Why do humans like music, when it’s just only words being said….just differently.
In: Biology
Music activates different neurons in the brain. There are neurons that get lit up of for timbre, rhythm, pitch, tune, as well as lyrics. These neurons are all in different parts of the brain too which makes them more robust, more resilient, e.g. if you have dementia and one cluster of these neurons gets taken out, the others might still be there.
The neurons activated by music are also more “primitive”, while language processing is a later brain evolution. They’re more closely connected to emotions. Think of it this way… almost everyone in the world self-medicates with music! Researchers have found this also works for chronic pain management. There are times when a combination of music plus advil together are enough to alleviate the pain, saving you from having to take opiods.
There’s a therapeutic trick for patients with Parkinson’s. As a toddler you took two years developing the neuronal circuits to help you walk smoothly. With Parkinson’s those circuits get damaged. What therapists do is play music at the tempo of the gait, 30-60mins a day, for a few weeks. The brain reroutes and uses the “music tempo” parts of the brain. The beneficial effect on a patient’s gait lasts about 6 months. Relatedly, when you get dementia and steadily lose more and more of your memories and sense of self, it’s often the music you heard as a teenager that becomes where you retreat to. In dementia we lose our newest memories first. 10-12 years old is when we were growing millions of neuronal connections per day, forming our identity.
In 2017, the head of the NIH (National Institute for Health in the US) had a hunch about music-as-medicine and set up a research panel with $40mil in funding. Since then, there have been thousands of scientific studies on music.
I learned all this from neurologist/psychologist/musician/author Daniel Levitin, on his book tour for his recent book “I Heard There Was A Secret Chord”.
Latest Answers