This is Your Brain on Music

Have you ever stopped to think about how our brains process the sounds we hear every day? Furthermore, how music in particular is received, processed and “stored” by the human brain? As an example, think of your favorite song right now, but try not to physically hum or sing the melody at all. Chances are you still “hear” the music in your head, most likely with the right pitches, key and chords of the original version, and with the same sonic textures as if the music were actually playing externally. The interesting thing is that you are not “hearing” the music at all in the traditional sense of physical sound waves being received by the ear and stimulating auditory nerve endings. What you are “hearing” is a cognitive process that has no real-time relationship to any sound production or sound waves.

The study of music and its relationship to the brain has earned much attention in recent years, due in part to Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D., a professor and researcher who applies cognitive psychology and neuroscience to music in order to understand why it affects us in the way that it does. Levitin doesn’t simply approach the subject from a dry, scientific angle; he is a seasoned musician and record producer who has worked with Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Santana and the Grateful Dead among others. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller This Is Your Brain on Music which explores the fascinating relationship between music and cognitive psychology, and how sound and music affect human behavior and emotion. It is a really good read for anyone with an interest in music or psychology, and it’s written in enough of an approachable, nonscientific manner to engage the rest of us who don’t happen to be neuroscientists or cognitive psychologists.