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Music has a huge impact in our lives, it helps us to form new perspectives, get into a state of happiness, and it has a wide range of effects that influences who we are and how we think.
Every one of us is unique, and we have a certain liking or inclination towards a genre of music due to some of the base neural circuitry that forms from genetics and a developing niche with the culture and society adapting to trending music.
We all have a basic niche of how music impacts us. I can’t describe music in just a few sentences. It is essentially an emotional part of us. There are a lot of aspects connected to it and each of us respond and process different genre in an unique way.
This post aims to cover the science behind the effects of music in your brain, and how we can leverage music to enhance focus, and even solve certain medical conditions. Before we delve into the effects of music and certain frequencies in our brain, we need to understand some fundamental ideas that will help you to appreciate the science and beauty of music.
The Intro
Music induces a process called bioelectrical brainwave activity in our brain, which is basically the brain’s response to certain sounds and frequencies. Our brain consists of billions of neurons, which inter-connectedly exchanges information through them, with the help of neuro-chemicals transferred between synapses.
Each circuit in the brain has a purpose, some are formed by default during the formation of brain and childhood days, the rest continuously get built as we grow, and some circuits or so called mental models get updated or removed through a process called neuro-plasticity.
More than a decade back, researchers and scientists belied that left hemisphere of the brain was responsible for speech and language processing, and the right hemisphere was influenced by sound waves, but recently it was discovered that almost all the parts inside and outside the brain are activated through sound waves, and it was observable through devices like fMRI.
Image Credits: auntminnie.com
The maintenance of the brain’s electrical charge occurs through ion exchange along the membrane of numerous neurons, leading to the generation of electrical potentials.
Diving deeply to understand the effects of music, researches devise machines like Electroencephalograms (EEG), it is used to analyse the brainwave activity more closely. It aims at recording the ups and downs or the oscillation of electric potentials in our brain, which in turn gives the evaluation of synaptic actions in the cerebral cortex. Long story short, EEG reflects the combined activity of a vast number of closely arranged neurons.
Image Credits: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
The cerebral cortex is a 2-4 millimeter layer consisting of about 14-16 billion neurons that covers over brain, it holds significant importance in various cognitive processes, encompassing memory, cognition, learning, logical thinking, emotional responses, consciousness, and sensory functions.
The EEG produces output in forms amplitude, frequency and phase. Here’s a small breakdown of amplitude, frequency, and phase to give a context:
| Concept | Simple Explanation | In EEG |
|---|---|---|
| Amplitude | Height or strength of signal | Indicates magnitude of electrical activity; larger amplitudes signify stronger brain activity. |
| Frequency | Rate of occurrence within a time frame | Measures brain oscillations per second (Hertz); different frequency bands represent distinct brain states (delta, theta, alpha, beta, gamma). |
| Phase | Where something is within a cycle or wave | Describes timing relationships between brain activities; indicates synchronisation or coordination among brain regions. |
These concepts collectively help in interpreting brain activity patterns observed through EEG signals, providing insights into different brain states and functions.
The waves in brain are classified into 5 types which is:
- Delta waves – 1-4 Hz – observable during sleep, conditions under anaesthesia, and extreme cases like coma. (1 Hz can be thought of 1 beat per second)
- Theta waves – 4-8 Hz – it is associated with REM sleep, decreased anxiety, and state of calmness.
- Alpha waves – 8-12 Hz – it is predominant in awoke, resting and relaxing states. From studies it has been found that brain activity and alpha power are inversely related.
- Beta waves – 12-30 Hz – present during alertness, states of stress, strong emotions and tension.
- Gamma waves – greater that 30 Hz – cognitive power is directly proportional to the activity in gamma band, higher the gamma waves, higher is the cognitive power.
Researches have found that certain music can foster the increase in alpha band power, which leads to the improving the performance of your brain, by lowering the release of stress hormones and neuro-chemicals such as adrenalin and cortisol and increasing the levels of endorphins(happy hormone), serotonin (associated with happiness, satisfaction and optimism and a state of balance in general) and opioid.
Thorugh scientific studies, “Sonata K448 in D major” a classical music piece has been found to have profound impact on people, which happens to increasing the alpha band power. A song composed by Yanni, a Greek artist, called “Standing In Motion” has also found to have similar effects due to its similar composition.
Music in general has its effects in inducing alpha and beta frequency, in the right frontal and temporal regions. These brain regions, are integral for a range of cognitive functions, emotional processing, social interactions, and sensory perceptions, showcasing their diverse and crucial roles in human behavior and cognition. the results also indicated that our brain exhibited a greater theta power towards the end of a piece of music.
