Monday post: about music and brains
Yesterday I was happily enjoying the free wifi and the coffee in one of my favorite cafés. The music was loud but not unnervingly loud. Some sweet pop was playing and suddently here it came: an emotion. I felt sad and thus without reason. Confused and scared I looked on my left side and another customer seemed to be experiencing the same so half joking I asked her "the song?" and she smiled and shouted "YES". If Taylor Swift could have such an impact on my psyche it made me wonder what could be the effects of music on the brains.
We all know thanks to popular expressions and based on our personal experiences that music can be upflifting, motivating or even reveal to yourself unsuspected parts of yourself. We all listen to music in a more or less passive way and more or less everywhere (at the office, while studying, when driving, at the gym etc). Besides rocking the spin class (yes it happened), what are the effects of music ?
It’s chemical you cannot fight it.
According to neuroscientists, music stimulates mainly the hippocampus (responsible for memory and emotional responses), the parietal lobe (responsible for processing movement and sensation but also for reading or doing maths) and the prefontal cortex (its main functions include planning and decision-making). So how this stimulation works ? When listening to music the brain will release feel good neurotransmitters i.e dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine that play a significant part in mood management as well-being, pleasure, motivation are affected by those. Neuroscientists observed effects such as stress and anxiety reduction or increase in motivation to name a few. And music is now used to treat depressive patients for example but also patients coping with neurogical disorders.
The benefits observed are linked to positive music so whether you are in a bad or lethargic mood, start building the soundtrack of your own montage and ultimately to your success ! (You can go back to Radiohead and Schubert’s Death and the Maiden only when you’ll feel better.) And if you want to read more about the topic, I would suggest This is Your Brain On Music from Daniel Levitin.
And a big thank you to Lady Gaga and Daft Punk for giving me the motivation and strength to finish this post.