Music Neurology

Humans have an incredible connection to music. We are exposed to it from a very early age with lullabies and the tinkering of toys and continue to hear it for the rest of our lives. We hear it in commercials, movies, on the internet and more. Millions of people own iPods (and other MP3 players of course) that they're plugged into constantly. Music is a part of who we are as humans.



Music engages many different functions in the brain: emotion, memory, imagery, pattern perception, and sometimes it can enhance motor control and movement. Sometimes, without even thinking, we'll hear a song and automatically go into foot-tapping mode or start bopping our heads. This is because listening to music engages many regions of the brain, including the auditory cortex (internal processing of sound), the motor cortex (movement and control), the basal ganglia and the amygdala (learning, comprehension of emotion, autonomic and reflexive functions, etc.).



The first time that any sort of "music therapy" was used was during the second World War. Nurses and doctors noticed that when they had people go to the hospital to perform for the patients, the morale of the wounded was significantly uplifted. It wasn't until many years down the road that music therapy became what is known as "Melodic Intonation." This form of therapy is widely used with people who have suffered from various forms of brain damage. Aphasia, Parkinson's Disease, Demensia, etc.

For example, aphasic patients have a loss of language ability because there is a disconnect between the part of the brain that can process and produce language and the output portion of the brain. The left side of the brain where language is processed is inactive and causes hyperactivity in the right side. By listening to music the hyperactivity is brought down to a normal level and the left side is released from stress. The brain is re-rooted, so to speak, and aphasic patients are able to form simple words and phrases.

My hope for the future is that music therapy will continue to advance and help more and more people. I love the concept of this form of therapy because rather than chemically altering the brain, it develops and strengthens it so that it can gain back some of what was lost from the damage. It's a new and innovative way to think of therapy and a good alternative for those who don't want to be medicated. Music is a part of who we are and in the case of music therapy, it is truly medicine for the soul.

Works Cited

Linden, David J. The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given
Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God. New York: Belknap P, 2007.

Hock, Roger R. Forty Studies that Changed Psychology. 6th ed.
Upper Saddle Rive: Pearson Education, 2009.

Sacks, Oliver. Musicophilia Tales of Music and the Brain. New York:
Knopf, 2007.

Shulman, Matthew. "Music as Medicine for the Brain - US News and
World Report." Health News Articles - US News Health. 17 July 2008. US News & World Report. 16 Nov. 2009
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"YouTube - Music and the Mind." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 15
Nov. 2009 .