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Vernacular of the human mind
TWENTY years ago, a future business student, a little boy then, was told that one day he would turn out to be a phenomenal singer. Apparently he sang like a nightingale and that his voice was soulful enough to evoke tear-jerking reactions.
Unfortunately, that prophesy remains unfulfilled to this day, for that man is no Mehdi Hasan and his rendition of John Denver’s “You fill up my senses” is confined to a highly patient and passive audience of four — his bathroom walls.
Still, Beethoven makes him want to sob with joy, while Shakira brings out his painfully wild side, persuading him to wiggle to his heart’s content.
The fact of the matter is that music forces us to let go of our inhibitions as we croon ear-shattering versions of our favourite songs and do pitiful imitations of the ensuing dances.
We may act in silly and strange ways but we certainly cannot ignore the effect music has on us — it simply makes us feel good.
Till very recently, music’s relationship to an individual was thought to be purely environmental —- as children we are conditioned to like music because adults all around us seem to enjoy it immensely.
Research, however, proves otherwise, for studies have shown that two-month-old infants can differentiate between music and noise, turning their heads towards pleasurable sounds instead of dissonant ones.
In fact, much before infants can learn to speak properly, they seem to be remarkably attuned to music, exhibiting distinct reactions to harmonious sounds. Not surprisingly, mothers all over the world communicate with their babies through music. They use phrases that are melodious (a language that is commonly known as “motherese”) and sing lullabies in a bid to put their infants to sleep. Interestingly enough, newborns appear to encourage such behavior, cooing and gurgling with their mothers’ humming.
A 1999 study conducted at York University in Toronto shows that some musical cues are universal, irrespective of the language and culture in which they are being used. This appreciation begins much earlier — in the womb, as discovered by Peter Hepper, a researcher at Queen’s University in Belfast.
His study proved that approximately two weeks before a child is born, he/she can identify the difference between the theme song for a day-time soap (heard daily by the mother) and an unfamiliar song. Such researches conclusively prove our love for music is not a conditioned response. It is a biological association, causing a high that similar to the effects produced by consuming mind-altering drugs and scrumptious meals.
While many theorists believe that music is just an inadvertent result of evolution, several others feel that pleasure centres in the human brain are closely connected to our affinity for consonant sounds, even though precious little has been discovered in this regard.
Researchers have not been able to locate a “music centre” of sorts to date, but it appears that music engages many different areas of the brain, which processes our understanding of music and consequently, developing one’s partiality towards a specific genre.
It is generally believed that the right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for one’s musical preferences and appreciation and so damage to this region causes steady deterioration. The not-so-recent advent of imaging studies have made the task of understanding the reasons behind one’s inexplicable love for music a tad easier — Dr Aniruddh Patel’s study at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego suggests that there is a portion of the frontal lobe that governs one’s ability to structure music and language in one’s head.
However, the brain’s response to music is not as simple as researchers claim it is. Since music consists of a variety of rhythms that are played at different frequencies and pitches, one’s auditory and neural reactions to these variegated sounds are also unique in their own ways.
Sound travels through the ears via the auditory cortex that is a collection of cells located right above them, which shows that both consonant and dissonant sounds are sent to both the right and left hemisphere of the brain. Clearly, the left hemisphere is also involved in generating appropriate responses to melodies but a considerable degree of speculation surrounds this theory.
Experts suggest that the left hemisphere is responsible for processing and detecting changes in frequency and intensity, regardless of whether one is listening to a symphony or a poetry recitation, thus concluding that both hemispheres have some part to play in a person’s neural response to music.
There isn’t concrete evidence to prove the left hemisphere’s involvement but real-life incidences where composers’ brains have been damaged beyond repair, resulting in loss of their skill — be it composing or singing — which suggests that perhaps there is more to music processing in the brain than what meets the eye.
Cell responses to music also differ from one note to another, meaning that some cells are more actively engaged in responding to a particular tune than others. Scientists believe that certain cells react to a specific kind of musical frequency but this may not be entirely true for all individuals. While the processing of music by the human brain may be universal, there are a few differences based on one’s musical experience and training.
In fact, the brain’s reaction can significantly if one has received even the slightest training — contour studies reveal that cell tuning changes during one’s learning, sensitizing them to such an extent that certain sounds immediately catch ones’ attention and so are stashed away in the recesses of memory.
For example, a series of experiments carried out by Bakin et al (1990) show that the basic organization of the auditory complex changes when a subject learns that one is more important than the other. The guinea pigs used in these experiments were made to listen to a variety of different tunes and the cell responses in their auditory cortex were duly recorded.
Once the experimenters learnt tune preferences, the pigs were taught to attribute importance to a distinct tune that was not deemed significant (non-preferred tune).
Tests carried out two months later revealed that the pigs’ neuron tuning preferences had shifted to the non-preferred tune, proving training and experience play an important part in determining one’s musical preferences.
This definitely explains why some of us are so fond of Led Zepplin whereas others find solace from listening to Britney’s mind-numbing songs.
On a serious note, however, these findings are substantive because they prove that we are all born with an innate capacity for music. We hum mysterious tunes in the shower and drum our fingers on the table, producing interesting beats. Singing at weddings and other such events is almost cathartic as we feel that perhaps we have what it takes to compose and sing. So then why isn’t everyone a musician? Why are some people astonishingly talented while others linger in the background never putting their inherent ‘skills’ to use?
Given that our brain rapidly adjusts to consonant sounds, eventually prioritizing them, studies also show that extensive musical training can elicit unique responses along with causing physical changes in the brain.
It is for this reason that trainers recommend prolonged training sessions, in which an individual understands the nitty-gritty of musical notes, accentuating one’s auditory and neural response to various tunes and leading to hyperdevelopment of certain cerebral regions.
In 1998, Chris Pantev of the University of Munster discovered that when musicians or people, who have been properly trained, listen to the sounds of a piano, their brain is more responsive than that of non-musicians or untrained individuals — their left-hemisphere auditory regions are 25 per cent more responsive than people with no prior training or experience.
This sort of response only occurred when the subjects listened to musical sounds. The area related to it is much larger at a younger age, suggesting music training should be initiated during childhood so that the developed area of the brain is greater and much more well-adjusted.
Studies also suggest that musicians respond so differently from an average individual is because the volume of their auditory cortex is considerably high — about 130 per cent more than non-musicians — which is a direct result of continuous training sessions.
It is much too early at this point to predict the neurological effects of music in the brain, for research on the matter is still in its initial stages.
However, one can safely conclude that our brain is biologically programmed to respond to music or any other consonant sounds. We like music not because our parents or friends do the same but because our brain is highly responsive and adaptable to all pleasurable activities, one of which is music.
Perhaps, as research on the subject continues, we will finally be able to understand music’s existence and our inexplicable head-banging, body swirling, behavioural responses to it.
The writer is a Dawn Sci-tech World staffer
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