How Music Affects the Brain

Author : Steffi Kim

It’s a long-established fact that listening to music can affect your feelings and mind. However, only relatively recently has neuroscience allowed these shifts in brain activity to actually be recorded. Music is a universally appreciated art form that, across a vast array of genres, can encompass almost every human experience or feeling. Music is what we turn to for comfort when we feel down; for concentration when studying; or for adrenaline before a sports game. Music has been found to decrease symptoms of depression, anxiety levels, and blood pressure. Moreover, listening to music can boost the immune system as well as improve alertness, memory, and cognitive functioning.

How the brain perceives music

Essentially, music is a combination of notes, rhythms, melodies, and vocals that the brain absorbs and processes as a song. Sound waves in the air create vibrations in the eardrum that then become electrical signals. The auditory nerve, spanning from the inner ear to the brain stem, encodes the details of the sound and sends it to the temporal lobe to process. The right hemisphere of the temporal lobe interprets the instrumentals and music, while the left hemisphere decodes the language and lyrics. Interestingly, the way the brain processes music is not universal: brain scans have revealed that professional musicians “hear” music differently than others do. Rather than engage the temporal lobe, listening to music causes professional musicians to employ the visual or occipital lobe, indicating that they may be visualizing sheet music or notes while listening.

Areas of the brain

Music provides a rich, in-the-moment sensory experience that activates almost the entire brain, allowing the neural pathways to be exercised and strengthened. The hypothalamus and autonomic nervous system (ANS) are affected by music, leading to changes in heart rate, sleep, mood, breathing, and other unconscious behaviors. The limbic system, which monitors reward and motivation, becomes active, and dopamine and serotonin are released, boosting happiness and enhancing focus. While music is generally beneficial, it should be noted that listening to intensely sad or angry music can lead to negative emotions and cause the brain to release cortisol. The amygdala, which governs emotions, works in conjunction with the hippocampus to recall emotional memories tied to the music. Listening to music also affects the motor system, which makes dancing or tapping your foot to the beat come naturally. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), located in the frontal lobe and implicated in decision-making, displays hyperactivity when listening to music, similar to the hyperactivity the OFC typically displays in people with OCD. An explanation for this is that the tension, anticipation, and resolution of music require high focus and concentration. Furthermore, interpreting lyrics and producing speech engages Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s Area, and, as a result, music may improve language processing.

Memory

Have you ever recalled one line of an old song, and suddenly remembered the rest of the lyrics? Songs that we listen to repeatedly can become ingrained in our implicit, or unconscious memory. People often listen to the same set of songs from their adolescence and early adulthood, however, listening to unfamiliar music is beneficial because the brain has to adapt and process new sounds. Listening to music from a past time period can help you recall old memories in vivid sensory detail. Remarkably, even though neurodegenerative diseases erode explicit memory, many patients with Alzheimer’s can still recall familiar music and lyrics. Due to muscle memory stored in the cerebellum, patients with neurodegenerative diseases may even remember how to play instruments like the piano. Attaching rhythms and melody to phrases can help the brain recall them more easily—a technique heavily used in commercials. Some studies have found that listening to Mozart while working can enhance spatial processing. Music can also boost memory by triggering neurogenesis, or the formation of neurons, in the hippocampus.

Music as therapy and treatment

Music has the power to evoke specific emotions and can be used in therapy, specifically in regard to memory and neurodegenerative diseases. By affecting the putamen, rhythms in music can temporarily reduce symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and help patients with coordination and walking. Furthermore, research has suggested that people with epilepsy can minimize the occurrence of seizures by listening to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major.

Overall, more research is needed to fully understand how music affects the brain and to explore possible medical implications.

References:

Eck, Allison. “How Music Resonates in the Brain.” Harvard Medicine Magazine, April 23, 2024. https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/how-music-resonates-brain.

Heshmat, Shahram. “Why Does Music Evoke Memories?” Psychology Today, September 14, 2021. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/202109/why-does-music-evoke-memories.

“Keep Your Brain Young with Music.” Johns Hopkins Medicine, April 13, 2022. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/keep-your-brain-young-with-music.

Magsamen, Susan. “How Music Affects Your Brain.” Time, April 28, 2023. https://time.com/6275519/how-music-affects-your-brain/.

Shepherd, Becks. “How Does Music Affect Your Brain?” LiveScience, December 15, 2022. https://www.livescience.com/how-does-music-affect-your-brain.

“Your Brain on Music.” Pegasus Magazine, October 30, 2019. https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/.