How Does our Brain Respond to Music?

I cannot live or write without music. It stimulates the normally dormant parts of my brain that come in handy when constructing fiction.

Aleksandar Hemon, Fiction Writer

Music has so much power. It has been found that music activates more parts of the brain than any other known stimulus. Somehow, it can make us cry one moment and want to dance the next. The activity in different areas of our brain can help us to analyze the effects of music on our mental and emotional state.

First of all, we know that the brain’s primary reaction to listening to music is a triggering of the brain’s pleasure centers. This causes a release in dopamine, a hormone and neurotransmitter that causes people to feel remarkably happy. This hormone is what makes us want to go back and listen to a particularly good song, as we crave that dopamine rush again.

So, let’s walk through how music is processed in our brains. Once it enters our ears, signals are sent down the auditory nerve to the temporal lobe of our brain. It mainly controls sensory input, language, and comprehension. This means that music, words, and sounds are all processed here. Inside the temporal lobe, a section called the auditory cortex processes rhythm, pitch, and other elements of music. The most interesting part of this cortex is its strong connectivity to almost every other section of the brain.

Certain types of music in different people can cause very significant emotions. Network nodules in the auditory cortex connect with the amygdala, the brain’s primary center for processing emotions. That’s why many people feel such an emotional connection to certain types of music. Studies have also proven that people who experience extremely strong responses to music, such as chills, often have a stronger pathway from the auditory cortex to the amygdala.

But this isn’t all. Music can cause activity in several other parts of the brain as well. The frontal lobe, the section of our brain responsible for thinking and creativity, is stimulated as well. When listening to music, we actually make this section of our brain stronger and more efficient, which is why people who listen or play music often have been shown to have enhanced problem-solving and decision-making skills, and also why people often say that they are more productive and work better when listening to music.

Studies have been done showing the connection between the auditory cortex and the cerebellum and putamen. These two sections together regulate movement and coordination. When we feel that urge to tap, dance, or move with music, that shows how they are influenced by music. One story showed how a patient with Parkinson’s struggled to move her legs but was able to dance and walk when she listened to music. 

What’s interesting is that this is just a few of the many major areas of the brain that are affected by music. There are several other long-term effects that have been well-researched.

1. Bushak, Lecia. “This Is Your Brain On Music.” Medical Daily, 11 Mar. 2014, http://www.medicaldaily.com/your-brain-music-how-our-brains-process-melodies-pull-our-heartstrings-271007.
2. Trimble, Michael, and Dale Hesdorffer. “Music and the Brain: the Neuroscience of Music and Musical Appreciation.” BJPsych International, The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1 May 2017, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5618809/.
3. “Keep Your Brain Young with Music.” Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2016, http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/-/media/images/health/3_-wellness/aging-well/man-music-hero.ashx?h=500&la=en&mh=500&mw=1300&w=1297&hash=E635C687149C91A3F1428186250C1DA6DBB6DF62.