11/13: Brain Health and Music
Recording:
Did you miss the class, or do you want to hear the lesson in full? Bridget Wright has created a video of the class lesson. Enjoy!
Sent by a student, this song was composed from a poem by a contemporary Mongolian poet who had never seen her father's homeland and then spend 9 years with him trying to appreciate his Mongolian roots. Title: Father's Prarie and Mother's River. It is sung in Mandarin Chinese. Beautiful!
Music and Brain Health
In this lesson, we start with “how does music benefit the brain?” and learn about the different brain regions that are strengthened by the experience of playing, listening to, and dancing to music. Then, we will learn evidence-based, actionable ways to leverage music to improve cognition, motivation and quality of life. Although there is a largely subjective component to music, there is research that can guide the development of our own protocols for the application, duration and type of music we listen to to enhance our brain health.
“The story of your brain on music is the story of an exquisite orchestration of brain regions, involving both the oldest and newest parts of the human brain, and regions as far apart as the cerebellum in the back of the head and the frontal lobes just behind your eyes. It involves a precision choreography... between logical prediction systems and emotional reward systems.... it reminds us of other music we have heard, and it activates memory traces of emotional times of our lives. Your brain on music is all about... connections.”
(Daniel Levitin, This is your Brain on Music, 2006).
How does music benefit the brain?
Music is inextricably linked to song and dance and all three likely evolved before language. Music is perhaps the fundamental form of human communication. Music can evoke emotion with greater nuance than language. It is experienced in every region of the brain, and prompts the propensity to move. Babies three months and older will inherently respond to music with rhythmic movements of their limbs and torso (Zentner and Eerola 2010). Music is a universal experience, so the connections not only span our brains and bodies, but also serve to foster social connections that support our physical, mental and emotional health through all stages of life. (Surgeon General Murthy 2023).
Video:
A little long, but this is a great introduction to our topic. Alan Harvey is a musician and a neuroscientist who believes that music can change our perception of the world. Really a GREAT video!
Brain activity
Just like the body, the brain responds to repeated tasks by becoming more efficient, yet it is also subject to the principle “use it or lose it.” Consistently activating the following brain areas can enhance them through neurogenesis, myelination and enhanced blood flow to the region, and stave off age or inactivity-related losses.
Brain imaging tools such as functional MRI and EEG provide a glimpse into the brain. Functional MRI (fMRI) is used to study the brain's response to music by observing changes in blood flow within the brain, which correlates with neural activity. This is possible because when a brain region is more active it consumes more oxygen, and to meet this increased demand, blood flow to that region also increases. The fMRI detects these changes in blood flow by measuring the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal.
In an fMRI image, you would see a cross-sectional view of the brain, often in a series of slices. These images are usually in grayscale, showing the structure of the brain, but the areas of activation are highlighted in color. When a person is listening to music, the areas that are involved in processing the auditory stimulus, emotional response, memory, and other related cognitive processes would be lit up with colors.
The colors on the fMRI images represent different levels of brain activity, with warmer colors like red and yellow typically indicating higher levels of activity and cooler colors like blue and green indicating lower levels of activity.
An EEG, or electroencephalogram, is a method used to record electrical activity of the brain. It involves the use of sensors, called electrodes, which are placed on the scalp. These electrodes pick up the electrical signals produced by the brain cells (neurons) as they communicate with each other. EEG is particularly good at detecting the rapid changes that occur in the brain because it has high temporal resolution, meaning it can measure these changes in milliseconds.
When studying the response to music, an EEG can indicate things such as state of the mind (relaxed or alert), changes in the electrical activity due to responses to the music, the possible alignment of your brain to the music, emotional and cognitive changes due to the music, and music recognition.
fMRI image for person listening to music https://best-alzheimers-products.com/music-and-the-brain.html
EEG measurements of a person listening to different types of music https://www.researchgate.net/figure/EEG-signals-and-the-generated-music-from-electrodes-F3-left-hemisphere-and-F4-right_fig2_236253197
Brain imaging of subjects listening to music shows widespread activation of brain areas including but not limited to:
Frontal Cortex (abstract thinking, pattern recognition and prediction)
Example: When the pattern is broken, with an unexpected sound or lack of sound, it can be perceived as delightful and trigger a release of dopamine, or it can be perceived as unpleasant and dissonant.
