Scientists are beginning to understand what happens in the brain when it hears music. "We have been making music since the dawn of culture," says Norman Weinberger of Scientific American Magazine. "More than 30,000 years ago, early humans were already playing bone flutes, percussive instruments and jaw harps--and all known societies throughout the world have had music." While researchers have failed to uncover one area of the brain dedicated to appreciating music, they have discovered that music engages different and surprising areas all over the brain.
Music and Learning
A study by researcher Gordon Shaw in the 1990s suggests that there is a positive relationship between music and learning. The results of brief musical training were seen as a boost for kindergarten-age children they tested, not just music scores, but also in language and math scores.
Music and IQ
Researcher Glenn Schellenberg from the University of Toronto says it is difficult to say flat out that music makes us smarter. He says assessments about children are difficult because of the influence of other possible factors--such as household income and/or education. However, he has found that listening to music does let a person perform better on certain cognitive tests, at least in the short term, according to Inside Science News Service. Children who took music lessons showed an even greater boost in overall cognitive test scores.
Serious Business
Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, author of "This is Your Brain on Music," proposes several hypotheses as to why humans may have evolved to be such a music-loving culture. He points to creating and listening to music as an important social activity, once bonding the members of the tribe, for example. Singing around a campfire may have been a way to help stay awake and ward off predators, he says. Music may also serve as a precursor to more advanced cognition, such as learning language, according to Levitin.
Brains on Music
Levitin believes that when humans listen to music, the brains are "engaged in an enormously complex computational task," He thinks that when molecules first hit your eardrums, they carry no inherent pitch, yet oscillate at a specified rate. When the brain measures the oscillation, it interprets it, then constructs a frequency based on that rate. This process is similar to how humans see, as light waves carry no color, yet brains can construct color by measuring the frequency of the waves.
Music and the Mind
What this adds up to: Music is good for you. According to Shaw, the results of his research, as well as subsequent confirming studies, show that music has a direct effect on cognitive abilities. Music has profound implications for how children learn and develop, according to Shaw.
