Music and the Brain

            The perception of music depends on many factors. The perception of amplitude comes from the height of the sound wave, and is perceived as loudness, and the wavelength is the distance between peaks in the sound wave, and is perceived as pitch. The path in the brain that this signal follows goes from the auditory pathways in the ear - through the Pinna, past the ear drum and ossicles, and finally into the cochlea to be translated into a signal the brain can process –and then travels to the thalamus and auditory cortex. When the brain is sensing music, harmony and rhythm are perceived in the cerebellum and motor cortex. Melodies are processed in the speech center, connecting Broka’s area and Wernicke’s areas in the parietal lobes. In the case of tone-deafness, these areas are not stimulated. Harmonies, in the case of the sound seeming more appealing, light up the right orbitofrontal cortex, associated with reward and emotion. There is also a part of the brain – the medial subcallosal Cingulate – that is associated with depression that music may affect. In the case of dissonance, or unpleasant harmonies, the right parahippocampal gyrus shows activity, along with the left parahippocampal gyrus, associated with pain or discomfort. The perception of music is shown to affect Heschl’s Gyrus and the Interior frontal gyrus – which is associated with action inhibition and simple “go” or “no-go” tasks. Even with the variations in music across cultures, it appears music can affect us in similar ways, regardless of the style. There is promising work being done using music therapy to help disorders such as depression or bipolar disorder.