Amygdala (emotion)
Example: Background music in movies may induce suspense like Jaws, or fear like war drums. Changing the background music can leave the audience with a profoundly different perception of every aspect of a movie (Patel 2013).
Hippocampus (memory)
Example: A song reminds you of a specific moment in high school, where you were, the people you were with and a distinct emotion in more detail than you can describe with words. Music will strengthen the connections to these contextual “tags” that enhance memory retention.
Visual Cortex (imagery)
Examples: The lyrics of a song arouse a visual image of the setting the songwriter is trying to convey, and other images of your memories relating to these concepts appear in your mind’s eye.
Motor Cortex (movement)
Examples: head bobbing, toe tapping or outright dancing is an output of the motor cortex when listening to music. Intentional inhibiting of movement will still be facilitated by the brain, but instead by the “no-go” pathway of the basal ganglia.
Prefrontal Cortex (executive function and attention)
Example: Each time you listen to a song, you may pay attention to a different instrument or feature of that song, or connect the lyrics to a current event in your life.
Temporal Lobes (sensory processing, language comprehension, emotional processing, storing and retrieving memories)
Examples:
1. The vibrations that we process as auditory information are encoded into electrochemical impulses before they are experienced as a sensory perception of sound. The sequence of sounds strung together are processed as language.
2. Sad music can be used to process emotions after a tragedy.
3. Music is connected to the context in which it was experienced to form a memory with it. Later, listening to that song will recall those memories with the most salient contextual factors like people, places and emotions in a way that cannot be captured with language.
Playing a Musical Instrument
Musicians often have a higher level of executive function (planning, strategizing and attending to details) in academic and social settings.
Musicians have better memory. This is because the increased number of connections give each memory multiple “tags” such as a conceptual, emotional, audio and contextual tags.
When we compare the brains of musicians to non-musicians, we find an increase in gray matter volume in multiple brain regions, some isolated increases in white matter and moderate increases in fMRI activation of other regions.
“Because music can activate almost all brain regions and networks, it can help to keep a myriad of brain pathways and networks strong, including those networks that are involved in well-being, learning, cognitive function, quality of life, and happiness” (Budson, MD 2020).
The increase in brain volume can be attributed to repeated activation of neurons which increases neurogenesis, myelination and blood flow in the brain region and associated neurons.
Gray matter is composed of the cell bodies and dendrites of the brain cells (neurons) that form connections among themselves. For example, connecting the auditory processing of music (temporal lobe) to memories (hippocampus) to the frontal lobe that predicts what sounds or lyrics will come next. In playing the music, one is listening to the music they are playing and translating those predictions into instrument-specific movements of their body to play the music, move their vocal cords to sing and perhaps dance along to the beat. In this way, the brain and body are linked via pre-motor (movement planning) and motor (action) neurons that fortify the body through physical activity and sync it to the brain.
Gray and white matter in the brain https://www.simplypsychology.org/what-is-grey-matter-in-the-brain.html
Playing an instrument develops and maintains fine motor skills. For example, the subtle movements of the fingers on a violin, guitar or piano strengthen the same pre-motor and motor neurons needed for functional fine-motor skills like typing, packaging a gift or buttoning a shirt. Based on the “use it or lose it,” principle of neuroplasticity, it is important to continually engage in physical activities to maintain the capacity to do them, and fine motor skills are no exception. (Kleim, JA & Jones TA, 2008).
The corpus callosum is the brain region that connect the left and right hemispheres. We see an increase in white matter integrity in musicians. Development of this area improves the speed and diversity of neuronal connections that harness the contributions of both hemispheres listed below. This may also enhance a musician’s ability to problem-solve.
The left hemisphere is preferentially involved in mathematics and language. In music, this is activated in the cognitive processes related to reading and thinking about musical score (sheet music) as each note is encoded as a specific letter and pitch that connects visual information (reading sheet music) with auditory information (hearing a note). The language component is involved in the lyrics of singing.
The right hemisphere is preferentially involved in creativity and novelty. In the context of playing music, this is what allows a musician to experiment and create new pieces of music. They may add on to what are existing patterns of rhyme and rhythm with songwriting and improvising new renditions of musical pieces.
The basal ganglia is involved in the initiation of and withholding action via the dopamine reward and motivation systems. This area of the brain is responsible for creating the drive to move along with music. Activity within the basal ganglia is increased with music above 100-140 average beats per minute.
