Critically evaluate Pinker 's claim that music is auditory cheesecake:
Pinker’s metaphorical expression for music was “auditory cheesecake”, explaining that he considered this function “useless[as a biological adaptation]” (Pinker 1997, p.528). Perhaps avid listeners comfort feed their minds with acoustic cheesecake, but musical knowledge presents the impact of such sweetness goes far beyond just licking the spoon. Extracting Pinker’s perspective, this essay will discuss whether music is valuable in the survival of humans. Arguments will be derived from brain imaging findings to examine its biological predisposition, adaptionist view to seek out its evolutionary status and whether the environment is responsible for demoting music.
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This is because Music is a high cortical function, thus maintenance is costly. Transmitting this energy required for immediate survival needs should have reduced the function of music in future generations of such populations. As a result, it would be expected that music is culture specific, yet on the contrary, it is enjoyed universally. Therefore music attains the status of necessity. Zahavi’s (1975, in Miller 2000)Handicap theory conceptualizes the purpose of music. The theory stresses that sexual traits usually posses a risk to survival.; suggesting music is a biological adaption for the purpose of Sexual selection(Darwin, 1871, in Patel 2010).
Miller (2000) interprets Music as an aesthetic display and indicator for fitness. Musical activities such as “dancing” represents health, “voice control...self confidence for status”, “Rhythmic” engagement shows ability to identify patterns and “melodic creativity” which assists initiation for social communication(Miller 2000, p.10). This handicapping, sexual trait may be useful for reproductive success but attempting to gain excessive aesthetic display can lead to dire consequences. Jimi Hendrix, famous guitarist, died at 27 years from drug overdose which he used to “spark his musical imagination” (Miller, 2000, p.2). Hendrix’s fatal actions can be explained by the neural overlap between effects of drug and music, making music a possible threat to survival(Blood and
“Musical is a universal experience. With few exceptions, all humans perceive musical pitch, tone, timbre, and harmony. We listen to music to relax, to help us think, to celebrate, and grieve. Our emotional responses to music have been noted in literature, poetry, and drama. The power of music to evoke an emotional response is used by advertising companies, film directors, and mothers singing their babies to sleep. Early education teachers are familiar with using music and rhythm as tools for learning language and building memory. (Foran, 2009) Several musical melodies are used in grade school to learn information. Music is used in my math classes across the world to enhance the learning process of formulas. English classes use music help children learn prepositional phrases, adjectives, adverbs, noun, and etc. However, after most scholars reached a certain grade level, using music to achieve new heights academically became a technique of the past. Most instructors didn’t bother using music in order to help retain information. It was almost as if it was forgotten about. But, if music is so important why isn’t it allowed in most classrooms today? Many teachers are not fond of music in the classroom. To many, it is seen as a distraction. Is it the type of music a person chooses to listen to? Would it be different if the music chosen by
On this slide we can observe a real brain scan on how does the brain react to music. There are many studies that suggest that music has the power to change people’s emotion and moods, and simultaneously activate several brain areas (Bigliassi, León-Domínguez, & Altimari, 2015; Brown, Martinez, & Parsons, 2004; Mitterschiffthaler, Fu, Dalton, Andrew, & Williams, 2007; Riby,
253). The author proposes that music preceded language. Levitin explains how the creative brain was favored by evolution and natural selection. Natural selection is defined as “the process by which the forms most fit to survive and reproduce in a given environment do so in greater numbers than others in the same population; more than survival of the fittest, natural selection is differential reproductive success” (Kottak, 2013, p.18). All of our ancestors lived long enough to pass their genes down to the next generation, so the author proposes that we love music today because we inherited this preference from our ancestors who survived and reproduced due to their creative and artistic
Overall, the article covers the correlation between brain disorders and musical processing. The authors, Camilla Clark and Laura Downey and Jason Warren, have a claim that recent findings in research allow us as a society to further understand the biological role of music. The evidence provided is quite useful for the authors and researchers themselves, as it assists in forming a more concrete answer as to what the role of music really is in our human society. Similar to the first article, there is a significant amount of data. But, in this article there is more data concerning the different responses that result from different types of music on different types of brain disorders. There are even full brain scans with highlighted parts that show which parts of the brain are responding to music. As for counterarguments, it would be quite difficult in this case to provide a counterargument because of how plausible the claim really is. Answers are forming from the extensive research, but the answer to what the true biological role of music hasn’t come up yet. As stated before, this article is almost entirely information and is certainly a scholarly form of text. There are no biases from what has been read so far. There isn’t much of a gap in the argument because the data that has been formed from the extensive research does show that we are learning more about the effects of
In the article, “Music, the food of neuroscience?” Robert Zattore, a cognitive neuroscientist, suggested that we should consider music, art, and culture in a biological perspective (312). There is a well-known quote by Friedrich Nietzsche that speaks out to many people and states, “Without music, life would be a mistake”. This article by Zattore makes a reader consider if music has a bigger meaning in our lives than we think. The author argues that we can learn about neuroscience through music as these musical products of human cognition may give us valuable scientific insights. Furthermore, the author supported this claim by explaining how we know little about neuroscience of music research, the relationship between speech and music, and
