We hypothesize that the heavy metal music will produce beta waves on the EEG indicating that the subjects are wide awake and alert because the music is very loud and fast paced. For classical music, we hypothesize that the EEG will indicate more Alpha waves meaning the subject is feeling more calm and relaxed because of the light and slow paced feel of the music.

Looking at how the brain’s functional connectivity (FC) will change when exposed to different types of music

Brainwave spectrum?

• Gamma
  • Fastest brainwaves
  • Produced when you are actively involved in processing information and learning or when you are concentrating 
  • Tend to measure upward of 35Hz
• Beta
  • Produced when you are wide awake, alert and focused
  • Doing activities of you daily life and making decisions
  • Higher speed, between 12 and 35Hz
• Alpha
  • Middle of brainwave spectrum
  • Produced when you are not focusing too hard and feeling relaxed and calm

• Theta
  • Light sleep or extremely relaxed
  • Measure between 4 and 8Hz
• Delta
  • Deep state of dreamless sleep
  • Slowest type of brainwave (between 0.5 and 4Hz)

What is Alpha in relation to an eeg?

• Indicate you are in a state of wakeful rest
• Type of brain wave your brain produces
• Brain waves are measured by frequency, which is cycles per second, or hertz (Hz), and they range from very slow to very fast. 
• Alpha waves fit in the middle of the spectrum, between theta waves and beta waves.
• Your brain produces these waves when you are not concentrating too hard
• When your brain produces these waves, you are most likely feel calm and relaxed

Benefits of Alpha waves

• When your brain produces these waves, it is responding to activities such as meditation and rest that may help reduce your stress levels and make you feel calmer
• If you can produce alpha waves, you are most likely able to tap into a state that can help get you rest and relaxation
• Boosting alpha waves may increase your creativity
• In a study done in 2015, researchers found that they were able to create a surge in creativity if they specifically focused on enhancing alpha waves

Can you produce/increase Alpha waves?

• A 2015 study suggested that meditation and mindfulness training could achieve and increase in alpha waves

What are Beta waves in relation to an eeg?

• fall into the 12-38 Hz range. 
• Generally produced when the patient is in an awakened state
• Often associated with conscious thought and  

What are Theta in relation to an EEG?

•  An EEG scan will measure theta wave in the 4 to 8 Hz range.
• Theta waves are slower than gamma, beta, and alpha waves, but faster than delta waves
• Theta waves are generally produced when you are just barely falling asleep, or right when you are waking up
• Also can  occur when you are awake, but feeling very relaxed  (the state often referred to as “autopilot”)

Benefits of theta waves

• When theta waves are produced, your mind enters a state of deep relaxation, reducing stress and anxiety 
• Theta waves are often associated with the state when you are falling asleep, so producing theta  waves can have a positive impact on the how well you sleep

What have other studies shown?

• Classical music is shown to produce dopamine, reduce cortisol, and even improve brain function.

How does music affect your mood?

• Listening to music increases blood flow to brain regions that generate and control emotions.
• The limbic system, which is involved in processing emotions and controlling memory, “lights” up when our ears perceive music
• As your brain becomes familiar with a particular song, your body may release dopamine upon hearing just the first few notes of the song.

What is the limbic system

• is a group of interconnected brain structures that help regulate your emotions and behavior.
• processing your memory, thoughts and motivations, then tell your body how to respond.

How does an EEG scan work?(full name: electroencephalogram)

• Small sensors are connected to the subject’s head. These pick up the electrical signals produced by the brain
• The sensors are small metal disks connected to thin wires 
• Electrical charges are a result of your brain’s activity
• These charges are amplified and appear on a graph on a computer 
• The electrodes attach to a machine that monitors the electrical signals that your brain cells (neurons) make to communicate with each other. Completely painless

What does an EEG scan tell you?

•  Monitoring the communication between your brain cells shows how well the different areas of your brain are working.
• measures electrical activity in the brain

How does an EEG relate to how your brain is responding to certain stimuli?

