{"id":165,"date":"2011-12-31T03:05:12","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T03:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/brain_blog\/?p=165"},"modified":"2014-11-17T02:52:03","modified_gmt":"2014-11-17T02:52:03","slug":"new-research-from-stanford-on-how-brain-processes-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/brain_blog\/2011\/12\/new-research-from-stanford-on-how-brain-processes-music\/","title":{"rendered":"New Research from Stanford on how Brain processes music"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Research published earlier this year showed that listening to music releases the
\nneurotransmitter dopamine in the brain and sends pleasure signals to the rest of
\nthe body. Now findings recently published in NeuroImage<\/em> offer
\nadditional insights into how music affects our neural circuits.<\/p>\n

In the study<\/a>
\nFinnish researchers recorded the brain responses of
\nindividuals who were listening to a piece of modern Argentinian tango using
\nfunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology. Afterwards, they used
\ncomputer algorithms to analyze the musical content of the tango and illustrate
\nhow its rhythmic, tonal and timbral components evolved over time. They then
\ncompared the brain responses and the musical features. Medical News Today reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The researchers found that music listening recruits not only the auditory
\nareas of the brain, but also employs large-scale neural networks. For instance,
\nthey discovered that the processing of musical pulse recruits motor areas in the
\nbrain, supporting the idea that music and movement are closely intertwined.
\nLimbic areas of the brain, known to be associated with emotions, were found to
\nbe involved in rhythm and tonality processing. Processing of timbre was
\nassociated with activations in the so-called default mode network, which is
\nassumed to be associated with mind-wandering and creativity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Similarly, a past<\/a>
\nStanford study showed music engages the areas of the brain involved with paying
\nattention, making predictions and updating the event in memory. The findings
\nalso suggest that music can help the brain organize incoming information.<\/p>\n

Published by Stanford University School of Medicine.\u00a0 article by Lia Steakley<\/p>\n