way of “playing with our emotions”. For example, if you listen to Tchaikovsky (classical) you may feel calm, and if you listen to Eminem (rap) you may feel hyper. If the music you listen to makes you feel good, it is good for you, Daniel Levitin, a neuroscientist who focuses mainly on music, explains in an interview. What is the Brain? The human brain is the control center of the human body.
Levitin, Daniel J. “This is your Brain on music: The Science of a Human Obsession.” Print
Music has these benefits because the rhythmic responses it creates require little to no cognitive processing and the ability to engage in music is prevalent even in the later stages of the disease.... ... middle of paper ... ... Web.
...tion regulation is a crucial motivator for listening to music (Lonsdale & North, 2011). As such, cognitive theories are able to predict that listening to music has the ability to evoke an emotional response in student listeners.
Music can relieve certain medical problems. Parkinsons can be made better with certain musical rhythms. By listening and moving to regular rhythm patterns, people can overcome the effects of parkinson's (Sacks 1). Tourettes can also be made better or worse by performing or listening to songs, depending on what type. Migraines and headaches can be affected by music; again, better or worse. Relaxing or other certain kinds of songs can help out with heart problems. “A review of 23 studies covering over 1,500 patients found that listening to music ...
There was never a question in my mind that music possesses a strong element to help people. It has always been a stress reliever in my life. There is research that supports the belief that music is an instrumental part or impact on a wider realm of physical and mental disorders or disabilities. Music is known to set the mood or atmosphere for all types of situations. There is extensive research completed on this subject.
Weinberger, Norman M. “Music and the Brain.” Scientific American Special Edition 16.3 (2006): 36-43. Health Source- Consumer Edition. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
The connection between these parts of the brain is that it affects ones emotion; the mood of someone. Mood is a temporary state of mind or feeling. Mood plays a vital role within music. While listening to music it generates certain types of feelings, depending of the type of music that is being listened to. A medical website explains that music has the ability to have psychotherapeutic benefits (eMed). Many doctors use music as therapy and they believe there are many more benefits to listening to music. One might ask, what kinds of benefits are being
FUN Music Company "How Does Music Stimulate Left and Right Brain Function and Why is