5 Mind-Blowing Facts About Music and the Brain
Music has the ability to alter one's perception. Quite literally. It has a greater impact on your brain than you may realize. Here are five fascinating facts about music and the brain to back up my claim. Get ready to have your mind blown.
1. Advertisers use music to make you buy stuff
Starbucks, Apple, and McDonald's all own your mind. Our brains are being molded into product-buying machines thanks to music. Music in Advertising: An Analytic Paradigm was a study conducted by Ohio State University. “The association of music with the identity of a specific product may substantially aid product recall,” they discovered. “Music tends to linger in the listener's mind...even when the mind is an unwilling host,” they added.
So, even though you don't know it, the music in Apple's latest commercial maybe subconsciously influencing your decision to purchase the product.
If you're a musician who composes music for television and film, you're probably aware of how much thought and time goes into creating and selecting the perfect commercial song.
According to the study, “advertising music is perhaps the most meticulously crafted and most fretted-about music in history.” “Nationally produced television advertisements, in particular, are among the finest cultural artifacts ever created.” So, yes, companies use music to control your mind.
2. Music can get you high
Turn on a song you like to stimulate the release of dopamine and oxytocin in your brain. The “reward” part of the brain lights up when you hear music, according to The New York Times. According to them, "the idea that reward is partly related to anticipation (or the prediction of the desired outcome)" is scientifically proven.
So, without even realizing it, your brain is trying to figure out what's going to happen next when you're listening to a song. Whether or not your brain is accurate in its predictions, it rewards itself with a shot of feel-good chemicals. As a result, anticipation is an excellent tool to employ in your song. It's the substance that makes you feel like you're high on music.
3. Music can heal the brain
Music therapy is a type of treatment in which licensed practitioners use music to assist people with brain damage, heart problems, and a variety of other physical issues. It's particularly beneficial for people who are having trouble speaking or understanding language as a result of a stroke or another type of brain injury. Therapists use a style of singing with specific rhythms to help restore speech cadence.
Because music is processed on the right side of the brain while language is processed on the left, music therapy may help bridge the gap between the two. Music aids in the formation of new neural pathways.
Patients with speech problems are “capable of singing words that they cannot speak,” according to Harvard Medical School. That's why using "melody and rhythm" to improve speech and language comprehension in patients has long been recommended.
4. Music improves your memory
What method did you use to learn the alphabet? Probably by memorizing the lyrics to the song. You certainly knew every state in the US at some point, right? It was most likely due to a song.
According to Key Changes Therapy Services, one reason for this is that the part of the brain that processes music is also the part that makes and stores memories. As a result, when you hear a song you recognize, it's often associated with memory.
This is due to the dopamine release that occurs when we listen to a song we enjoy. As a result, your brain creates a positive link between a song and a memory. Then your brain will have an easier time recalling memories or new information.
5. Music can relieve your stress
We're all aware of how music can help us relax. Regardless of your preferred genre, I'm sure we've all had this experience.
Music can help decrease the release and production of cortisol, also known as the "stress hormone." Cortisol levels are lower, which means better learning and memory, lower blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol, and a lower risk of heart disease.
As a result, you should stop reading this article right now and go listen to some of your favorite music.
Read next: 8 Fun Music Facts That You Probably Didn’t Know About
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