Effects of New Music on Human Brain - Research Paper Example

Does Hearing to a New Type of Music Stimulate the Same Area of The Brain? Name University Course Date Does Hearing to a New Type of Music Stimulate the Same Area of the Brain? Introduction: Music in most of the research appears inflectional in term of emotions, psychological or physical treatment (Lesiuk, 2005). In contrast to above, in some cases the particular type of music (loud or scary) might have a harmful effect and is advised not to be used in general. In auditory cortex, the music would be processed following the same ascending pathways as that of any other sound. This processing involves mainly the analysis of the spectrotemporal structure of the stimulus (Harms et al., 1998; Griffiths et al., 2002).The auditory cortex lies in the superior –temporal plane inside the Sylvian tissue. The primary auditory cortex (PAC) is located in the centre part of the Heschl's gyrus (HG) that runs anterolaterally in the plane. It is crucial to consider the variation between the relationship of the macroscopic boundaries and cytoarchitechtionally defined areas, especially when considering the effects of the cuts by macroscopic boundaries (Rademacher et al., 2001).The plenum temporal (PT) lies behind the HG that is involved in the processing of the auditory stimuli (Stewart,2006). Besides, this research will emphasize on the reaction of different brain regions to the deferent kind of music by the same brain activity. Furthermore, to examine the response of the same brain regions to the strange music, the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) would be used to compare between the two groups (English and foreign music),also to compare within a group (classic and modern music). Literature Review: Music can stimulate several regions within or beyond auditory cortices in the brain; two opinions come into view, the first one that suggests there is rise between speech and music processing by shared syntactic integration resource hypothesis. Abrams et al. have supported this theory. (2010) an overlap between the process of music and speech in temporal regions even contrasts may exist at little scales inside these extensive regular ranges. The second opinion is music process functional specialization such as some deficits secondary to neurology diseases with a strong testimony of functional patterns analysed the two variables processing (Angulo-Perkins et al., 2014). Moreover, Schlaug et al., (2005) found out in his longitudinal research (5-7year old), there as a limited effect of music training on 14 months on the brain and cognitive. He supports this small effect, by the result of his another research (9-11-year-old) with moderate 4 musical years training to be much stronger (Schlaug, G. et al., 2005). In addition, a study found an impact of music (1-2 hour/day) on stroke patients within the first two months of recovery could improve focus and attention, as well as verbal memory (Sarkamo et al., 2008). Moreover, they link listening to the music and the stories with the ability to enjoy them. Although , there are no differences in the study shows that patients are not affected by the extent to choose the music or language, except as indicated from Nantais and Schellenberg's (1999) study which found that participant in the cognitive task perform better if they listened to their favourite music (Sarkamo et al., 2008). Music is the language of emotion supported by the past studies has showed that the previous experience of music listening of the individual does affect the mood. Moreover, the studies have also showed the peak experiences felt by the music listeners. These peak experiences were emotional that were measurable such as shivers, tears, thrills, lump in the throats and laughter (Stewart, 2006). These emotional peaks were associated with different music structures called as metaphors. The metaphors if results in the tears are of either loss or relief that could be helpful for motivation. However, it has also been reported that the repeated listening could not minimize the strong emotional responses to the same music (Lesiuk, 2005). Koelsch et al( 2006) have concluded in their studies that the clear BOLD signals were observed during the response to the pleasant and unpleasant music that indicates that structures such as hippocampus, HG, temporal poles all reaction to the former both types of music this means the music has the ability to direct the neuronal activity in these structures Methodology: This research would focus to find out whether the kind of music activates the same area of the brain or not? Moreover, the paper intends to determine if there is any different stimulate area in brain by the music (Stewart, 2006). Then examine the effect of listening to classical or modern music, or listening to same language music or foreign music. For this research, a functional neuroimaging formula called functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI) is applied. The method has an experimental design diagram, and it involves three methods applied. See the diagram bellow (Harms et al., 1998; Griffiths et al., 2002) Experimental design diagram for appl 10 seconds 2 seconds Classic M. modern M. Arabic M. Chinese M. Stimuli and Materials: There would be three methods used in the experiment. • The short questioner is inquiring about favourite music, how often one listens to music and the choice of the music language. • FMRI • Mp3 recorder with headphones contains the following type of tunes: 1-classic music. 2- Modern music. 