• EEGs can be used to diagnose epilepsy, sleeping disorders, brain tumors and brain death

Controlled

• the age of the participants (all participants are in grade 9)
• The type of scan (EEG)
• The location the scan takes place
• The songs played
• All participants were lying down
• The volume of the music
• The speaker that was used
• The same words were used when asking the participants to open and close there eyes
• All participants were in the room with someone else beside them
• The time that participants had to open their eyes at
• The amount of time their eyes were open/closed for
• Same amount of electrodes were used for each participant
• No caffeine was consumed by participants 24 hours in advance

Manipulated

• The type of music played
• Classical - Orchestral Suite No.3 in D major By J.S Bach
• Heavy Metal - Mr.Scary By: Dokken 

Responding

• How the brain reacts to the music based on the EEG scan
• What types of waves were produced (delta, theta, alpha, beta or gamma)

Procedure Notes

• 6 test subjects
• 2 types of music
  • Classical - Orchestral Suite No.3 in D major By J.S Bach
  • Heavy Metal - Mr.Scary By: Dokken 
• Participants don’t have any hair products or use conditioner the day before/day of
• Make sure participants don’t have caffeine
• Have participants close their eyes for the scan but open their for 5 seconds every minute to avoid people falling asleep
• Record baseline results, results form metal music and results from classical music

During Experiment

1. Start with 2 minutes of silence
2. Then play metal music (3mins)
3. Then have 3 minutes of silence (Or until they return to baseline reading)
4. Then play classical music(3mins)
5. Have participants fill out a short questionnaire after the scan is complete

After Experiment

• Look at similarities in brain scans across participants for each genre
• See what parts of the brain different genres activate
• Look at what the activated part of the brain is responsible for

Observations from the expert:

Participant 1

Silence: Alpha 10hz
Mild amount of theta
This patient is already somewhat in a drowsy state

Classical: Increase in amount of theta, decrease in amount of alpha, amplitude stayed the same
This patient is further into drowsy state
Metal: Increase in alpha and beta, theta stayed the same
The patient was less in a state of drowsiness than the silence and classical

Participant 2

Silence: Alpha 9hz
No theta
The patient is in an awake state
Classical: Decrease in the amount of alpha and its amplitude
Increase in theta
During the classical part the patient fell into a drowsy state
Metal: There was no changes in alpha compared to the classical but there was an decrease in
theta suggesting that the patient was not relaxing during the metal and more awake

Participant 3

Silence: Alpha 9 hz
No theta
The patient is in awake state
Classical: Decrease in amplitude of the alpha suggesting a slight relaxation into drowsiness
Metal: There was very mild increase in theta suggesting a deeper drowsiness than classical

Participant 4

Silence: ++ beta
Alpha 10 hz
No theta, the patient is in awake state
Classical: No changes in both beta and alpha with some breakthrough theta suggesting a mild
drowsiness state
Metal: increase in theta with same beta (could be medication induced) with a decrease in alpha
suggesting a deeper drowsiness than classical

Participant  5

Silence: ++beta
Alpha 10hz
No theta, the patient is in awake state
Classical: Significant increase in theta compared to the silence, the alpha and beta were
somewhat unchanged suggesting a mild drowsiness state
Metal: Decrease in alpha amplitude and increase in theta amplitude suggesting a deeper
drowsiness than the classical almost borderline first stage of sleep.

Participant 6

Silence: Alpha 12hz
No theta, the patient is in awake state
Classical: Increase in the amount of theta and decrease in the amount of alpha suggesting a mild
state of drowsiness.
Metal: Increase in amount of beta, no theta and same alpha at 12 hz suggesting that this patient
was somewhat more alert during the metal part.

Our observations:

• Brain waves reacted more forcefully to the sound of Natalie’s voice saying “open your eyes” rather than when their eyes were actually open
• A lot of activity when we were talking to them
• Mostly even waves throughout music of the same type
• Sometimes the waves reacted with the music (eg. brain waves went up when the music hit a particularly loud or hard note)

General Analysis

The observations made by the specialist was that metal music put half of our participants to sleep. One explanation for this could have been that when you are in a sleepy state or state of deep rest, you are not focusing too hard on anything. If you are not focusing, this means that the EEG would have registered slower brain waves such as theta waves. Metal music may prevent people from focusing because of its loud sound and general chaos. Sometimes when you are trying to sleep you can't because you are thinking of too many things but metal music may prevent your ability to think leaving you with an empty mind making it easier for you to rest.

