Music is one of the most magical things that a human can experience.  There is nothing else in this world that can make a human feel so amazing. To me music is fun and can allow you to escape to another world for a little bit.  It got me thinking, if music can have such a positive effect on such a large amount of people, it has to be good for us!  I want to know what effect music has on the brain.  I thought it would be really interesting and cool to describe the ways we react to it without even knowing.

There are many different parts of the brain that affect the way we listen to music.  The motor cortex allows the muscles to play an instrument.  The amygdala produces the emotional reactions to music.  The auditory cortex is responsible for perceiving tones. The hippocampus records and stores the memories of the music.  These are the main parts of the brain that effect our listening to music.  The cerebellum, sensory cortex, visual cortex, and the prefrontal cortex are all important components in listening and interpreting music.

There was one study that proposed that happy and sad music can affect how you see a neutral face. Their findings were as follows, “after hearing a short piece of music, participants were more likely to interpret a neutral expression as happy or sad, to match the tone of the music they heard.” This same study also went as far as determine how music makes you feel.  They displayed that there are two different types of emotions: perceived emotions, and felt emotions.  This means that sometimes we can listen to music and simply enjoy it without feeling the emotion behind the song.  This explains why some people can listen to sad music, and not find it depressing.

I came across another study that showed students performed better on spatial reasoning tests after they listened to Mozart.  This study led to claims that stated “listening to Mozart can temporarily increase your IQ”  I do not believe this study at all.  I believe that Intelligence is something that is innate.  There also brings up another controversial issue of whether intelligence is through nature or nurture.  Either way, I do not think that your IQ can “temporarily increase.”  I do believe that it can increase your cognitive function, and help you to better, but it is not necessarily increasing intelligence.  Another article suggests that there have been many claims that make sensational claims about music.  Since then, many studies have been discredited involving music because these findings can not be proved by science.  The main study being the “Mozart Effect” that I just previously described.  This is most likely a false positive.  Sure there is evidence that those who listened to Mozart did better, but it could just be  a false positive because there could be other variables. Maybe those who listened to the music knew that they were supposed to do better, so they tried harder than normal. We also cannot rule out the idea of chance as well.  This study would have to have been done numerous times to show worthy data.

Another very important thing that music can do for us is aid our brains in rehabilitation.  Music and muscle control share many common circuits within the brain, so when the circuits from music are stimulated, it can help to improve muscle movement.  Dr. Cuddy, who is a part of the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, stated that most patients who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s are able to remember and retain different forms of music.  This is similar to a man I learned about in Psychology class.  He had gotten a virus in his brain, which caused him to have retrograde and anterograde amnesia.  So he could not remember his past, nor could he make new memories.  Despite all of that, he still retained the ability to play the piano.  He had been a musician all of his life, and this was about the only thing he still remembered.  It is crazy how this can work!  I am so curious to read about more studies about this topic in the future.

Music is a beautiful thing, and it can positively affect us in more ways than one.  So i suggest that you start listening to some more music! 🙂