In tune with your brain

Neuroscientists are discovering deeper and more complex connections between the music we hear and the way our memory functions.

In 2008, a group of archaeologists discovered what is possibly the world’s oldest known musical instrument, a flute made of the wing bone of a vulture, in a Stone Age cave in Germany. Despite dating back to 40,000 years ago, when the first modern humans settled in the region, it is unlikely to have been one of the oldest-ever musical instruments. Older instruments, for one, might have been made of less durable material than bone, like skin. And of course, the earliest ever musical instrument was possibly the human voice.

What possible purpose could these primitive musical instruments have served? We now view music as something that gives us joy, but in all likelihood, music possibly started off as something that brought early humans together and gave them an advantage in conflict with other tribes. Think of the Stone Age man beating a drum to warn his people of incoming danger, or the “night watchmen” on top of a tree singing a tune through the night to let adversaries know when not to attack.

Far from being just a pastime for entertainment, then, evolutionary psychologists argue that music played a much more central role in our species. In fact, music might have paved the way for the development of language and was often used to promote social cooperation. Music brings us together in primal ways and nowhere is this more apparent than the goosebumps we feel when our country’s national anthem is played and everyone sings together.

It’s often said “music is universal”, and this is a cliché for a good reason. Almost every known culture in the world has some form of music. How we view music and our relationship with it, of course, varies from culture to culture and person to person.

Steering clear of snobbery

Some cultures view music as the domain of experts — you have to be taught music in a structured manner to be able to perform it. Others view music as an expression of joy or sadness, universal emotions that people do not require a certificate to express. In his book ‘This Is Your Brain On Music’, author Daniel Levitin gives the example of his American friend visiting the Sotho people in Africa, and when asked to sing something, responding with “I don’t know how to sing”. The surprise that the Sotho people felt on hearing this was apparent — to them, singing was an activity that was not the purview of a select few, rather, it was something that was second nature to everyone.

We don’t have to travel all that far from our homeland to encounter music-related snobbery. India is home to hundreds of art forms, but only a select few even get accorded “art form” status — no points for guessing which strata of society the patrons of these art forms occupy.

In addition to the snobbery inherent in insisting that only those with a formal musical education have the right to perform it, the prevalent notion is that some forms of music are superior to others.

Take the ‘Mozart effect’, for instance — scientists in past decades believed that listening to classical music made people smarter by increasing brain activity. Turns out it is not as simple as that, though. Our brains respond best to whichever type of music we like and/or grew up listening to.

Patients with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease, who might not respond to anything or anyone else, show a marked emotional and physical response when they listen to their favourite music. Be it death metal or country music, the music we like best seems to have the most potent effects on our brains.

Developing musical appreciation

How do we all come to have such varied musical tastes in the first place? A lot of it has to do with our early musical experiences. My daughter, who is now four, has shown a remarkably fluid interest in music. She listens to and enjoys nearly all kinds of music we’ve exposed her to, from western pop to Indian film music. It seems to be that, like language, for which there needs to be appropriate input at the right age, there is a critical period for music appreciation as well. Scientists have found early childhood exposure to different cultures’ tonal structures and types of music is essential if we are to appreciate music that is outside of our own. If exposed to a particular kind of music early enough, then, we grow to appreciate it.

I was a schoolgirl when Shankar Mahadevan’s song ‘Breathless’ was released, and one of the first things that my brother and I did was learn the lyrics to the entire song (yes, those were the days of cassette tapes and lyric jackets). I remember proudly performing the song for a group of relatives, only to have one snarkily remark that our memorising talents might be put to better use in an academic setting. I later tried setting a few of my class notes to music, just to check if setting something to tune promotes learning. We can often remember the lyrics to songs we have not heard in decades, after all, but the same rarely holds true for other kinds of information.

Music and memory

Judging by what neuroscientists are now finding out about memory and music, I might have been on to something. It does seem to be true that information that has been set to music is easiest to remember — but why might this be the case?

