How Music Affects the Brain

Various studies suggest that music affects the brain in various ways, for example, the biggest is the ability to concentrate & staying away from stress & anxiety. The latest study of the effects of music on our brains comes from the Center for Performance Science, and says listening to the music can help you focus better and offers many other limitless benefits.

How Music Affects the Brain

Music in general is something inherent in the human condition. Singing is present in all types of societies throughout history and all cultures are manifested, in some way, through their particular musical folklore.

At this point, no one doubts that any music; classical or of any other genre, is the most easy & simple universal language that exists.

How the Brain Responds to Music

Regardless of whether we are talking about instrumental, classical music or we are referring to operas or musicals with a script written in a language that is not ours, composers are able to make themselves understood through their scores because the notes contain, above all, emotions.

Therefore, music is part of our life and the songs / music we listen to have a direct effect on the brain as well as on our mood.

For some, music is the best medicine if it is about fighting sadness; for others, on the other hand, it is the essential option when celebrating a special moment. And of course, many use it as a distraction at work or while dealing with household chores. In short, each of us has his own particular soundtrack.

On the other hand, scientists have spent decades pointing out that listening to music affects us in different ways and is known to affect different parts of our brain.

Also Read: Quiet Morning Music for the Classroom — Calming & Relaxing Kids

In recent years, thanks to advances in neuroscience, more and more studies are published about what specifically happens in our neurons when we listen to music.

Affects of Music on the Hemispheres of the Brain

Although both cerebral hemispheres are complementary, there are some functions that are specifically managed by one of them. Thus, while the right hemisphere integrates the functions associated with feelings, sensations or artistic skills and is responsible for how we perceive colors, shapes and places, the left is in charge of managing speech, writing, logic, mathematics and numbering.

Music, which does not understand left or right, is processed in both hemispheres, thus linking both the artistic and the integrative capacity, the development of speech and mathematics, among other things.

The main conclusion is that if music allows communication to be more emotional than merely semantic, it is precisely because of its already proven ability to simultaneously activate different areas of the brain. On either side.

Which Music is Best for the Brain?

According to studies by the Max Planck Institute for Neuroscience and Human Cognition, the area of the brain where musical memories are housed is the least damaged by Alzheimer’s disease.

The songs that moved the sick in other times are still remembered, despite the fact that the person is not able to recognize their children or remember their own name. This would be, according to the aforementioned studies, that the most enduring memories are those that we live related to an intense emotion and that role is perfectly fulfilled by music.

In this sense, for years activities have been carried out to demonstrate how music can improve and even suppress some neuronal disorders to some extent.

Associations which had the collaboration of the musical group to improve the capacities of Alzheimer’s patients, use music as therapy for people with memory problems.

Also Read: Relaxing Music for Stress Relief and Deep Sleep - Meditation

What Music Can Do?

For its part, the University of Helsinki published a study showing that classical music had an effect on genes responsible for producing feelings of pleasure.

In general, all the participants in this research showed better brain activity when listening to Music by Mozart, but this was even higher among those who were familiar with this type of music.

The latter has to do with the fact that music affects us directly when we listen to it, but it also connects with our previous experiences. That is, we react to what we hear in relation to what we have previously heard. Music helps us remember and at the same time makes us create expectations.

Music & the Language

Music is also very closely related to language. For example, there are studies that support that babies react earlier to musical stimuli than to linguistic messages. And it is that both music and language affect the right and left sides of the brain and both are linked to learning processes.

In this sense, it has been observed that often people with autism, despite having difficulties with language, have a great ability to express themselves through musical instruments.

Also Read: Bija (Beej) Mantra Sound & Music - How to Activate & Open Human Body Chakras

Music Directly Influences the Behavior of Our Brain

Another study, published in the Journal of Cognitive Psychology, revealed that, in addition, the personality of each individual plays a determining role in how music affects our brain & tasks. The study of 118 high school students revealed that in the case of extroverts, performing various tasks with music had better effects than doing it in silence or in environments with background sound; instead, for introverts, music seemed to make it difficult to complete tasks.

Not only the type of music influences the behavior of our brain, but also the way we listen to it. Scholars at the University of Oxford focused a research paper on sound volume and concluded that some degree of “noise” improved performance and creativity.

The fact of having to try and overcome some difficulty in concentrating, demanded more from our brain and we obtained better results. However, too much noise, such as music at a very high volume, limits our capacity, makes us be able to process less information and therefore diminishes creativity.

Synchronization - The Music & The Brain

Finally, music not only acts as a unifier and harmonizer between the two hemispheres or as a link between the different brain areas, but it is also capable of linking other people’s brains to each other.

Research from the Max Planck Institute has discovered that when several musicians play a piece of music together, their brains synchronize with each other, creating a kind of brain network, apart from the inter-neuronal networks that they generate in each of the performers.

Apart from these researches there are many other vast benefits and ways of How Music Affects the Brain. Music is considered to be the most beautiful & peaceful language of the universe yet the Music has No Language ~ that’s the power of Music.