Music and Consciousness The astounding influence of music on cognition Eleanore Park Alex Kawas Stephen Frost Matthias Havenaar.

Music and Consciousness

The astounding influence ofmusic on cognition

Eleanore ParkAlex Kawas

Stephen FrostMatthias Havenaar

Ties to ASCs

Shift state, alter mindset

Used to accompany, induce ASCs:Religion/shamanism/mysticism

Drug use

Meditation

Sleep

What is Music?

Distinguishing aspectsTonal organization;

psychoacoustics Beat & rhythmAffect

Birdsong? Jackhammer? Country?

Basic Structure

Hierarchy Major and minor beats Essential + ornamental notes Defeasible principles of organization Interaction between types and

levels Auditory “scene” analysis: stream

segregation

Processing music

Utilizes broad cognitive capacitiesGestalt grouping: proximity, good

continuation And specialized ones

Differential lateralization in processing

Analysis of tonal space: pitches, intervals, chords, keys

Affect in music

Music theory There are “degrees of tension and

attraction within a melody…at any point” 1

Rising pitch: increased tension Large interval shifts: more tension than

small shifts Attraction related to “resolution” during

melodic progression

Conscious and unconscious expectation; latter unrelated to memory

1. Jackendoff, p. 24

Why does music move us? Aesthetics: Admiring beauty,

virtuosity

Memory: Nostalgic familiarity

Entrainment: direct effect on rhythms within the body (heartbeat, brainwaves); visceral and motor rhythmicity

Why does music move us? “Musical posture” and “gesture”:

ascription of affect and animatism Listening to “dark” music doesn’t

make us feel dark, but in the presence of a dark entity

We have empathy or attunement with the affect

Dancing: conversion to physical posture and gesture

Framing: level to invest, or detach

The Impact of Music on the Brain & Experience

Neural Basis for Coupling Music to Emotion & Attention PET studies showed increased CBF in the ventral

striatum, midbrain, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, and ventral medial prefrontal cortex (Limb, 2006)

EEG studies have shown a significant power increase in the low-alpha band range in bilateral frontal networks, indicating increased neuronal synchronization and attention (Thaut, 2005).

Music acts on waking arousal control systems based on norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (Panksepp, 1986).

Music elicits responses similar to sex and drug intake Music can lead to musical chills and euphoric

experience Music activates reward related brain areas These area’s are similar to reward / emotion and

limbic arousal processes similar to thoses activated by drug intake and sex.

NAc, Insula, OFC, ACC (Blood, 2001) Increased DA secretion due to listening to music.

Music is your XTC! Remember Volkow? Is music addictive?

?

Music and Brain Lateralization Right hemisphere is involved in processing of

melody (prosody)

Left hemisphere is involved in processing rhythm and musical analysis. Also activates frontal motor areas

Is the left hemisphere involved in making you want to shake your body?

Is music capable of inducing an altered state? Is used for induction of hypnosis/

trancelike states Music can drive listeners into

states of patriotic fervor or religious frenzy

Is there a reason why we sing in church?

Does music induce religious experiences?

What is music therapy?

Systematic intervention process that uses music experiences to achieve therapeutic goals

Music as an ASC: changes in emotion, motivation, motor functions to help a variety of patient populations

Passive and active interactions with music: Song writing, listening to music, discussion of

song lyrics, performing, etc. No previous experience with music or music

talent is necessary

Music Therapy patient populations Goals:

Obtain symptom control, reduce clinical disability, improve quality of life

Vary with each patient’s condition: Geriatric care Patient’s undergoing cardiac surgery Parkinson’s disease Rehabilitation Alzheimer's- “silent brain” Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Tourette’s

Active music therapy

Voice exercises, rhythmic and free body movements

Combining motor and emotional responsesRhythmic and melodic

components

Combining stimulation of different sensory pathways

Active MT and Parkinson’s Disease Bradykinesia,hypokinesia Postural and gait abnormalities External rhythmic cues acting as a timekeeper

Variable improvements Motor improvements as a function of emotion?

DA mesolimbic projections to ventro-striatum intraccumbens

Integration of basal-ganglia loop and cortical regions Limbic systems + motor systems

Music therapy and effects on consciousness

Improvements seem to be residual (Pacchetti et al.)

ASC’s generally relative

Individual differences in normal state of consciousness Patients achieve different mental state and

physical state

Body and mind connection (Brain vs. Mind) Is music adaptive?

What purpose might music serve on an individual and social level?

Where Did Music Come From? Auditory Cheesecake hypothesis

Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (1997) Sexual Selection hypothesis

Geoffrey Miller, “Evolution of human music through sexual selection” (2000)

Social Bonding hypothesis Robin Dunbar, “Language, Music and Laughter

in Evolutionary Perspective” (2004) Coalition Signaling hypothesis

Hagen & Bryant, “Music and dance as a coalition signaling system” (2003)

Auditory Cheesecake

Cheesecake tastes good by taking advantage of existing structures

The desire for cheesecake is an emergent phenomena of existing processes

Music, too!

Sexual Selection

Darwin: Music as courtship display

Miller: Musical ability as indicator of fitness

Jimi Hendrix

Social Bonding

Sexual selection is insufficient Monkey grooming

Grooming ceiling: 50 monkeys

Human grooming Dunbar’s number: 150 humans Language allows larger grooming size

Ramping up from 50 to 150 Music, precursor to language

Coalition Signaling

Sexual selection, social bonding insufficient, but important

Music commonly performed in groups during war, politics with other groups

Apes coordinate songs to advertise territory, pair bonds May also signal group identity

Music signals other groups of cohesion “We can kick your butt.”

Altered State Induction

What about altered states? Mob behavior as altered state:

Personal identity frame drop induces altered state

Are musical groups mobs?

Is music’s role in the induction of altered states evolutionarily adaptive? Open question

References

Blood AJ, Zatorre RJ. “Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2001).

Esch T, Guarna M, Bianchi E, Zhu W, Stefano GB. “Commonalities in the central nervous system's involvement with complementary medical therapies: limbic morphinergic processes.” Medical science monitor: International medical journal of experimental and clinical research (2004).

Gold C, Rolvsjord R, Aaro LE, Aarre T, Tjemsland L, Stige B. “Resource-oriented music therapy for psychiatric patients with low therapy motivation: protocol for a randomised controlled trial [NCT00137189].” BMC psychiatry (2005).

Hatem TP, Lira PI, Mattos SS. “The therapeutic effects of music in children following cardiac surgery.” Jornal de pediatria (2006).

Jackendoff R, Lerdahl F. “The capacity for music: What is it, and what's special about it?” Cognition (2005).

References

Jaynes J. “Of poetry and music.” The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind (2000, 1976).

Myskja A. “Can music therapy for patients with neurological disorders?” Tidsskrift for den Norske laegeforening (2004).

Pacchetti C, Mancini F, Aglieri R, Fundaro C, Martignoni E, Nappi G. “Active music therapy in Parkinson's disease: an integrative method for motor and emotional rehabilitation.” Psychosomatic medicine. (2000)

Pinker S. How the mind works (1997).

Miller G. “Evolution of human music through sexual selection.” The origins of music (2000).

Dunbar R. “Language, music and laughter in evolutionary perspective.” Evolution of communication systems: A comparative approach (2004).

Hagen & Bryant. “Music and dance as a coalition signaling system” Human nature (2003).