The other half of our participants were seen to have an increase in beta and alpha waves. These types of waves indicate conscious thought and awakeness or wakeful rest respectively. This state of wakefulness could be explained by the way that metal music is very loud and hard to tune out, forcing the participant into a state of wakefulness which is why beta and alpha waves were registered on the EEG. 

Unlike the metal music, where the results were split among participants, in the classical music, all participants were seen to be in a drowsy state with the EEG registering more theta waves with fewer alpha waves. Theta waves indicate a very relaxed and sleepy state often referred to as autopilot where your brain is not fully conscious but not quite asleep. The sleepy state experienced by our participants could be explained as a result of the quieter, more mellow music having a calming and relaxing effect on the participants.

Individual Analysis

1. Participant 1 

This participant had 10hz of alpha and a mild amount of theta when they were at baseline during the silence. This indicates that the participant is already somewhat in a drowsy state, perhaps indicating they didn’t have a full sleep the previous night. During classical music, there was an increase in the amount of theta waves, a decrease in the amount of alpha, and amplitude stayed the same. This indicates that the participant has fallen further into a drowsy state. During the metal music, this participant had an increase in alpha and beta, but their theta wave amount stayed the same. This suggests that the participant was less in a state of drowsiness than the silence and classical

2. Participant 2

The EEG machine measured Alpha 9hz and no theta when this participant was at baseline during the silence indicating that the participant was in an awake state. When classical music started, there was a decrease in the amount of alpha and its amplitude, and an increase in theta. This reveals that during the classical part the patient fell into a drowsy state. During the metal music, there were no changes in alpha compared to the classical but there was a decrease in theta suggesting that the patient was not relaxing during the metal and more awake. 

3. Participant 3

At the beginning of the scan, during the silence, the EEG machine measured Alpha 9 hz and no theta, indicating that the patient is in an awake state. When the soundtrack switched to classical music, there was a decrease in amplitude of the alpha suggesting a slight relaxation into drowsiness. When it switched to metal music, there was a very mild increase in theta which suggests a deeper drowsiness than when the classical music was playing. This drowsiness could also be a result of laying in the same spot of an extended period of time. 

4. Participant 4

During the silence there was a very high increase in beta waves, the alpha waves were at 10 hz and there were no theta waves. This indicates that the patient is in an awake state. During classical music, there were no changes in both beta and alpha with some breakthrough in the theta waves suggesting a mild drowsiness state. This drowsiness could be a result of the calming and quiet melody of the music. During the metal music, there was an increase in theta waves with the same beta levels however, this could be medication induced. There was also a decrease in alpha suggesting a deeper drowsiness than classical. This increase in drowsiness could be a result of the metal music not allowing the participants brain to process information resulting in a more relaxed state with thoughts being slowed. However, this drowsiness could also be a result of the patient becoming more sleepy from laying down in the lab for so long since the metal was the second type of music played and the participant would have been lying down for a while before.

5. Participant 5

During the period of silence, there was a high increase in beta waves and the Alpha waves were at 10hz. There were no theta waves indicating that the patient is in an awake state. During the classical music, there was a significant increase in theta compared to the silence, the alpha and beta were somewhat unchanged. This suggests a mild drowsiness state which may have been induced by the gentle and calming melodies of the classical music. During the metal music, there was a decrease in alpha amplitude and increase in theta amplitude suggesting a deeper drowsiness than the classical almost borderline first stage of sleep. This increase in drowsiness may be a result of the metal music not allowing the participants brain to process information resulting in a more relaxed state with thoughts being slowed. However, this drowsiness could also be a result of the patient becoming more sleepy from laying down in the lab for so long since the metal was the second type of music played and the participant would have been lying down for a while before. Another possible reason for the increased drowsiness is if the participant did not sleep well the night before they may have drifted off during the scan.

6. Participant 6

During the period of silence the EEG scan showed Alpha waves at 12hz. There were no theta waves observed. This means that the participant is in an awake state. During the classical music, an Increase in the amount of theta and decrease in the amount of alpha was observed suggesting a mild state of drowsiness. This could be a result of the calming and slow melody of the music. During the metal music, an increase in the amount of beta, no theta and same alpha at 12 hz was observed suggesting that this participant was somewhat more alert during the metal part. This was most likely due to the louder and more fast paced melody of the song.

