Why Music?

Is music an integral part of your life? For most of you, the answer is yes. Whether it's playing an instrument or watching movies with an epic soundtrack, music is ingrained in our lives. It evokes a feeling whenever we listen to it. When we listen to music, dopamine is released. It's the same chemical that is released when you eat amazing food or take psychoactive drugs. So how does music affect our brain, and why do we like it so much?

Dopamine 

Your brain chemistry is altered when you listen to music.  Music, like food or sex, releases dopamine in our brain, which causes us to feel pleasure. Dopamine plays important roles in attention, memory, mood, learning, sleep, and movement. When dopamine is released, you are happier. The strongest release of dopamine is when music is at its emotional peak.

Dopamine and Seratonin Pathways

The Brain

The amygdala, which processes emotion, and the hippocampus, which is vital for memory, influences our music preferences. Music stimulates the amygdala much like how other stimuli such as scent and sound affect it. The hippocampus is responsible for our emotional responses via regulation of our brain's chemical response. Positive emotions evoked from listening to music that we enjoy decreases the amount cortisol, a stress hormone, via the hippocampus. Our brain reacts to emotional music; the hippocampus stimulates the release of brain chemicals that affect the brain's function. It has been hypothesized that the more we listen to music that evokes emotion, the more our emotional responses to music change.

Music's effect on the brain

I have always loved classical music. Both of my parents are classical musicians and classical music was the only thing I listened to as a kid. After I began middle school, I explored other genres of music and my whole perspective on music changed.  I like drastically different music that ranges from Tchaikovsky to Khalid.

Reinforcing musical patterns by playing the violin with my brother

Patterns

We typically don't like genres of music that we're not familiar with. People like the predictability of music. One's reaction to music stems from their past musical experiences. Your brain will react to music based on past musical experiences and will choose whether or not to activate your brain's pleasure center. If you have never heard classical music before, it is very likely that you will not enjoy it the first time. Our music preferences change over time, and the familiarity of certain music will allow you to enjoy it more. You just have to step out of your comfort zone!

Consonant vs Dissonant Intervals

Sounds can effect listeners in different ways. In general, consonant intervals are more pleasant to listeners whereas dissonant intervals evoke a sense of unease and tension. The disposition of dissonant and consonant intervals can be used to evoke a specific mood or feeling.

A study led by Josh McDermott, an assistant professor of neuroscience at MIT, and Ricado Godoy, a professor at Brandeis University, showed that the Amazonian tribe known as Tismane were indifferent to consonant and dissonant intervals. The same test was administered to college students in the U.S. and to residents in Bolivia, who had moderate exposure to Western music. American students overwhelmingly preferred consonant intervals to dissonant ones while the Bolivians' preferences was in between that of American students and Amazonians. It was determined that the common preference for consonant musical chords is likely due to cultural, and not biological factors. Humans are not biologically programmed to prefer any type of music; it is more nurture than nature.

Explore!

Explore genres that you usually wouldn't! Release that dopamine!