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Essay / Influence of Music on the Human Brain
Today's society is more familiar with music than in any other era in history due to youth. A large percentage of young people listen to music every day while performing their daily activities for many of the activities they engage in. However, we must define the word music. Psychoacoustics defines music as sound with particular characteristics and patterns. In contrast, medieval theorists and Greek philosophers defined music as sounds with horizontal (like melodies) and vertical (like harmonies) order. (Sfetcu, 2014) It is not wrong to think that everyone can have a different opinion on the definition of music because it is difficult to describe. However, a more similar answer can be given if a person is asked why they like music. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay In fact, music has been an important part of human culture for hundreds of thousands of years. Researchers have discovered a musical area in the brain; and like many other processes developed in the brain, the tasks involved in listening to music are located in different parts of the human brain. (Maulk, 2013) The United States is a perfect example of the current increase in the number of music listeners. Its population spends more time than ever listening to music, this information is taken from a new report published by Nielsen Music; It is estimated that Americans spend an average of just over 32 hours per week listening to music. (McIntyre, 2017) Music and its relationship to humans are far more complex than simple statistics or words. This essay will present how the connection between music and the human brain is established and studied; more specifically, the influence that music can have on emotions. Additionally, the way emotions are affected by one type of music differs from others depending on factors such as tone, rhythm, and instruments. First, it is important to present and explain the relationship between music and the human brain. Different types of music typically generate a wide range of emotions and effects on human behavior, which, in turn, lead to a specific class of experiences called feelings. Neuroimaging and electrophysiology studies, normally in normal people as well as individuals with neurological damage, show that music can alter the state of large-scale neural systems in the human brain. The brain sectors linked to auditory and motor processing are not the only ones limited to changes; they are also present in sectors related to the regulation of vital processes called homeostasis (a state of psychological balance obtained when tension has been reduced or eliminated), which counts with areas linked to emotions and feelings. It is acceptable to risk that the close relationship between the human brain, music and feelings, next to music, that the close relationship between music and feelings as well as the effectiveness of music in certain social and personal contexts , that is to say its role in homeostasis, explain, in part, the considerable point of choice and replication of phenomena linked to music, both on a cultural and biological level. Researchers concerned with the brain's processing of music agree that music evokes a wide range of feelings (Sloboda, O'Neill, & Ivaldi, 2001) and have, of course, devoted much effort to studying effects related to music..