How does music affect the brain?

In this project, we talk about how different types of music affect the brain in different ways.
DeAnne Zhu Mirthika Asok
Grade 6

Problem

We were really curious about how music makes you feel and why. We wanted to know how different types of music made people feel different types of feelings, and how music made people think different thoughts.

Method

We decided we would use a survey method using Google Forms to interview people and collect information. Also,  in order not to leak information and infringe on people’s privacy, we decided to keep all the information private and only use the information with permission.

Research

  1. How does music make people feel?
  2. Does different music evoke different emotions or thoughts?
  3. What parts of the brain trigger when you hear different types of music?
  4. How sound travels through the your ears to the auditory cortex

1. Music can make people feel at least 13 different overarching feelings which include, amusement, joy, beauty, relaxation, sadness, dreaminess, triumph, anxiety, annoyance, and feeling pumped up.  

 

2. According to our survey, the majority of people love listening to pop music. Reasons they give include…

  • “It makes me energetic and excited”
  • “Because the music is happy and makes my brain feel cleared”
  • “I listen to this type of music because the vocals are really good and it makes me feel really, really happy”
  • “I feel this way because when I put on my earphones and listen, these are the only sounds I hear and I feel (at that point) that I can achieve anything.”
  • “Because Taylor Swift sings pop + country”
  • “It sounds good”
  • “it is cool”
  • “because i like it”
  • “cus it sounds good”
  • “it sounds fun and energetic”

People who like classical music say that…

  • “because i like the instruments used”
  • “soothing, calming and relaxing”

People who like electronic or techno music say…

  • “Because it usually has a good beat and makes me imagine cool ideas.”
  • “Because music is generally amusing/nice by itself and added with the thrill/kick of the instruments/rhythm, electric/techno music is very fun to listen to, in my opinion.”

People who like instrumental music say…

  • “It makes noise that sounds beautiful”
  • “I usually listen to music that sounds happy”

People who like rap music say…

  • “bc it makes me happy and energized”
  • “bc i have energy”

3. What parts of the brain trigger when you hear different types of music?

 

Auditory Cortex- When music enters and then gets shuttled off to the different parts of the brain. It stops at specialized processing units in the auditory cortex. It tracks loudness, pitch, rhythm and things like that. 

 

Visual Cortex- There's visual cortex activation when you're reading music as a musician or watching music.    

 

Motor Cortex- There is the motor cortex, when you are tapping your feet, snapping your fingers, or clapping your hands. 

 

Cerebellum- The cerebellum which mediates the emotional responses. 

 

Hippocampus- The memory system in the hippocampus, hearing a familiar passage, and finding it somewhere in your memory banks.  

 

4. How sound travel through your ears to the auditory cortex

 

The structures of the cochlea vibrate in response to sound with a specific vibratory pattern. This vibratory pattern (the traveling wave) allows the inner hair cells and their connections to the auditory nerve to send signals to the brainstem and brain about the sound's vibration and its frequency content.


 

Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdn1acliXFFKCdfEIT2qBRa4QjLyX0IDh1VPP7u6netO2XekQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

3. The auditory cortex, prefrontal cortex, temporal lobe, and cerebrum are the main parts of the brain affected by music.

Music can trigger the motor cortex. Music has actually been shown to have a positive impact on motor skills because it encourages movement like dancing.

The limbic system can be affected by music as well. For example, part of 

 

Sources

How Does Music Help Children's Development? - Mussila

Why — and How — Music Moves Us | Pfizer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRE624795zU&t=163s

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207834/#:~:text=The%20structures%20of%20the%20cochlea,vibration%20and%20its%20frequency%20content.

https://www.vedantu.com/blog/interesting-facts-about-music

 

Data

We have observed that many 10-12 year olds love pop and country music and listen to it more often. Usually this is because it is jumpy and has a nice tune. Pop music often has a feel good factor and lights up different parts of the brain. We also recently figured out that music most affects the temporal lobe of your brain and in the temporal lobe, it is mostly the auditory cortex. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, we wanted to find out how music affects the brain because we both love listening to music and know many songs and wanted to explore more about how music and the brain are related. Based on our research, we guessed that the temporal and the frontal lobe will be the most affected by music. The reason we thought about these parts of the brain is because we thought most people want to listen to music and be happy. Our experiment/ google form showed that many people love listening to pop music because it is happy, and exciting. Although, according to our graphs, almost everyone hates rock and heavy metal music. Reasons that they give include “It’s too loud and noisy” and “It makes an annoying pounding sound in my head.”. Our hypothesis was therefore incorrect because insead of the temporal and frontal lobe being the most affected by music, the auditory cortex is. We were also incorrect about classical music being famous and people's favorite type of music. Although, we were correct about pop music being the most famous due to its fun and jumpy rhythm. I believe this is because we thought that the frontal lobe is very dominant against the other lobes and it is the biggest.

 

Citations

 Clin Med (Lond). 2008 Feb;8(1):32-6. doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.8-1-32. PMID: 18335666; PMCID: PMC4953706.

Chatenet, L. G., Jaâfour, O., Learning music in times of lockdown (Radio column), Learning music in times of lockdown (Radio column) – Capian

Mautz, S., 2019 February 14 Want to Boost Your Productivity? Science Says Listen to Music With These 6 Rules In Mind | Inc.com

  •  Chen, W.G. et. al.  (2022). Music and Brain Circuitry: Strategies for Strengthening Evidence-Based Research for Music-Based Interventions. Journal of Neuroscience 9 November 2022, 42 (45) 8498-8507; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1135-22.2022
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Acknowledgement

First and foremost, we are extremely grateful to our parents, who have assisted us throughout our journey. Our parents have supported us the whole way through, and helped us through our struggles. They have arranged meetings for this project and drove far to pick up our trifold. We would also like to thank our great teachers Mrs. Lai, Mr. Earle, and Ms. Mah for their assistance this year and hopefully for many years to come. They have helped us a lot to understand Science Fair, and given us lots of tips and ideas. Without them we wouldn’t have even known to write a logbook! We also want to say thanks to Westmount Charter School for being such a caring and inclusive community. Lastly, we extend our gratitude towards all the nice people who volunteered to fill out our survey. We couldn’t have done it without you.