After completing EEG scans on eight participants, we can conclude that our hypothesis for the brain’s reaction to classical music was correct. All of our participants experienced an increase of theta waves, which can occur when you are awake, but feeling very relaxed. We hypothesized that classical music would calm and focus the participants. The scan backed up this point. We can also conclude that our hypothesis for the reaction to metal music was partially correct. During this experiment, when the metal music was played, half of our participants fell into a more relaxed state and the other half fell into a more alert state. From this, we can conclude that different people’s brains react differently to this type of music. Metal music may calm some brains, while making others more alert and ready. Our next steps in this experiment would be to control more of the possible variables. This could include getting a larger sample size for the experiment, testing other genres of music, and testing other groups of people (different ages, genders etc). Other ways that these results could be more accurate is if we get more lab time to test more subjects and increase accuracy of data, use a script when talking about the experiment so everyone gets the same information and limit talking before scan. All of these methods would strengthen that certainty that the results were error free and 100% accurate.

Analyzing the ways in which different types of music affect which types of brain waves are produced has the potential for countless scenarios. One of these being anxiety and panic attacks. Analyzing which types of music produce waves such as Theta waves and has huge potential for being able to help people cope with anxiety as these waves are indicative of a calm and relaxed state. Playing music that produces such waves has the potential to being able to calm the brain down on a subconscious level allowing the person to relax more easily. Another simpler application that this research has is studying.  Certain types of music can trigger the brain to produce more Alpha or Beta waves which are produced when your brain is actively taking in information and concentrating. By discerning which types of music produce these waves, this knowledge could be used in figuring out which types of music would be best to listen to while trying to focus. Additionally, this research has potential for helping those experiencing difficulties falling asleep (insomnia) by determining which types of music are more calming for the brain. Music that triggers Theta waves makes participants feel sleepy which has the potential for helping them fall asleep. Ultimately, researching the effect that music has on the brain has limitless potential.

Potential sources of error

• Extra talking before procedure and after the procedure 
• Gave some volunteers more information about the procedure than others 
• If an electrode fell off or the connection was weaker
• If the participant had caffeine before the scan
• If the participant used hair products before the scan
• If some participants had to wait longer before the beginning of their procedure
• If one of the electrodes was faulty
• The participants all got different amounts of sleep and food before the experiment

Limitations

• Time was a limiting factor because we were not able to get as many scans done as we would have liked because of lab availability
• This smaller sample size limited the depth of the results and the accuracy of the results
• We were limited to one type of person and were unable to get a larger population to partake in the experiment because of time and connections
• We didn’t have enough money to hire someone to run more scans so we had to rely on connections and favours to get the lab time

1.  https://www.pfizer.com/news/articles/why_and_how_music_moves_us#:~:text=Music%20and%20Mood&text=The%20limbic%20system%2C%20which%20is,when%20our%20ears%20perceive%20music.&text=The%20chills%20you%20feel%20when,of%20pleasure%20and%20well%2Dbeing. 
2. https://www.tmh.org/healthy-living/blogs/healthy-living/how-music-affects-your-mind-mood-and-body 
3. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/eeg/about/pac-20393875#:~:text=An%20electroencephalogram%20(EEG)%20is%20a,lines%20on%20an%20EEG%20recording.
4. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11703926/ 
5. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/electroencephalogram-eeg#:~:text=There%20is%20also%20no%20risk,will%20treat%20it%20right%20away. 
6. https://www.healthline.com/health/theta-waves#bottom-line 
7. https://www.healthline.com/health/alpha-brain-wav

Mr Syme, for coordinating the science fair and making this event possible.

Ms Fee, for helping us figure out what categories to enter our project into

Darrell Yip for making it possible to get the EEG scans done in the lab.

Scott Jarvis for helping us organize the EEG scans.

The lab technician who helped us administer the EEG scans in the lab.

Our volunteer participants 

• Georgia Melnyk
• Lily Campbell
• Nahla Clark
• Isla Bolin
• Maryn Schlenker
• Addy Mericle