Country, Western Swing, Free Jazz, Blues, House, Noise, Rock and Roll, Power Pop, Jazz Rock, Punk Rock, Ska, Reggae, Disco, Jazz Rap, etc. – Today there are 17 musical genres and several hundred subgenres, but in spite of this diversity, each of them has its own admirers.

There are many answers to the question “What is the role of music in human life?” Today we invite you to read a number of new scientific studies that have shed light on another little-known aspect – the effect of music on brain function.

Can Music Make Us Happier?

According to the American music theorist Jerrold Levinson, musical language is no less an expressive system of communication than ordinary human language as a subject of linguistic study.

Because music carries a much more powerful emotional charge than real life events, modern psychologists are increasingly resorting to the use of music therapy. Explain its positive impact on the human condition can be at least the fact that the reaction of our nervous system to upbeat and sentimental music is very different. For example, participants in a recent experiment, listening to a short song, interpreted a neutral facial expression as happy or sad, depending on what tune they heard.

Emotions under the influence of music can be divided into two types – perceived and felt. This means that a person is able to understand the mood of the musical work, even if he never had to experience similar feelings in real life. For example, in psychological disorders of a depressive nature, cheerful music only exacerbates a person’s condition, while sad motifs, on the contrary, bring bright colors back into life.

How Does Background Noise Affect Creativity?

In order not to get bored out of your mind while working on some painfully familiar task – for which you may well be receiving a handsome financial reward – you put on your headphones, adjust the volume, select the desired playlist and press play, right? Be that as it may, when it comes to work that requires activation of the right hemisphere, loud music is unlikely to help.

As it turns out, average noise levels are a kind of catalyst for creativity. By complicating information processing, background noise stimulates abstract thinking and tunes the human brain into a creative work mode. That’s why public places like cafes, summer sites, promenades, parks, etc. – are so attractive to creative people.

At high noise levels the human brain is too overloaded, as it tries not only to abstract away all distractions, but also to process information as qualitatively as possible.

Is It Possible To Determine A Person’s Character By Knowing Their Musical Preferences?

The results of this study, conducted by scientists at Heriot-Watt University (HWU), proved for the first time that there is a definite correlation between a person’s preferred musical genres and his or her character.

In the first part of the experiment, 36,518 young people from around the world were asked to rank 104 music genres based on their personal preferences. The next phase of the study was a little more complicated: participants had to break into pairs and try to determine the character traits of their partners, based on their list of the 10 most listened to songs. Five qualities were chosen for analysis: openness to new experiences, extraversion, politeness, conscientiousness, and emotional balance.

Researchers came to the following conclusions:

• Blues fans are creative, outgoing, polite, and arrogant;
• Jazz fans are more likely to be creative, affable people with inflated self-esteem;
• Classical music fans belong to the introverted type of personality, but despite this, have a high sense of dignity and uncommon creative abilities;
• Rap fans are sociable and a little selfish;
• Opera fans are polite, open-minded, creative individuals;
• Country and western fans are hardworking and easygoing;
• Reggae fans have high self-esteem, are creative and sociable, but hard work is definitely not about them;
• Fans of rhythmic dance music relate to the extroverted type of personality, have some creative abilities, but not good manners;
• Indie fans have low self-esteem, they are not industrious and often badly educated;
• Bollywood (indie film music) fans are very responsive and friendly;
• Very often fans of heavy metal (heavy metal), hardcore, etc. – low self-esteem, but they have great creative potential.

Is It Worth Listening To Music While Driving?

There are countless hypotheses about the amazing power of music to influence driving, but unfortunately, none of them answer the question of whether it is safe. A recent study conducted by researchers at Ben Gurion University in Be’er Sheva, Israel, challenged the common assumption that music has a positive effect on driving.

The scientists tested how drivers were affected by music they chose themselves, by “safe” songs suggested by the researchers, and by the complete absence of any musical accompaniment. As a result, the assumptions made by scientists before the experiment were fully confirmed: drivers made the most mistakes while driving accompanied by their chosen songs, slightly less dangerous situations occurred in the absence of music accompaniment, well, the music offered by the researchers had the most favorable effect on drivers.

Is There A Link Between Music And Logic?

Learning to play a musical instrument at an early age is known to be beneficial for a child’s further development. In 2008, Marie Forgeard, Ellen Winner and Andrea Norton, all of whom taught at the University of St. Andrews, found that children who had been exposed to music for about three years outperformed their peers in four areas: auditory comprehension, motor skills, vocabulary and logical thinking.

Thus, scientists have concluded that years of intensive music practice have a positive impact not only on the interhemispheric organization of auditory and motor functions, but also on the process of redistribution of mental functions between the left and right hemispheres of the brain (lateralization).

How Does Classical Music Affect Stroke Victims?

A small study, the results of which were published on the website of the American Occupational Therapy Association, showed that classical music has some rehabilitative properties.

The experiment was conducted with the participation of 16 patients who had suffered a stroke of the right hemisphere of the brain. For one week, the researchers monitored how classical music, white noise and silence affected each patient’s attention and visual perception. The results were recorded by scientists using specially developed visual analogue scales (VAS, commonly used to determine the intensity of pain). As in the cases of creativity and driving, silence did not meet the scientists’ expectations, but classical music significantly increased patients’ attention span and improved their visual memory.

How Can I Make My Workouts More Productive?

Scientists have been studying the effects of music on physical exercise for years. For example, in 1911 the American scientist Leonard Ayres discovered that cyclists pedaled much faster when listening to rhythmic music than when riding in silence.

This is because the music simply drowns out the signals of fatigue. The body, sensing physical exhaustion, sends appropriate impulses to the brain that the muscles need time to recover. Music, in turn, predetermines such signals and motivates a person to exercise longer. It should be noted that musical accompaniment is especially useful during low to moderate intensity workouts, because it is almost impossible to ignore the pain that occurs during heavy exertion.

Musical accompaniment also helps a person to dispose of their energy reserves in the most efficient way. A 2012 study found that cyclists who listen to music during a workout consume 7 percent less oxygen, even though the load remains the same.

“Some psychologists argue that people have an innate preference for rhythm at 2 hertz, which is equivalent to 120 beats per minute (bpm is the number of quarter notes per minute that determines how fast a song plays), although for cardio exercise machines – treadmills, elliptical trainers, exercise bikes, etc. – more rhythmic music is suitable. According to researchers, the so-called “motivational ceiling,” which provides the peak of human productivity, are songs with a frequency of 145 bpm.

Now, knowing how music affects your productivity, all that’s left to do is to synchronize your musical preferences with your workout program.

And don’t forget to turn off auto-playing videos on websites and ledgers.