Listening to music is one of the most complex things one can do. Many parts of your brain have to work together to comprehend even the simplest tune. Drawing from a paper published by Michael Trimble and Dale Hesdorffer, the act of processing music is so diffused and decentralized throughout the brain that describing it as being centered in the right side of the brain is an oversimplification.
An intriguing side-effect of listening to music is the activation of the visual cortex, found in the back of the brain in the occipital lobe. There’s enough research material indicating that some music can provoke a response in this part of the brain, as the engaged listener tries to conjure up appropriate imagery to match the changes and progression in the music.
There is no real objective measure of what counts as “musical” and what doesn’t. Memory is one of the most obvious influences here — you are most likely to enjoy a particular of piece of music if it carries positive associations with it.
If there is one constant in this, it is that songs carry as tremendous ability to provoke emotional responses — indeed, it can even seem our brain’s primary concern, when it comes, to music. In fact, the brain hangs onto the ability to understand the emotional impact of music, even if the finer points are lost. Brain imaging studies have shown that “happy” music stimulates the reward centers of the brain, causing the production of the chemical dopamine — the same chemical produced from eating great food, having sex, and taking drugs. Brigham Young University researchers report that infants as young as five months are able to discern when a happy song is playing, and by nine months, they have added comprehension of sad music to their repertoire. They observed that all the happy songs were in major keys with fairly short phrases or motifs that were repeated. Their tempo and melodic rhythms were faster than any of the sad selections and the melodies had a generally upward direction. Four of the sad songs were in minor keys and all had a slower beat and long melodic rhythms.
We actually can have physiological reactions to music — happy music with a fast tempo and major key can make is breathe faster, while sad music and minor key can slow down our pulse and cause blood pressure to rise.