3- Arabic music. 4- Chinese music. The Arab music and Chinese music would be chosen as a traditional music. Why fMRI? The human brain uses 20 % of our breathing oxygen that is supplied to the active neurons, called blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD). However, the influence of blood flow and the activity of neurons help to take a picture by fMRI. When a region in brain is active it will rise the blood flow in that area, which called Regional Cerebral Blood Flow(RCBF) that allows the oxy-haemoglobin for metabolic activity in brain tissue (Dogil et al., 2002). In addition, fMRI will give a clear picture of the greatest active region when the participant listens to deferent kind of music. More so, the FMRI is most preferred since the method does not use radiation like X-ray, position generating tomography (PET) and computed tomography scans. FMRI has no effect totally on human being if it is done correctly. The FMRI is easy to use. Finally, it evaluates the human brain functions safely, efficiently and noninvasively (Stewart, 2006). Sample size and participant's criteria: For the functional magnetic resonance imaging to record the brain response, individuals have to be used for samples. For this research, 40 undergraduate psychology students from the University of Kent will be used All Participant's that will take place in the experiments must have the following conditions: 1- They must have no regular music training. 2- They must not listen to music more than 3 hours daily. 3- They must not listen to the foreign music (Arabic or Chinese music specially). 4- They must not have any hearing problem. Procedure: A participant would be asked to sign a consent form and answer few questions about music in his/her life to know who is suitable for the experiment according to the above-mentioned criteria. Those peeked on should meet the above-stated conditions. He or she should not listen to the music more than 3 hours a day so as to avoid early simulations of the limbic, auditory and motor regions of cortex before the FMRI research is conducted (Rademacher et al., 2001). Then, he or she will be ready to participate in the fMRI, after that participant would enter to the fMRI machine, and the test would start. Each participant using an mp3 recorder with headphones will listen to the classic music for 10 seconds than would have a two-second rest followed by the modern music for 10 seconds, again 2-second rest followed by listening to the Arab music for 10 seconds. After a rest of 2 -seconds, ending the test at the audio of Chinese music for 10 seconds. No information would be given to the music kind or to what area does it belong. The essence being, music stimulates the auditory brain differently depending on the emotions, thus the participants should not have any knowledge of the music to avoid creating liking or hate rate towards any of the music involved in the study (Harms et al., 1998; Griffiths et al., 2002). The participant will back after one week for imagination test. After that member would enter into the fMRI machine and the test would start. They will be asked to imagine the kind of music that they have lessened to it one week before (Stewart, 2006). The student ability to remember the music he/she listened to, will depend on the extend in which the brain was activated during listening. The more the student will be able to remember the information on a particular music, the higher the music activated the brain. Thus the more appealing is that music to the brain. They will be requested to remember all four kinds of music. Every individual brain response will be recorded and analysis carried out to find how different music activates different parts of the brain. After this, the music piece content will be analysed by the use of computer algorithm to extract various music feature that are related to rhythm, timbre, and tonality. Images are gotten from any of coronal, axial, sagittal or oblique slice that are the four planes, with the first three being the standard ones (Harms et al., 1998; Griffiths et al., 2002). A series of sagittal are taken in parallel to from the brain front to the back Also a number of coronal slices run from front the front of behind the brain Axial slice, on the other hand, runs from the top downwards the brain. On the other side, the oblique slice is recorded from any standard view among the three. Field of view (FOV) that refers to the size of the image (measured in mm2), specifies the region of the brain from which the image was obtained. For example, if the FOV is 20cm in every direction. Then it means the slice around the area of concern is enclosed within a 20cm x 20 cm location in the plane. The acquisition matrix size that is a square refers to the volume of the grid keen on which the plane of FOV is separated for each slice. Its size determines the measurements of a voxel in the flat of the slice. For example, if the FOV is 20 cm and matrix size 64 cm all in the same direction, voxels length will be 200/64=3.125mm on a side. Slice thickness is measured in mm of every slice. If FOV and acquisition matrix gives the x and y dimension of the three, then the z, one is obtained by the slice thickness. The slice gap that is also measured in mm refers to the gap between the slides. The typical research uses a 5mm thick slice. With a 1mm gap. Together with the matrix and FOV, these results in a voxel of 3.125mm x 3.125mm x 5 mm often seen in apply (Harms et al., 1998; Griffiths et al., 2002). The described parameters relate to the data that