The cerebellum is associated with coordination and motor control. When listening to music, it encodes rhythmic timing and processing to coordinate movements via downstream motor neurons. This allows the musicians and listeners to follow and predict the music. It is also involved in the coordination needed to play an instrument.
Some nice videos which explain the impact of music on the brain
Music and aging
AARP survey data shows that those with early exposure to music as a child reported an 18% higher ability to learn new things, compared with those who were not notably exposed to music.
However, it is never too late!
Active music engagement in those over 50 show higher levels of happiness, cognitive function and well-being in those without early music exposure. (Budson 2020).
How to use music for your benefit
Physical Activity: Because music increases the propensity to move, it is well suited for dance and other physical activity to reap even more benefits for your brain and body. Music provides multiple layers of tempo to sync your breathing and body movements so your whole body can resonate. Synchronizing your pace of walking, running, rowing, dancing, etc., with the tempo of the music reduces the rate of perceived exertion and the discomfort of exercise. Heart rate, breathing and blood pressure all increase with fast tempo music, to prepare you for exercise, and decrease with a slow tempo, to relax. Heart rate variability, a beneficial measure, increases for people that listen to 10-30 minutes per day, and resting heart rate goes down. (Kulinski et al 2022).
Social Connection: Music is universal across all people, so it is apt for social connection that can reduce anxiety, foster relationships and bolster mental health. Social connection and community are healing towards our epidemic of loneliness and isolation. Concerts, live music, Zumba and other family or community events that incorporate music are all therapeutic in this way (U.S. Surgeon General Murthy 2023).
Motivation/ Physical Work: Listen to music with a tempo of 100-150 beats per minute or greater to increase the propensity to move and take action, independent of lyrics or familiarity with the song. This is due to the high tempo music causing the release of dopamine and adrenaline that shift the body to be ready to move. This is especially important before exercise or physical labor that you may not want to do otherwise (Huberman 2023).
Learning/ Cognitive Work: Listening to music while performing cognitive work that requires deep attention may actually be disadvantageous, especially if the music has lyrics and it is your favorite music. This is because it can compete with the semantic narrative within one’s mind as you read or think about what you will write or type next. Essentially, this is attempting to multi-task, simultaneously taking in two different scripts of language processing that will most likely result in distraction away from the cognitive task.
In controlled studies, complete silence showed the best performance on cognitive tasks. However, there were other studies that showed a benefit to white noise, brown noise and 40 Hertz binaural beats. Zero-cost access to these soundtracks can be found on many audio platforms. Therefore, it may be worth it to try all three of these to find what works for you, because silence may not be available, depending on your home or work environment. (Huberman 2023).
Listening to music before and during breaks is a cognitive enhancer when you return to focused cognitive work, typically in 90 minute blocks or less.
Emotional Regulation: Music can shift our mood and reduce anxiety. The frequency of sounds (tempo) synchronizes the release of neurotransmitters in the brain at the same cadence of the music. This is why sad music can make us feel sad, and happy music can make us feel happy. Lyz Cooper, the founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy, found the minimum effective dose of music was 13 minutes. In her survey study of 7581 participants, Music as Medicine (2022), she documented 90% of people report that they listen to music to relax. 82% of people listen to music to make them feel happy. 46% say that they listen to music to process their emotional state of sadness. 32.5% of people listen to music to increase their concentration. However as mentioned above, this may be misguided due to the controlled studies demonstrating that silence, white or brown noise, and 40 Hz biauranal beats are superior to instrumental music and are significantly better than familiar, favorable and lyrical music for concentration on cognitive work. There was shown to be no difference in creating states of happiness between inspirational lyrics and nonsensical lyrics, but rather the tempo of the music was the only relevant factor.
Shifting one’s emotional state to happiness has been studied to reach statistical significance by listening to faster cadence music (100-150 beats per minute or more) for 9 minutes or more.
Shifting one’s emotional state to sadness for the processing of somber emotions and overcoming tragedy or loss reaches the threshold of statistical significance at 13 minutes or more of slower cadence music of 50-60 beats per minute or slower. The lyrical content of the slower music was not statistically significant. However, it is still a philosophical debate whether the psychological model of catharsis (embracing sad thoughts and feelings to overcome them) is more effective at overcoming sadness than to counter those feelings by avoiding negative feelings and leaning into positivity and gratitude instead. It is likely varied depending on the individual, magnitude and context of the tragedy.
