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The Effects of Music on Our Brain

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Music has been apart of society for thousands of years and an outlet for people's stress and other problems they may be facing. It helps the brain function and understand conditions better by breaking it down and trying to comprehend it. Music has made and is still making an impact on the lives of people all around the world. Because of its impact on peoples lives neuroscientist wanted to get to the source and have been looking at the brain to determine the exact effects of music and they can now answer the question, what effects does music have on the brain? Listening to music can send pleasure to your mind, decide your emotions, lower stress, and improve learning. Music can chemically alter your brain, allowing you to feel pleasure as you listen to it. This pleasure is undisputable, as discovered by neuroscientists Robert J. Zatorre and Valarie N. Salimpoor who have conducted research finding, “When pleasurable music is heard dopamine is released in the stratum - an ancient part of the brain found in other vertebrates as well - which is known to respond to naturally rewarding stimuli like food and sex and which is artificially targeted by drugs like cocaine and amphetamine” (Salimpoor). As seen by this research my thesis is supported by the providing that the body does in fact receive a sense of pleasure, however people have different pleasurable music and depending on yours the dopamine will take its course. However how can we tell what we find “pleasurable”? Thanks to

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