How Music Affects Your Brain
It is everywhere, yet most people don’t know exactly how much it affects us on a daily basis.
For those who enjoy listening to music while working, a study has recently shown that hearing to moderate noise levels in the background may actually be highly beneficial towards productivity. In fact, a moderate noise level is shown to increase creativity by promoting abstract processing. However, at high noise levels, such as listening to music with headphones, the brain tends to become overwhelmed and less effective at processing information, leading to a decrease in creative thinking.
Another study shows that listening to music while driving has certain benefits as well. In the study, the drivers with “safe” music playing in the car tended to be more cautious while driving than the drivers with no music at all. Interestingly, however, drivers tended to make more mistakes and drive more aggressively when they were allowed to listen to music of their own choice.
Many parents assume that learning a musical instrument is helpful towards their children, and research has now backed it up. In one study, collected data has revealed that children who have learnt a musical instrument for over three years not only develop better fine motor skills and auditory discrimination abilities than non-musical students, but also have enhanced verbal ability and nonverbal reasoning, even though these two skills are quite distinct from musical talents.
However, music does not only affect our brains. Personal music preferences and tastes can also be very telling of an individual’s personality. A study at Herriot-Watt University found that:
Jazz fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing and at ease
Classical music fans have high self-esteem, are creative, introvert and at ease
Rap fans have high self-esteem and are outgoing
Dance fans are creative and outgoing but not gentle
Bollywood fans are creative and outgoing
Chart pop fans have high self-esteem, are hardworking, outgoing and gentle, but are not creative and not at ease
There is currently still ongoing research on how music affects the brain, as well as how that research can be used towards helping musicians and non-musicians alike. Music is such a large part of nearly everyone’s life, and it is fascinating to learn about the science behind it.