Anxiety Relief: A study from University of Pennsylvania found listening to one specific song, “Weightless,” by Marconi Union for only three minutes reduced anxiety 65%, as effective as midazolam, a commonly-prescribed benzodiazapene, without the dangerous side effects and abuse potential. Although this was the only song studied, it is a testament to the anxiolytic (anxiety-reducing) effects of music, and suggests there are likely many other slow-cadence songs that can induce relaxation and powerfully reduce anxiety. (Graff et al 2019).
Practical tip:
There are short minutes-long versions or long 10 hour version of “Weightless” by Marconi Union available at zero cost on Youtube.
The mathematical and physiological reason why this song is so effective at reducing anxiety is that it sustains a tempo of 60 beats per minute, which is near the average resting heart rate, and gradually decreases to 50 beats per minute. As the tempo slows, so does your heart rate and you experience a decrease in blood pressure.
Reductions in anxiety from listening to this song will improve sleep, which allows the brain to repair overnight, and improve mood, learning and memory during the waking hours.
Anxiety causes heightened activation of the amygdala which is responsible for fear, emotion and primitive drives that suppresses the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for attention to what is important, problem-solving, maintaining a working memory, moderating social behavior and personality expression. In short, utilizing our prefrontal cortex is what allows us to think rationally, be considerate of others and forgo immediate pleasure-seeking to meet our long-term goals. (Akirav and Maroun 2007).
Summary
Playing music, dancing to music and even simply listening to at least 10-30 minutes of music each day is profoundly beneficial for widespread regions of the brain; few activities come close in the number of brain networks activated.
Musicians have more brain volume in several brain regions involved in reading, listening to and physically playing music, which is most of them.
Dance is an excellent way to leverage the increased propensity to move that makes physical activity easier and leads to more social connection.
Select higher tempo music to energize, motivate and uplift mood.
Match pace of physical movement with tempo to reduce exercise discomfort and improve exercise enjoyment.
Select slower tempo music, such as “Weightless” by Marconi Union to process sad feelings and reduce anxiety through reductions in blood pressure and heart rate.
Cognitive work is typically best done in silence, but white noise, and brown noise of 40 Hz Binaural beats may also be used to drown out distractions.
References
Akirav, I., & Maroun, M. (2007). The role of the medial prefrontal cortex-amygdala circuit in stress effects on the extinction of fear. Neural plasticity, 2007, 30873. https://doi.org/10.1155/2007/30873
Budson, Andrew E., MD, (2020). Why is Music Good for the Brain? Harvard Health Blog. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-is-music-good-for-the-brain-2020100721062
Cooper, Lyz, (2022) Music as Medicine. British Academy of Sound Therapy. https://britishacademyofsoundtherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Deezer-Health-and-Wellbeing-research-short-.pdf
Veena Graff, Lu Cai, Ignacio Badiola and Nabil M Elkassabany. Music versus midazolam during preoperative nerve block placements: a prospective randomized controlled study. Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, 2019 DOI: 10.1136/rapm-2018-100251
Huberman, Andrew, PhD (Sept 18 2023). How to Use Music to Boost Motivation, Mood & Improve Learning. https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/how-to-use-music-to-boost-motivation-mood-and-improve-learning
Kleim, JA & Jones TA, (2008). Principles of exercise-dependent neural plasticity: Implications for rehabilitation after brain damage. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research (51): 225-239.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18230848/
Kulinski, J., Ofori, E. K., Visotcky, A., Smith, A., Sparapani, R., & Fleg, J. L. (2022). Effects of music on the cardiovascular system. Trends in cardiovascular medicine, 32(6), 390–398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcm.2021.06.004
Olszewska et al. (2021). How Musical Training Shapes the Adult Brain: Predispositions and Neuroplasticity. Frontiers in Neuroscience. Vol 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.630829
Patel, Aniruddh, neuroscientist (2013). The Art of the Score: Mind, Music and Moving Images. http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/programs/the_mind_music_and_moving_image/
U.S. Public Health Service. (2023). Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf
Zentner, M., & Eerola, T. (2010). Rhythmic engagement with music in infancy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(13), 5768–5773. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1000121107