Tapping into the Primal Joy of Music

Research shows that we as humans are hardwired to respond to music at an evolutionary, biological and cultural level. A study in 2016 demonstrated that individuals even without musical training create songs using predictable musical beats (Metacic 2016). Our brains encode musical patterns similarly to how they encode speech patterns. Where speech is used to convey information and knowledge, music is a conduit for emotions and mood.?

However, not everyone experiences music in the same way: different people will have different responses to different types of music, and our responses also change over time as we age. There are cultural reasons for these differing responses, and also neurological explanations for why some of us seem to be influenced more by music than others.?

What happens in our brains when we hear music??

The study of music in neuroscience is still relatively new, but there have been several extremely interesting brain imaging studies in recent years that have established a connection between the auditory perception and rewards systems of the brain (Zatorre 2018), which helps explain why we enjoy music and what contributes to this effect.?

In simple terms, the auditory system perceives sound and music, identifies and analyses patterns in the music, and then makes predictions (establishes expectations for what will come next). The reward system then responds with positive (or negative) emotions based on whether or not the expectations were met. Dopamine is released to reward a good prediction. The greater the anticipation around a prediction, the greater the reward when that prediction is borne out.?

This connection between sound analysis and predictions on one side and reward on the other is why we often find it incredibly jarring when an unexpected and contradictory key chord is played in a familiar song or musical pattern. It is also this interaction between the two systems that allows skilled musicians and DJs to “hype” up a crowd and improve their listeners’ experience of the music. The DJ builds up to a beat drop and delays it just enough to build anticipation, and then delivers the beat drop to the crowd’s immense satisfaction.?

Not everyone loves the sound of music?

However, not everyone experiences the connection between the auditory perception and reward systems in the brain in the same way. Many people have some form of amusia (tone deafness), although only about 5% of the population are clinically tone deaf. Amusia is an auditory perception disorder, so while the connection between the auditory and reward systems exists, the sound patterns are not perceived or analysed correctly, making predictions less accurate and reducing the dopamine reward (Zatorre 2018).??

About 5% of the population have musical anhedonia, a condition characterised by a lack or non-typical interaction between these two systems. Brain imaging studies of these individuals show that their brains respond within normal parameters to other hedonistic ventures (they enjoy food, sex, gambling) but do not have the same typical response to music (Zatorre 2018). At the other end of the scale is musicophilia, an extreme enjoyment of music (Nendick 2022).?

Culture and age?

Our experience of music is also heavily shaped by our cultural exposure. Cognitively, we retain a memory or “library” of musical sources to refer to over the course of our lives. As with language, the more exposure we have to certain sound patterns, the more familiar they become and the better we get at predicting the patterns and revving that reward system. Culture naturally plays a crucial role in this exposure.?

As sound engineer and cognitive psychologist Susan Rogers says, “Biology and culture are twins” (Schultz 2022). Our exposure shapes the way our brains work – but if we are exposed to a new environment with new sound patterns, our brains would functionally reorganise themselves to adapt to the new patterns and start making correct predictions once again. The process is similar to learning a new language.?

Our emotional connection to music also seems to be influenced by age. A New York Times analysis of Spotify data in 2018 found that our musical taste as adults is set by the songs we listen to as teenagers (Ong 2018). Men were shown to have been most influenced by their musical choices between the ages of 13 to 16, while for women, this influencing period was between the ages of 11 and 14.?

Spotify data has also suggested that we are less likely to discover new music after the age of 33 (Kalia 2015). However, Daniel Dylan Wray argues in The Guardian that the reasons for this are social and economic, rather than biological (Wray 2022).?

Personality and mood?

For psychologists, perhaps the most interesting factor driving musical preference is personality. A study led by Cambridge University psychologist and researcher David Greenberg found a distinct correlation between thinking styles and musical preferences (Wassenberg 2019). The full description of the study (in the references below) is extremely interesting but would be too in-depth to cover in this article. The main takeaway is that certain personalities have certain musical preferences and these seem to align with certain brain structures (e.g. a larger than average hypothalamic region).?

Other research has shown that when analysing musical preference alongside the Big 5 of personality, individuals open to new experiences seem to prefer classical music, blues, jazz and folk music, for example (Wassenberg 2019).?

Our mood also helps determine what music we gravitate to as well as influencing our feelings after listening. Experience in therapeutic situations as well as research in this area have shown that anxious and depressed people tend to seek out sad, low-energy music. One hypothesis was that this behaviour was an attempt to ruminate and hold onto sad emotions, but in one controlled study, subjects reported that they turned to sad music because it made them feel calmer and more relaxed (Wassenberg 2019). Rather than ruminating they were self-medicating with music.?

Frequency and performance?

