In a limited sense, we all have an idea of what happens to us when we listen to our favorite (or most hated) pop music. We understand the “what” in physical terms – the hip thrusts, air drumming, or the great and glorious rawk face. (You know you’ve seen them along St. Mark’s, those insurgent grimaces, those yearnings to plug in. Or maybe I’m giving myself away here.) We also understand it in psychological terms. Led Zepplin or Prince may not rule your iPod these days, but every time you hear “Heartbreaker” or “Raspberry Beret,” you’re helplessly returned to your high-school bedroom or your buddy’s basement.
But according to Dr. Daniel Levitin, this common understanding doesn’t even scratch the service. In a recent Rolling Stone piece entitled “Music Under the Microscope,” author Even Serpick chronicles Levitin’s efforts to reveal the precise neurological response to musical stimulation. At Montreal’s McGill University Levitin used MRI machines to monitor people’s responses to everything from Beethoven to Ludacris in an effort to track what parts of the brain are engaged by which tunes. His conclusions are compiled in his recent book, “This is Your Brain on Music.”
Serpick takes one for the team and goes under the MRI as he listens to Mozart, James Brown, and Eminem. The results aren’t particularly surprising: Mozart lights up the primary auditory cortex, the part responsible for interpreting pitch and timbre; Brown ignites the cerebellum, the branch in control of basic motor skills and emotional response; Eminem sparks the parts of Serpick’s brain responsible for language (and, one imagines, hate speech). Still, anyone working to uncover the connection between neurology and pop music, particularly one who has a background in the industry, without reducing music’s incomparable pleasures to mere chemicals should be applauded.
Unfortunately, I can’t for the life of me find the article online, but you’d do well to pick up the latest Rolling Stone (if for no other reason) and check it out.
And now . . . well, I couldn’t resist. This is an MRI scan of a child’s brain tumor (poor kid):
But according to Dr. Daniel Levitin, this common understanding doesn’t even scratch the service. In a recent Rolling Stone piece entitled “Music Under the Microscope,” author Even Serpick chronicles Levitin’s efforts to reveal the precise neurological response to musical stimulation. At Montreal’s McGill University Levitin used MRI machines to monitor people’s responses to everything from Beethoven to Ludacris in an effort to track what parts of the brain are engaged by which tunes. His conclusions are compiled in his recent book, “This is Your Brain on Music.”
Serpick takes one for the team and goes under the MRI as he listens to Mozart, James Brown, and Eminem. The results aren’t particularly surprising: Mozart lights up the primary auditory cortex, the part responsible for interpreting pitch and timbre; Brown ignites the cerebellum, the branch in control of basic motor skills and emotional response; Eminem sparks the parts of Serpick’s brain responsible for language (and, one imagines, hate speech). Still, anyone working to uncover the connection between neurology and pop music, particularly one who has a background in the industry, without reducing music’s incomparable pleasures to mere chemicals should be applauded.
Unfortunately, I can’t for the life of me find the article online, but you’d do well to pick up the latest Rolling Stone (if for no other reason) and check it out.
And now . . . well, I couldn’t resist. This is an MRI scan of a child’s brain tumor (poor kid):
Pump “Fergalicous” into my ears and you’d see the same damn thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment