This is your brain on music
This is a collaborative post with my dear friend, Alison Hughey.
We experience music in many ways. It’s all around us throughout our lives: at parties, at sports events, in TV and movies. Because it’s so common (and usually enjoyable), we often simply enjoy it without digging into all the reasons it’s actually so good for us.
By the time you finish reading this piece, you will know how our brains process music— how this form of play can have benefits beyond simple enjoyment. How do we know all this? Alison is a music therapist with published interactive content for creative self-care. Julie has written two books on play — one for educators, one for general humans, and presented multiple lectures on the power of play.
We’re writing this a bit selfishly. We both experience Involuntary Musical Imagery-- we hear a phrase and automatically have a song in our heads. This morning, in fact, Julie failed at the NYT Connections puzzle all because she went to song lyrics in her head instead of seeing other connections. We wanted to know why our brains do this. It’s a joyful experience for us, but how many others do this too? What happens when music enters our brain? Does music impact how we think? Does the type of music matter in our capacity for creation?
Why do I randomly think of songs?
Our brains love patterns, and music comes to us as a structure that is a highly repetitive pattern. Musicians, or those with strong musical backgrounds, may experience this phenomenon more often because their (our?) brains are wired for processing music more readily. These folks are adept at recognizing musical patterns-- which can contribute to the frequency of experience. Hearing a particular song can trigger our associative memory-- those tied to certain experiences, places or people.
Sometimes our brain is searching for stimulation and music helps to fill the void of boredom.
Music and the brain
Engaging with music supercharges the connections throughout your brain. It’s like a disco party for your neurons! Because music is composed of many layers (rhythm, harmony, melody, tone quality, volume, possible lyrics) and has strong ties to our deep emotional memories (the limbic system), it’s a whole brain phenomenon.
So what happens?
1. Music enters the brain
Sound waves cause vibrations in the fluid of the cochlea, which triggers hair cells that send electrical signals to the brain. [read more]
2. Brain regions are activated
The brain's temporal lobe processes pitch and tone, the cerebellum processes rhythm, and the amygdala and hippocampus process emotions and memories. [read more]
3. Dopamine is released
When the listener finds pleasure in the music, it triggers the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes people feel happy. [read more]
4. The limbic system is activated
The limbic system monitors reward and motivation. [read more]
5. Brain function is altered
Music can improve memory, learning, and auditory processing. It can also increase the connectivity of certain brain regions. [read more]
Music can also affect other parts of the brain, including the hypothalamus and autonomic nervous system, the motor system, and Broca's area and Wernicke's area. This cross-hemispheric connectivity can increase the volume of the corpus callosum (tissue connecting the hemispheres of the brain). This is neuroprotective as we get older, and can boost neural communication (Brown and Paul, 2024).
Want to play around with how the brain responds to music? Try this interactive brain module.
How music activates our capacity for creativity
The default mode network (DMN) is a fancy phrase in neuroscience for internally- focused thoughts.
This network of interconnection sections activates when we stop focusing on external tasks, and we shift our focus inward. The DMN of creatives differs from that of the average person.
Great. So, why should we care about activating our DMN? Well, its capacity shapes our capacity for self-awareness, memory, the ability to imagine the future (make predictions), empathy, and moral judgment.
During a state of flow, the nagging inner critic is turned off. When we don't pay attention to this voice, we open up possibilities for play that were previously impossible. Creativity, risk taking, and performance all see increases.
Will any music work?
If we want to be more creative- if we want to turn off our inner critic and get in the “flow,” science tells us that we should listen to our preferred music (Wilkins et al., 2014). What happens when we do this? When listening to our music of choice,
the regions of the brain responsible for introspective thought and memory encoding are manipulated for optimal performance
Neurorehabilitation may occur (squeeeee!) Consider the potential impact of this fun finding on those with consciousness disorders (locked-in syndrome, vegetative state, or minimally conscious).
The image above shows how liked, disliked, and favorite music types impact brain connectivity. See how the liked and favorite song brain scan shows community structure differently from disliked music? Also, the favorite music brain scans show differently in the areas for episodic memory, visuospatial processing, reflections upon self, and aspects of consciousness.
As you continue to seek answers to your own questions on music and playfulness, you might be interested in the following articles:
From ho hum to extraordinary: How I navigated some big life changes in 7 steps (and LOVE my outcome)
The five qualities of playful intelligence: How I found what my life was missing
Mirror Neurons and the Power of Your Inner Circle: 5 Reasons Why Your Closest Connections Matter
Connect with us on the socials:
Julie: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn
Alison: Creative Self Care Instagram, Music Therapy Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn
References
Cross, L., Wilson, A. D., & Golonka, S. (2016, December 22). How Moving Together Brings Us Together: When Coordinated Rhythmic Movement Affects Cooperation. Frontiers in Psychology, (7). 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01983
Wilkins, R. W., Hodges, D. A., Steen, P. J., & Burdette, J. H. (2014, August 28). Network science and the effects of music preference on functional brain connectivity: From Beethoven to Eminem. Nature, 4. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep06130#Fig4
Tiemens, B., Kloos, M., Spijker, J., Ingenhoven, T., Kampman, M., & Hendriks, G. J. (2019). Lower versus higher frequency of sessions in starting outpatient mental health care and the risk of a chronic course; a naturalistic cohort study. BMC psychiatry, 19(1), 228. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2214-4
MHA. https://mhanational.org/issues/2022/mental-health-america-access-care-data