Research shows that a musician’s brain is not any different from that of a non-musician's, but rather it is what parts of the brain that enhance musicians’ ability to be “smarter”
For decades, we have adjusted music into our life but we almost never ask why. This is where I begin to wonder if music has an evolutionary advantage to human species or not. Our music today compared to hundred years ago isn’t the same because throughout the years music has changed over time. Music today can easily be recorded to listen to anywhere you go without necessarily having a live performance because of our technology. In fact, walking in most clothing stores or any other shopping center music is playing without shoppers even noticing it, brings in a comfort zone while the individual are shopping. In the chapter book “The World in Six Songs” by Daniel Levitin states that “We all find comfort in music” (Levitin, 2006, p. 113). Levitin also states that “an evolutionary purpose, which is to help us conserve energy and reorient our priorities for the future after a traumatic event” (Levitin, 2006, p. 133). A comfort moment of you and the music creating an ‘evolutionary communication’. In other words, a comfort moment that you receive a message
When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active, but when you actually play an instrument that activity becomes more like a full body brain workout. This statement was written by Anita Collins a researcher at Ted Ed. She and her colleagues developed a film entitled “How playing an instrument benefits your brain,” which helped to explain what really happens inside your brain when you play an instrument. Research in the new field of Music Neuroscience shows that it is important to learn to play an instrument because it increases your intelligence, it could help to build character, and it is an outlet for creativity.
It?s no secret that music can have a powerful impact on us. Regardless of its genre, music can make us happy or sad, can calm or energize us, or can distract us from our own troubles and worries and let us have a good time. But how exactly does music affect our brains and behaviors, and how can it benefit us?
Neuroscientists have studied how playing a musical instrument enhances the neural pathways of the brain. The research demonstrates whether musical education, which involves musical training on a daily basis, affect the brain on musicians compared to non-musicians (Collins, 2014). Musicians have to multitask whenever they perform on a stage. Musicians have to play their instrument, read the sheet music, look at the conductor, and listen to their peers in order to maintain a balance in music. All of this tasks are happening all at once, which makes the brain work twice as hard compared to the average brain. The use of these skills not only during a performance, but also during practice, allow the brain to develop faster as time progress. This is something contradictory because the brain is understood to stop developing at a certain age in adulthood. Musical education allows the brain to maintain healthy no matter the
Many people love music for a number of reasons, but what most people do not realize is that music helps to develop the brain. Studies on the correlation between music and the human brain have been conducted by neuroscientists at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Oregon (Cole). Some studies show how a musician’s brain functions differently compared with a non-musicians with a sequential typing task (Tucker, Nguyen, and Stickgold), while others focus on how the brain physically grows and what areas grow more drastically (Kanako, Eiji, and Shoji). The mind of a musician contains stronger connections between regions, more processing power, and more grey matter than non-musicians. The grey matter allows musicians to process more information
A commonality among all civilizations and cultures has been, and will always be, music. Throughout the Middle, Baroque, Romantic, and Modern ages of music, these civilizations’ varied widely in music type and in the way it sounded. With music in the present-day, pop and rap have taken a higher stance among genres of music. Psychology applies heavily to the topic of music. Especially today, scientists, psychologists and psychiatrists are attempting now to better understand how our brain works while people listen to music. Studies are conducted among teens and adolescents to learn how they perceive the music they listen to, and analyses of brain waves and other activity is conducted. Some psychologists have suggested that today’s music - rap,
A human brain is divided into two hemispheres, and the right hemisphere has been traditionally identified as the seat of music appreciation. However, no one has found a "music center" there, or anywhere else. Studies of musical understanding in people who have damage to either hemisphere, as well as brain scans of people taken while listening to tunes, reveal that music perception emerges from the interplay of activity in both sides of the brain.
Musicophilia, written by Oliver Sacks, describes a multitude of case studies that illustrate and explore the different ways that music affects the brain and what role it possesses for humans as a species. When people think of the progression of science and health, the word “music” rarely would come to mind. However, in the more recent past, a whole plethora of discoveries have been revealed regarding the true power of music. Sacks’ novel tackles this broad topic and attempts to convince the reader of musical importance in the world.
“Evidence suggests that music remains just as essential to the human race now as it did 70,000-80,000 years ago.” (Harvey, 2011) Music, song, and dance as art forms have completely integrated with the art works to tell a whole story of the human culture, its history, and its beliefs. The art of music implements cohesion among a society and acts as a framework to our social architecture. “For many, the evolution of art in Homo sapiens is a unique event that is linked to the evolution of the cognitively modern mind.” (Harvey, 2011) As the human mind has evolved, so has art. Sounds, especially music has had a direct effect on the evolution of mankind. Recent studies have shown how the mnemonic structure of music aids and promotes memory, learning, and the organization of knowledge. It is also proven to add structure to time. Cultures and the human species have continued to do and create art over several time periods because it allows humans to not only