Was I gloomy because I was listening to sad music or I was listening to sad music as I was gloomy? The further one delves into this question, the more we realise that our relation to music is much more complex than it seems. Daniel Levitin, the author of This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of Human Obsession spent years exploring these complexities.
There are endless ways in which music harnesses the power of human emotions that it influences. Advertisers and filmmakers have been long using music to manipulate our emotions without us realising. We experience different feelings with different music. How about when you walk across to your favourite store or cafe, do you see how you associate a sense of comfort and relaxation with the kind of music that the place plays, doesn't it make you want to stay a bit longer?
Music influences us in subtle but strong ways. Soft music soothes us while rock music may give an adrenaline rush. But wait, the aim is not to spoil music and its mysteries for you. A common fear I share with others is whether diving deep into secrets of everyday pleasures such as music, robs us of it? We still enjoy and appreciate music the same. And maybe even let us enjoy it a little bit more.
Our Brain & Body On Music
Our brain has its own way of making us feel good. Music is one of the pleasurable activities that activates a number of neurochemical responses in the brain. For example, the Human striatum in the brain's rewarding system sees a release of dopamine So when we experience a peak – or “emotional hotspots”- there is a release of dopamine in the upper striatum while listening to certain kinds of music. Similarly, activity in the parietal lobe helps in retrieving music with the help of memories.
A result of these neurophysiological activities is reflected in our bodily responses. We may experience chills, 'goosebumps' or an arousal in our body's autonomic nervous system, which regulates body processes such as heartbeat, blood flow, breathing and digestion without the need of deliberate effort, as the dopamine is released.
However, something to keep in mind is that not everyone experiences this arousal peak through music. There remains a significant portion of the complex relationship between music and human experience that is yet unexplained. Researchers discovered that individuals can have music anhedonia (people who just don't seem to enjoy music as others). The lack of emotional responses towards music results in the brain's reward centres working slightly differently than others.
Music and You
Despite several complexities, there are many ways in which we use music in our lives. It could be to maintain a pleasant mood, to create a comfortable private space around us, or to deal with boredom. A study by Swedish psychologist Alf Gabrielsson highlighted that positive emotions are responsible for individuals to have strong experiences with music. There can be “mixed emotions” (feelings of nostalgia or bittersweet moments), and few with negative emotions as well. The not-so-positive emotions from music can also give voice to communicate with others.
Music bears the capability to take a step back and dissociate from reality in a span of seconds. We all have our own little time machines. A simple melody can make us relive moments from the past or can take us to a new world, the one we haven't lived in yet. Many of us experience profound feelings when we recall music from our favourite series or artist. I still play the harry potter theme and within a few seconds, I am on my way on the Hogwarts Express.
Music tends to induce emotions, with a very individualistic significance for each of us. Although emotional regulation from music may require a more deliberate involvement and attention to the music, more often than not it plays in the background without deep involvement and without physiological arousal. This may also have to do with relative pitches. I am very fond of trying new musical instruments, and different instruments can make us feel differently good. The simple “Happy birthday” tune may sound more pleasant on a piano than with a bassoon.
These subtle differences in the experience of music for individuals from different instruments, pitches and kinds of music has significantly advanced with music cognition – now, insights are offered from social psychology, cognitive neuroscience and even affective computing, which detects emotional responses to musical stimuli. In this, the AI can recognise emotional states of individuals. From a scholarly point of view, the research in music and emotions has grown a lot in the last decades.
Music can feel different with different people. Researchers found that when we listen to music with close friends or partners, the strength of autonomic responses are much higher compared to listening to music alone or with strangers. We develop connections with emotional or mental states of people close to us.
This brings us to another interesting question, Why does the same music make you feel differently in different places, let's say when you are listening to a favourite piece, in your room, in your office or in a mountain house?
There is much that we still need to find about music, and us.
Contribution by Fazli