Certain frequencies and genres of music have been shown to activate specific brainwaves – alpha, beta, theta and delta – to promote learning, improved focus, creativity and perception, for example. Some people find listening to music helps them work or study with more focus, but again, not everyone experiences this. Interestingly, one study found that students without musical training performed better when listening to positive music, whereas musically trained students performed better when listening to neutral music (Cherry 2022). The theory here is that musical training makes it harder to ignore familiar patterns in the music, so positive music was more distracting to those with training, but less likely to interfere with memory formation in those who did not have a musical “source library” to reference while listening.??

Benefits of music?

As a society we generally agree that listening to music has benefits; that is why our listening continues to increase as streaming services become more and more popular. People across 22 different countries around the world spent 20.1 hours per week listening to music in 2022, up from 18.4 hours in 2021 (BBC 2022). In a report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, 69% of people said music is important to their mental health, and almost as many said that music is important when they exercise.?

Music has the power to improve cognitive performance, memory, mood and motivation; to reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression; to help individuals recover from stressors more quickly; to help manage pain; to increase happiness and relaxation – and it can even influence how much food you eat at the dinner table (Cherry 2022).?

Given how beneficial music can be, it is not surprising that music also has therapeutic power. Music helps us express feelings we may not otherwise have the words for. Alongside emotional expression, music can also help with emotional regulation. A more generic attempt at music therapy can be seen in The Music & Meditation Podcast produced by the BBC, in which each episode covers a particular theme and offers a guided meditation session with bespoke music to accompany it.?

But music therapy can go even further: psychotherapeutic counsellor Matthew Benjamin, who is also a world-famous music producer and DJ, and music entrepreneur, has recently launched a new venture called Audio Intention, where a client workshops their self-limiting beliefs in a therapeutic setting, and then receives a bespoke piece of music with self-liberating affirmations. Matthew combines binaural beats with immersive audio and healing tones designed specifically for the client and their goals.?

In an interview with Dr Amanda Potter on The Chief Psychology Officer podcast, Matthew Benjamin explains how he uses specific frequencies which date back to ancient times, frequencies that were historically used for healing or specific purposes, with profound effects on the listener. Interestingly, he says that efficacy peaks after about ten minutes. However, ten minutes is sufficient and can still provide tremendous benefit to the listener.??

If you’d like to learn more about how to accomplish the skill of ‘normalising daily struggles’ by tapping into relevant sounds and music, check out the episode 24 of The Chief Psychology Officer podcast with Dr Amanda Potter and Angela Malik with our guest Matthew Benjamin (AKA Bushwacka): Normalising Daily Struggles.? By using binaural beats and positive affirmations, Matthew shares how he uses his love for music to help others find personal acceptance, compassion and forgiveness which creates the best environment for learning and growth.?

Written by Angela Malik, Client Relationship Manager at Zircon?

References:?

Matthew Benjamin (AKA Bushwacka): Normalising Daily Struggles. Episode 24. The Chief Psychology Officer podcast. https://www.thecpo.co.uk/ ?

BBC. The Music & Meditation Podcast. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m00175qd ??

BBC (2022). “Music 'essential to mental health' as people listen more than ever before”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkCj9BfW32E ?

Benjamin, Matthew (2023). Audio Intention. https://www.audiointention.com/ ??

Cherry, Kendra (2022). How Listening to Music Can Have Psychological Benefits. Very Well Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/surprising-psychological-benefits-of-music-4126866 ?

Kalia, Ajay (2015). “Music was better back then”: When do we stop keeping up with popular music? Skynet & Ebert. https://skynetandebert.com/2015/04/22/music-was-better-back-then-when-do-we-stop-keeping-up-with-popular-music/ ?

Matacic, Catherine (2016). Rhythm might be hardwired in humans. Science. https://www.science.org/content/article/rhythm-might-be-hardwired-humans ?

Nendick, Zoe (2022). How does music make you feel? The Psychologist. Volume 37 No. 10 October 2022.?

Ong, Thuy (2018). Our musical tastes peak as teens, says study. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/12/17003076/spotify-data-shows-songs-teens-adult-taste-music ?

Schultz, Isaac (2022). Why Do We Love the Music We Love? Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/music-neuroscience-susan-rogers-book-1849801399 ?

Wassenberg, Anya (2019). Why We Like Certain Music: The Brain And Musical Preference. Ludwig Van. https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2019/05/31/report-why-we-like-certain-music-the-brain-and-musical-preference/ ?

Wray, Daniel Dylan (2022). Bring that beat back: why are people in their 30s giving up on music? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/aug/16/bring-that-beat-back-why-are-people-in-their-30s-giving-up-on-music ?

Zatorre, Robert (2018). Why Do We Love Music? Dana Foundation. https://dana.org/article/why-do-we-love-music/ ?

?