News, views and reviews of the people and places overlooked by the world at large

20 February 2008

That explains Marvin Gaye

Terry @ 10:54 am

From Innovation Canada: The Science of Music

Innovation Canada: How does music affect the brain?

Daniel Levitin: There’s a particular part of the brain that responds to pleasurable things like winning a lot of money, taking cocaine, or having an orgasm. That’s been known for years, but with my colleague from Stanford Medical School, Vinod Menon, I found that the same region of the brain responds to pleasurable music. People tell you that they like music, but to actually see music activating this pleasure centre in a brain image was surprising. We like to think of it as the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll centre of the brain.

Tagged:

3 Responses to “That explains Marvin Gaye”

  1. Bluegrass Poet Says:
    February 21st, 2008 at 7:43 am

    “pleasurable music”??? I wonder how each brain makes that value judgment. I mean, my Mom finds Lawrence Welk pleasurable while I would need to be tied down to listen to him.

  2. Terry Says:
    February 21st, 2008 at 8:40 am

    That question comes up in the interview, Poet. Here’s his reply:

    IC: In your book, you write that the only pleasing sounds that could come from an accordion would be one burning in a bonfire. How do we determine what is “pleasurable music?”

    DL: [laughs] I actually do like accordions. Some people really don’t like bagpipes, whereas some people really like mandolin. These things are cultural or can be an early association, like a favourite song that featured that instrument. Or, you were at summer camp while an accordion was playing and the kid next to you was punching you, so you developed a negative association.

    Some of it is influenced by the physiology of the ear. The pinna, the fleshy part of the ear on the outside of the head, filters sound similar to the way that sunglasses filter light, letting in more of some wavelengths than others. That can set up a case where the accordion physically sounds different to you than me because of the filtering. So, it may be pleasant to one of us and unpleasant to another.

    IC: Does personal taste play a role?

    DL: Why is it that some people like spicy food and some don’t? There are these individual differences for preference all around the world. We haven’t figured out the neuroscience of aesthetic judgment yet, but it’s something people are working on.

  3. PSoTD Says:
    February 25th, 2008 at 6:27 am

    Some Non-Campaign Blog Posts You May Have Missed…

    if you want to take your mind off the primary campaign for a bit…

    Interesting bit on the concept of Forecl……

Leave a Reply