Music for the Mind: How Does Music Influence Us?

By Dalton McCoy

How do you listen to music? Do you use CDs, vinyl, or streaming services? Do you listen with your friends, or family, or by yourself?

We all listen to music to escape reality, but music can help us feel emotions, connect with society, improve individuality and how we think.The reason for this phenomenon is simple yet fascinating as research explains how your music choice can connect you with others who listen to the same genre, similar tempo and of course, your favourite band. Hearing music can incredibly improve your mental health and will change your mood. Music is even used as therapy to treat mental illnesses.

In a 2017 research review, it was concluded that listening to classical music and jazz has a positive effect on depression symptoms [1]. It is just as impactful as interacting with your loved ones because it connects you to the time of joy and social connectedness [2]. Listening to music while studying can also stimulate your brain and engages it. It activates your rewarding system to further progress on what you are studying and motivates you to do better in any career [3].

Long-term memories that you remember from when you were a child can also play a part of how you enjoy your music and develop your personality. Iballa Burunat, leading author of the study, explains that when you hear similar motifs of multiple songs, it stimulates your lobe areas to engage with short-term recognition [4].

That is why songs that were inspired by previous songs were remembered more fondly in the later generations, like recent remixes of popular hits from the 2000s and the 1980s. For example: the melody of Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio in 1995 was used by Ella Henderson in her recent popular song, Alibi.

That, combined with the multiple use of instrument variety, can make songs be heard more than their standard genre as they have their own style and conventions to follow. It is a social communication tool that extends further into the Palaeolithic period, when Neanderthals experimented their artistic endeavours, including the tjurunga, a sacred wooden stone that was made around 25,000 BC. It is an elliptical shaped wood that when turned, emits a sound that is close to a mighty roar. It was used in rituals to commemorate their successful hunt. Drums and shakers were also instruments that we made then to create original sounds and to socialise further [5].

Now back to the current days of music, how can you enjoy yours with others? You can do it in more than one place and with more than one song.

Students and those who work can benefit from using streaming services, like Spotify and iTunes to access desired music at any time. You can listen to your favourite tracks and be more social with others because that is what we are ingrained to do as humans; we listen to understand and to enjoy life further. There are specific times of the year that have multiple songs play out within context to emphasise its atmosphere, like Halloween, Spring cleaning and especially Christmas.

Christmas songs, despite Mariah Carey being played over and over in December, are broadcasted out into public spaces in late autumn to get you into the spirit. Many songs around this period are beloved in our culture because of nostalgia and how well they fit into the context of social harmony. They can make you happy, boost your forgiveness of others and gets you in the mood to be with those around you. However, listening to songs from an upcoming band tour you’re going to see with fellow attendees or by yourself before the event can be just as impactful as periodic, popular songs.

That is why you hear these songs in shops and around marketplaces because they can influence how you interact with people and how you are feeling now. Go ahead, take a listen. You might hear something worth listening to in a crowd.

Sources:

[1] Leubner, D., & Hinterberger, T. (2017). Reviewing the effectiveness of music interventions in treating Depression. Frontiers in Psychology, 8.

[2] Schäfer, T., Sedlmeier, P., Städtler, C., & Huron, D. (2013). The psychological functions of music listening. Frontiers in Psychology, 4.

[3] Gold, B. P., Mas-Herrero, E., Zeighami, Y., Benovoy, M., Dagher, A., & Zatorre, R. J. (2019). Musical reward prediction errors engage the nucleus accumbens and motivate learning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(8), 3310–3315.

[4] Burunat, I., Vinoo A., Petri T., Jussi N., & Elvira B. (2014). “Dynamics of Brain Activity Underlying Working Memory for Music in a Naturalistic Condition.” Cortex 57 (179): 254–69.

[5] Mithen, S. (2005). The Singing Neanderthals : The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.