Sound As Touch Radiolab

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.

Some people listen to music to shift their mood, while others do so to help alleviate feelings of unhappiness, or emotional discomfort. In the article “Music Evokes Vicarious Emotions in Listeners” published in 2014 by Ai Kawakami, Kiyoshi Furukawa, and Kazuo Okanoya, proposes that “we listen to sad music because it is possible to distinguish perceived emotions from those that are experienced”. (Kawakami, Kiyoshi, Okanoya) Therefore, even though sad music is usually perceived as something negative, listeners actually feel pleasant emotions while listening to sad music.

effects of harmonic or consonant music versus enharmonic or dissonant music. Consonant music is pleasing to the ears, while dissonant music is unpleasant and irritating. It can be almost painful to the trained ear. They examined whether dissonant music had a greater negative effect than consonant music on response times. The results of their findings suggest that even though participants were instructed to respond to the cognitive stimuli as quickly as possible, they were unable to ignore the dissonant music, making their response times considerably slower than in the other test

It is no secret that music has a strange way of reaching people who were previously thought to be too far gone. Music has the capability to connect to individuals and touch them in a way that causes them to have some strange reactions (Warner et al, 35-36). These reactions aren’t fully understood but have the possibility to lead to great medical advancements. While some psychologists, and parents are strong believers in the helpful effects of music on people’s mental health, others see the dangers that come with music’s great influence and think it could be used as a dangerous tool against individuals.

Music has always been emotionally evocative to me since I was young. I am always able to recall just how extreme the atmosphere and mood can be enhanced by music. Whether at a bitter-sweet moment in a TV show or at a heroic moment in a video game music is always there to multiply the emotions of the scene tenfold. Even today I find myself recalling emotions and feeling them all over again whenever I listen to a particular piece of music, especially so for ones that went along with a highly memorable scene in a show or game. I wind up pumping my fist in the air all over again if inspiring, or fighting back tears if morose. I never knew why music affected me so or how, and so after learning of this assignment I decided it was time I looked into it. Why this story matters is simple. It is simply the reason I ever asked this question. I wanted to know why music could affect emotions to such an extent, and why it could leave such lasting impacts.

What do you think when you hear sound? Do you think of the old tale that says if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make any noise? Or do not question it and move on with life. Believe it or not sound is everywhere. Sound works in many different ways, to fully understand it, let's break it down into three main pieces. First of all sound is energy, next sound can change, Lastly to hear and to understand are two different things.

For quite a long time, music has been perceived for its capable consequences for state of mind and feeling and its significance and numerous uses amid festivities, ceremonies, occasions, religious customs, social occasions, and the numerous phases of life. In its different structures, music can be straightforward or to a great degree mind boggling, extemporized or very organized, modern or simple. Whether vocal or instrumental, delighted in as an entertainer, audience or crowd part, music roots itself profoundly inside of the mind and is held notwithstanding when recollections start to blur with time, sickness or ailment. Amid the previous decade, propels in neuroscience and cerebrum imaging have made better comprehension of music 's impact on the psyche, body, and human condition. The numerous features of our working as people are coordinated by and drew in inside different locales of the mind. It would likely be simple for the

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,

It is clear that even in the early stages of life, the body entrains itself to the music of the surrounding environment, whether it be the sounds of voices, machines, instruments, or silence. While this research is still in its preliminary stages, it shows that the simple act of listening to music in the early stages of life could have a drastic impact on the patient’s future quality of life (Drahota, et al., 2012).

An interesting study was conducted by Pricilla Dunstan, a mother with an ear for sound, after she had her own baby and became aware of the different sounds her baby made in direct correlation with specific needs (Dunstan Baby Language, 2015). Careful and extensive study around the world concluded that all baby regardless of gender, race, religion, or creed, made the same 5 sounds for the same reasons (Priscilla Dunstan on Oprah, 2012). These sounds are universal; as is the ability for a child to learn any language and the sounds of individual languages.

But music also unsettles me. Tunes battle neurons and my conscience tells me that every song has a story, and with every story comes gaping holes waiting to be filled. The chords seduce me, reminding me of all the wonderful things that are now long gone.

Thesis: Music is a unique form of sound powerful enough to manipulate mood, feelings, and cognition.

The impact of music on positive psychology and emotion is a well known fact. Music has an extraordinary ability to change people’s emotions. In humans, music has the ability to invoke emotions of sadness, happiness and even fear (Goycoolea, Levy & Ramirez, 2013). The ability of music to alter human mood makes it one of the greatest subjects of positive psychology. Seligman (2011) argued that even though a lot of effort has been spent on psychotherapy and pharmacology, such interventions are not

In order to understand how music can affect the body and mind, one needs to understand the composition of sound itself. Don Campbell describes it by

Music elicits an emotional and cognitive response in all who listen to it. It is powerful at the individual level because “it can induce multiple responses – physiological, movement, mood, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral” (Francis, 2008,