So, what do we like about music? Like many of the great questions of humanity, this one has many levels. Some of which we can answer, many we cannot. Basically, what it all boils down to is that we like music because it makes us feel good. Okay, sure, yeah, it does make us feel good, but why? Neuroscientists at McGill University in Montreal gave us an answer in 2001, with the help of an MRI. Using magnetic resonance imaging, Anne Blood and Robert Zatorre were able to peer into the brains of people while they listened to “pleasurable” music. The people who participated in their study showed activity in the brain in the regions called the limbic and paralimbic areas, the reward centres of the brain. When stimulated, these brain regions produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes us feel pleasure. This kind of release of dopamine is usually associated with sex, food, or drugs. In this case, music is the drug.
But why does music have this effect on us? We know why sex and food are associated with a rush of dopamine: it is part of our survival. Essentially, if it feels good, we will do it more, which is important in matters of nutrition and propagation. We feel rewarded because food and sex are important to our and our DNA’s survival. But music has nothing to do with survival, it has no intrinsic value. So why does it trigger such a profound reward reaction? This is one of those levels we just don’t understand; simply put, no ones knows for sure why music does the same thing to us that food and sex does. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have strong theories. The most popular theory today comes from the mid 1950s, when Leonard Meyer, a philosopher and composer, proposed that we expect certain emotions from our music, and sometimes we get it, while other times we don’t. Meyer’s theory was based on an earlier idea regarding the psychology of emotion: that emotions arise when we are unable to satisfy some desire or other. Imagine being denied something you want, be it love or a cheeseburger. That might cause you to experience anger or irritation. However, if you get what you want, you feel rewarded. Meyer argued that music worked in a similar way, setting up patterns that dare us to subconsciously make predictions about what is coming next. If we’re right, we get that little burst of dopamine. It is this little waltz between our predictions and the outcomes that creates the emotions we associate with music.
Right now you might be saying to yourself, “Okay, I get that, but music still doesn’t have the same importance on our survival other things do.” And on that point, you would be right. So if our lives don’t depend on our predictions about music being right, how does any of this make sense? As it turns out, researchers at Ohio State University think that maybe those predictions had a lot more to do with our survival a long time ago. David Huron suggests that, once upon a time, we regularly made predictions about our environment based on what we saw and heard, usually with only partial information. Think about our ancient ancestors, living in grass huts, always on the lookout for predators. If this person heard a screech or scream cut through the night air, they had to make a decision fairly quickly regarding whether that sound came from a harmless monkey, or a hungry tiger. The theory is that sound has a way of bypassing the “logical brain” and cuts right to the primitive emotional centres, prompting a burst of adrenaline that fuels a fight or flight response. This makes a certain amount of sense. Sounds have a powerful effect on us, and it is difficult to deny how that would help us from an evolutionary standpoint. We can’t turn this effect off, nor can we turn off the emotional response that follows.
Evolution is one way to look at something as mysterious as how music plays on our emotions, but psychology is another. In 2011, while performing a study on music and its connection to emotions, Adam Lonsdale and Adrian North surveyed 300 young people about their reasons for listening to music. The responses they got were broad, and while all were interesting, the top 5 most common answers were very telling. Coming in at number five was personal identity. As we all know, the type of music we like and listen to expresses something personal about ourselves. Finding out what another person’s musical tastes are like can tell us a lot about that person, but it can also teach us a lot about ourselves. Music helps up to project who we are to the world.
The fourth most common response dealt with interpersonal relationships, and music’s social aspects. Music has forever been a way for us to connect with those around us. From primitive drum circles to modern pop culture, music is a way to make a connection with one another. The second and third most popular responses came in at essentially a tie. First, we have negative mood management. Everyone knows about this one. Have you ever gone through a break up and listened to sad music? Or had a bad day, got into your car, or home, turned on your favourite song or artists, and just relaxed? Music seems to help us cope with the ups and downs of life, and there is something cathartic about listening to sad music when we are down. There have been many studies on this aspect of music and its ability to help us through anxiety and stress. Tied at number two is diversion; music is something to do when there is nothing to do. Music helps relieve the boredom of a long commute, or a lazy day. Just don’t try to listen while doing something complicated. Studies have shown music can be much more of a distraction than a diversion in those cases.
And the number one reason people listen to music given to Lonsdale and North was positive mood management. Music makes our good moods even better. It pumps us up, entertains us, relaxes us, and sets the right tone for any activity.
So what do you think is the reason for our brains’ emotional connection to music? Is it an evolutionary trait that stems from our time as prey animals that needed to decide whether we should run or fight? Or is it a more modern development based in psychology and social connections? The truth is probably somewhere in between and a mixture of both, but I say who really cares? Music makes us feel good, and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?