The key lies not in the storage of musical information, but in the process of retrieval. The fact that information set to music has a tune and a rhythmic structure makes it easier for us to pull the information out of the memory stores. Music, in essence then, serves as a sophisticated mnemonic device. A YouTube video that has all 208 bones of the human body set to tune seems to be so popular among students of anatomy that it has over 16 million views!

The Neurochemical connection

In early 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdowns, quarantined Italians got together on their balconies to sing in unison. Artists all over the world did live concerts from their living rooms, with millions of viewers tuning in. Making music together is not only enjoyable, but it also provides people with a great sense of community in trying times. We’ve all experienced this. But how does this happen? What brings about this sense of togetherness and bonding is the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin. Singing together has been found to release oxytocin, leading to that warm, happy feeling. Indulging in group musical activities also reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

There is also a clear biological reason why we reach for our headphones and play our favourite music when we are stressed. Listening to music has been found to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and also increase levels of the feel-good hormone dopamine. We don’t yet know how exactly this happens, but this coupling between music and neurochemical secretion provides evidence for a clear link between music and mood, one that possibly dates back to prehistoric times.

Evolutionary significance

In his book ‘The World in Six Songs’, author Daniel Levitin enumerates six categories that most songs in the world fit into — friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion, and love songs.

The kind of song we tend to seek out most often falls into the joyful category. Joyful music releases endorphins, another kind of feel-good hormone. Evolutionary psychologists believe that a member of a tribe who had the ability to make his fellow members feel happy — through behaviours such as grooming, procuring food or providing entertainment — had an evolutionary advantage as a valued member of the tribe who could rise to the position of a group leader.

And then there’s comforting music, a subcategory of which is the lullaby. Again, every culture all over the world has its own kind of lullaby. There’s a reason why lullabies are so comforting — auditory signals can be transmitted in the dark, and infants, who have rudimentary visual systems, can recognise and distinguish their mother’s voice before they can even recognise her face. Lullabies all over the world follow a similar melodic pattern of first grabbing the infant’s attention and then slowly decreasing arousal by shifting to a slower, softer melody.

More than comfort

Another kind of comforting music is that made by and for people who feel disenfranchised by a system, or who don’t fit into society in a traditional manner. If music brings people together, it also serves the purpose of bringing comfort to people who cannot seem to find it in the outside world.

The Casteless Collective, a Chennai-based band, comprises musicians who play their percussion instruments in funerals, folk or ‘gaana’ musicians and rappers, all coming together to give a voice to people who have been denied one over the centuries. Their song Kaalu rooba dhuttu, for instance, speaks of the plight of people who do manual scavenging for a living. They also have songs on caste discrimination, homosexuality and beef politics — all topics that hold great relevance in today’s world. Could there be a better example of a group that aims to change the world through music? Far from being mere ‘comfort music’, such protest music serves as a mirror to a society that is often more self-congratulatory than introspective.

The final category of music I’d like to explore Is the sad song. In an interview with film critic Baradwaj Rangan, singer Bombay Jayashree spoke about having a penchant for sad music. One possible reason so many of us choose to listen to sad songs, of course, is that melancholy music is often very melodious, and the slow tempo possibly has a calming effect.

But something even more complex is at play here. Very often, when we are sad, we find ourselves wanting to listen to sad music. Why might this be the case? When we are sad, our pituitary glands secrete a hormone called prolactin, which has a tranquillising effect. Listening to sad music, research suggests, might trick our brains into releasing prolactin in response to the sadness induced by the music, which then helps calm us and improve our mood.

And of course, there’s always the psychological benefit that sad songs provide — we not only feel “understood”, but also that we are not all alone in our sadness.

“I’ve found that no matter what life throws at me, music softens the blow”, said author Bryce W Anderson. We don’t have to be musicians or connoisseurs of music to know that he makes a valid point. Music performs so many functions in our lives — as a source of comfort, joy and catharsis — that it is impossible to imagine a life without music. Thankfully, music is such an inherent part of the human condition that as long as humankind exists, it is likely that some form of music will.

The author is a neuroscience PhD turned science writer who is fascinated by the workings of the brain and how we can ‘rewire’ it to our advantage.

The Mind’s Eye is a bi-monthly column that explores neuroscience in everyday life.