is collected and are referred to as an extrinsic parameter. Still we have the intrinsic parameters that also affect the voxel’s signals. The repetition time (RT), in milliseconds, refers to the time involving the consecutive application of the radiofrequency beat to a meticulous amount of tissues. For example, if a 900-pulse signal is applied, the TR will be the time between that pulse and the next one. After the application of the first pulse, magnetization being in the (x, y)-plane z direction, calls the next one that is in (x, y)-plane M0. Immediately pulse is switched off, magnetization in the oblique plane begins to decay according to the formula Mz(t)= M0(1-e-t/t1) At time t=TR. When the next pulse is applied, and the turn over the magnetization reverse in plan (x, y), Mz(TR) = M0(1 − e−TR/T1 ), That is less than M0 original magnetization in z direction before first pulse was applied. After the second pulse is also turned off, the will again be recovery toward z-axis only that the new time applied will bet=2TR. The above stated complicated computer algorithms are then applied to extract and process the result of every individual brain stimulation by each music. The novel cross- validation procedure is used to determine the subsequently located brain regions that are common to various music stimuli (Harms et al., 1998; Griffiths et al., 2002). Implications: The anterior cingulated cortex and the notable areas, which are located in the medial orbitofrontal appraisal, which are significant for self-referential assessment, should be expected to be activated during the listening (Stewart, 2006). Further exciting result to be expected is that a company of lyrics is expected to swing the music dispensation feature towards the right auditory cortex, which suggest that a left-hemispheric supremacy in the course of the songs. Moreover, the use of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLO) contrast is expected to indicate high cerebral blood flow and an increased neuronal activation during listening of the classic music than the traditional music. Meaning listening to classic music is expected to be more appealing than the traditional music that had a distractive effect to the brain (Harms et al., 1998; Griffiths et al., 2002). From previous researches, high brain activation is expected when listening to classic music than the traditional music. Therefore, listening to classic music has various importance. First, Classic music has an affirmative impact on pain managing (Stewart, 2006). It assists in the reduction of both distress and sensation of post operation and chronic pain. Listening to it reduces chronic pain from different levels of conditions like disc problem, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid by around 21% whereas depression by 25% that according to latest UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing. Second, classic music is health for the human heart. British and Italian research showed that during music pause, participant had faster breathing, and high heartbeat when they were listening to music but when it was stopped, both the breathing and the heartbeat went back to their normal. This implies the higher hemodynamic response during the music (Harms et al., 1998; Griffiths et al., 2002). Third, by playing or recording relaxing music, blood pressure can just train them to go down and keep low. Just listening to Celtic, or Classic music for 30 minutes a day can significantly reduce the high (Stewart,2006) blood pressure this is according to research report from a meeting in New Orleans announced by the American Society of Hypertension. Fourth, a daily piece of one’s classical, pop melodies or jazz can also speed up the revival from debilitating stroke. The latest research shows that listening to classic music by stroke patient in Finland for a couple of hours every day vocal attention and memory span increases significantly if compared with the one that only listens to stories told out loudly. Recent research has shown that listening to any individually, enjoyable music have a positive impact on the cognition. To start with, it improves memory performance. The music power affects memory quite intriguing. Baroque and Mozart’s melody that has 60 beats for every minute beat time model activate both the left and the right memory (Rademacher et al., 2001). On the other hand, traditional music is expected to be distractive and harmful to the human brain (Harms et al., 1998; Griffiths et al., 2002). CONCLUSION The fMRI has been seen to be the best method for estimating human activation, in preference to the other methods that can be applied. The method uses the aid of a complicated computer algorithm that gives clear figures of the result. However, from the expectation of the study, music has different effects on the brain thus; you need to be keen when choosing the type of music. References: Abrams, D., Bhatara, A., Ryali, S., Balaban, E., Levitin, D. and Menon, V. (2010). Decoding Temporal Structure in Music and Speech Relies on Shared Brain Resources but Elicits Different Fine-Scale Spatial Patterns. Cerebral Cortex, 21(7), pp.1507-1518. 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Music and the brain: disorders of musical listening. Brain, 129(10), pp.2533-2553. Thaut, M., Gardiner, J., Holmberg, D., Horwitz, J., Kent, L., Andrews, G., Donelan, B. and McIntosh, G. (2009). Neurologic Music Therapy Improves Executive Function and Emotional Adjustment in Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169(1), pp.406-416. Read More