Yellow region- Right frontal-cortex, temporal is beneath it | Image Credits: radiopaedia.org
It has been found that apart from listening to music, even imagining them elicits the posterior alpha activity (helps in long-term memory encoding). From medical observations it has been found that creation of music leads to more activation in the PFC (located in the front region of the brain, primarily responsible for short term memory information processing, problem solving abilities and reasoning).
Music for Focus
Alpha and Beta waves can be predominantly observed during times of focus, and it primarily affects the right frontal and temporal regions, which as seen before has an important role in cognition, specifically in:
- Recognition and retrieval of non-verbal or visual memories
- Aspects of language comprehension
- Creative thinking, innovation, and generating novel ideas
- Understanding social cues, intentions and emotional aspects.
The composition and genre of music plays a huge role in establishing a state of focus. Because music is usually composed with the idea to tell a story, the ups and downs, emotional aspects and a lot more. But certain music, though may sound positive, will not help you to pay attention to a single task which you want to focus on, and the mind will shift to different tangents.
This happens because when our brain is highly involved in a song, a higher analysis of music takes place with the beta waves spiking up in the frontal region of our brain, leading to the stimulation of the auditory cortex which in turn increases the theta and alpha activity in amygdala (the emotion processing part of the brain) and orbitofrontal cortex (associated with processing emotional stimuli, assigning emotional significance to stimuli, motivating behavior, and regulating socio-emotional responses).
Basically healthy neural circuits form when neuron from different regions are consistent in their frequency. This is why we tend to learn new information when we pay our full attention to it, our neurons connect to form a circuit which has a purpose only when the frequencies in different neuron regions synchronise. The best frequency in which the neural circuits form is scientifically identified to be 40Hz, which lies in the gamma frequency band.
Binaural Beats
This term is not so common, you might have come across it from a playlist or video in youtube which says “Binaural Beats for Focus, Anxiety….”. The idea of this concept “Binaural” is to have tones with two different frequencies on each ear while you wear a headphone, and create this auditory illusion that makes you hear difference between the two frequencies.
Suppose the frequency on one ear is 534 Hz, and the frequency heard on the other ear is 528 Hz, then the perceived frequency is the difference between them, which is 6 Hz (It lies in the theta wave band, which is associated with calmness and serenity).
A natural question may arise within you, asking the difference between a binaural and monaural(normal) beats. Basically in the context of brainwave activity, they are a practices that aims to synchronise brainwave frequencies with external auditory stimuli for various cognitive or relaxation purposes.
Some individuals may find one type more effective or comfortable than the other, but responses can vary. The effectiveness of such practices can vary between individuals, and scientific research on their long-term effects is still an evolving field.
There isn’t any side effects of hearing to binaural beats, but people with epilepsy should consult with a proper physician before listening to it, to analyse the risks associated with activating certain frequencies the brain.
Music to cure medical conditions
People mostly associate the cure to medical conditions only with the type and effectiveness of a clinically approved medicine. But music therapy is an approach that is often overlooked and not considered on how it can impact and even accompany your traditional treatment to give positive results.
Patients who are in the state of coma are subject to a condition called the UNRESPONSIVE WAKEFULNESS SYNDROME, in which the patient can hear and process external sound and sensations but cannot respond back. This happens due to the increased activity of theta waves(slow waves) in certain regions like the glymphatic system which communicates the signals from the brain to the body.
An approach in the context of music therapy is to cure by playing their favourite music, which can reduce the theta/beta value, whose effects have the activating tendency to recover the brain integrity by shifting the dominant rhythm into the alpha band.
Studies have even found that Long term music therapy have been successful by increasing the alpha waves and reducing the beta waves during treatment. Especially the left frontal-temporal alpha power has been found to increase. Music has also helped reduce depression, by increasing cognitive functions and positive behaviour.
Music to cure depression
From the recordings of EEG, researches have been able to point out that negative feelings and emotions originate from the right frontal lobes of the brain. Positivity and optimism is often reflected due to the activity in the left frontal lobe region.
EEG observations of people going through depression have highlighted the increased activity of the right frontal cortex.
Patients suffering from Major Depressive Disorder(MDD) have reportedly hight cortical activity in the anterior and posterior regions in the right hemisphere, which increased the beta waves in these regions, leading to more negative effects. And this impact consequently has lead to slower waves such as alpha, theta, and delta waves. Also decreased alpha wave activity in central part of the frontal cortex is also been observed in patients who have chronic anxiety.
The bottomline is, music is not a complete cure for any medical conditions, but it definitely has a significant impact in assisting the journey of conventional treatments and medicines. It also helps in uplifting yourself, which is a highly important aspect in building an optimistic perspective and better function of the cognitive system.
That’s a wrap folks. Thank you for reading all along. I hope you have learned something valuable that is beyond the niche of a layman interpreting the effects of music on your brain. Feel free to drop your comments in the comment section below. Subscribe to sapiencespace and enable notifications to get regular insights.
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