MUSIC AND THE HUMAN BRAIN
Written by : Dr . Tara Rajendran , a physician-musician , and the leading advocate of introducing music into Indian palliative oncology infrastructure .
Isn ’ t music ’ s inherent ability to evoke emotion an intriguing medical mystery ? Music is an extensive-ly structured auditory language entailing complex perception , cognition , and motor control in the brain . Ancient men , 30,000 years ago , were already playing jaw harps and vulture bone flutes . Every culture known throughout the world has had music , and it is a fundamental trait of the human spe-cies .
Pinna collects sound waves , and through the external auditory canal , they reach the eardrum . It starts to vibrate , and they are relayed along the chain of middle ear bones . From the stapes , the third bone , vibrations are transmitted to the spiral-shaped cochlea of the inner ear , filled with fluid that encompasses ten-thousands of tiny hair cells . They sway with the fluid waves and release chemical neurotransmitters that activate the cochlear nerve , sending tiny electric currents to the auditory cor-tex - a part of the brain ’ s temporal lobe . Research on patients with brain injuries versus imaging of healthy individuals has unexpectedly revealed no specialized brain center for music . The Pitch , timbre , rhythm , and emotional content of music are interpreted by different brain centers . Music has the power to evoke a spectrum of emotions in the listener , both conscious and unconscious . The ‘ spine chills ’ we get from listening to that specific segment of a musical piece light up our brain ’ s ‘ reward center ,’ similar to any other pleasurable stimuli ranging from chocolate to addictive drugs .
Current research suggests that music can enhance the function of neural networks , reduce the heart rate and blood pressure , and provide comfort to patients undergoing surgery . It ’ s also used in heart attack and stroke rehabilitation . Music also shown to lower blood level of the stress hormone , adrenaline and the inflammationpromoting cytokine interleukin-6 .
A review published in 2010 reported that learning to play an instrument may enhance the brain ’ s ability to master functions that encompass language skills , attention , and memory . There are interest-ing contrasts in the brain structure of trained musicians versus non-musicians . Professionally trained musicians have a larger corpus callosum , motor , and auditory regions compared to non-musicians . That said , we are yet to comprehend whether these variations arise from the intensive musical train-ing commencing from a very young age or whether individuals who choose to study music in early childhood have innately “ unusual ” brain structure , which predisposes them to music or whether a mixture of both . As studies on music and the brain continues , we can hope for a greater comprehen-sion of the psychoneuroendocrinology of music .
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