Shroothi Ramesh

Academy Capstone- 6
October 19, 2016
Mrs. McMennamy
Timed Writing #2
Subtopic 2: Positive Emotion and Neuromechanisms
Emotion is an integral aspect of music that all songs carry. Music is key to understanding
the complicated process of human emotion within the mind. Understanding the
neuromechanisms involved in processing music within the brain allows for researchers to draw
connections between emotion and health, thus improving the treatment of patients with
neurological disorders.
Structure, connectivity, and experience all play significant roles in processing emotion
through music in the brain, which has the potential to influence someone greatly. Unlike what
many people believe, music and other creative abilities are not limited to the right hemisphere as
is dispelled by general outlets of science. In reality, both hemispheres interact very closely
via the corpus callosum, so when arts like music are processed, complex patterns are hard to
track and study (Koelsch, 2014). This is why listening is a key part of understanding music.
Good listening technique allow musicians to dissect songs in their brain and experience the piece
as a whole, as is only possible through the acoustically activated vestibular pathway
(Altenmueller et. al., 2000). This pathway carries heard music through emotional channels in the
brain, allowing music to be felt. When this pathway is not properly activated, music cannot be

felt. Futhermore, accurate and efficient connections are necessary to process complex concepts
like creativity and music. Wiring in the brain is constantly being reorganized in order to process
surroundings and senses and attribute corresponding emotions and reactions to everything. This
permanent reorganization process is called "neuronal plasticity" (Koelsch, 2014). It is essential
for the brain to actively use this capability or those for which this fails would have no further
development. Neural plasticity and connectivity are also essential when attributing emotions or
songs to memories and previous felt experiences. As humans, we rely on our past experiences to
guide us through understanding new circumstances. This is how the brain understands new music
as well. We are biological organisms for whom those experienced qualities are enabled by the
very structure of our physical being, even at its smallest, most elemental levels (Reimer, 2005).
As everything is connected within the brain, songs are often associated with the brightest
memories related to them, thus any emotion that was felt when listening to the song in one
particular instance makes someone feel those same emotions, even if the song does not
inherently convey those emotions. One may have listened to a happy song when they were sad,
but once they listen to it again, they still associate the song with sadness. This proves that neural
connectivity is essential to feel emotion when listening to music.
At a study being done at Houston Methodist, the neuromechanisms used to process both
familiar and unfamiliar positive-emotionally charged music were studied in a volunteer to
establish the importance of neural connectivity. The premise of experiment is to determine the
similarities and differences within neural activation associated with familiar and unfamiliar
music, as well as spiritual, cultural, and popular music. Test subjects were placed in an fMRI
(functional magnetic resonance imaging) machine while music played. Participants in the study
came in with 4 pre-selected songs they feel emotionally connected to. Pre-selected songs were

played in between unfamiliar ones. For analysis, the following will be a detailed account of one
test subjects results. After analyzing the data collected in the experiment, it is concluded that
songs of a familiar nature have significantly more activation in the brain. This is especially true
because familiar songs are often connected to memories and experiences, thus more parts of the
brain visibly light up on fMRI scan (J. T. Frazier, personal interview, October 14, 2016). To the
test subject, the songs that were selected had deep emotional meaning on a spiritual and cultural
levels and all induced varying levels of happiness. Songs that personally induced feelings of
nostalgia, like his birth countrys national anthem, had significantly more activation as well as
the song with a spiritual connection. This also shows that connectivity and blood flow is more
active in the brain as it responds to familiar emotional music.
Such data can be implemented to benefit the medical field by manipulating results of
emotional reactions to benefit patients through music therapy. The data taken from the study
done at Methodist as well as other studies suggest many possibilities for treatment in the medical
field for neurological disorders and physical disabilities. Since brain connectivity is improved
with familiar music as seen in the study done at Methodist, patients who have suffered physical
losses from strokes can potentially regain their abilities and improve blood flow to deactivated
parts of the brain (J. T. Frazier, personal interview, October 14, 2016). This can be implemented
by music therapists who could use musical exercises for their patients benefit. Furthermore,
music triggers complex processes in the brain like heightened attention, memory retrieval, and
emotional stimulation (Karmonik et. al., 2016). Therefore, practicing music therapists can use
music to manipulate stimulation within the brain and assist patients with neurological disorders
like major depressive disorder and anxiety. Structural problems are also a source of neurological
and psychiatric issues like Parkinsons disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia

(Altenmueller et. al., 2000). Improving neural connectivity as supported by the data found in the
Methodist study and other studies can significantly help patients with those neurodegenerative
diseases by implementing exercises to keep them psychologically healthy.
The implications of such research of neural plasticity and connections are endless in the
medical field, but they still have a long way to go. As beneficial as some of these results may be,
publicly released data could put patient confidentiality and privacy at risk. Large companies like
Google and Facebook like to use data on preferences to their benefit, so ethical implications are
ever present and challenge the medical field.

Works Cited
Altenmuller, E. O., Bangert, M. W., Liebert, G., Gruhn, W. (2000). Mozart in Us: How the
brain Processes Music. Medical Problems of Performing Artists. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?
tabID=T002&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchTy
pe=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=4&docId=GALE
%7CA173187298&docType=Article&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=&prodId=A
ONE&contentSet=GALE
%7CA173187298&searchId=R2&userGroupName=j079907004&inPS=true
Frazier, J. T. (2016, October 14). Personal Interview.
Karmonik, C., Brand, A., Anderson, J., Brooks, F., Lytle, J., Silverman, E., Frazier, J. T.
(2016). Houston Methodist. Music Listening Modulates Functional Connectivity and
Information Flow in the Human Brain. Retrieved from Houston Methodist.*
Koelsch, S. (2014).Brain Correlates of Music- Evoked Emotions. Nature Reviews
Neuroscience. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?
tabID=T002&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchTy
pe=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=9&docId=GALE
%7CA362350613&docType=Report&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=&prodId=A
ONE&contentSet=GALE
%7CA362350613&searchId=R1&userGroupName=j079907004&inPS=true
Reimer, B. (2005).New Brain Research on Emotion and Felling: Dramatic Implications for
Music Education. National Science Foundation. Retrieved from
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.476.8881&rep=rep1&type=pdf

* I cant legally put the link to the article because its on a protected server. Mr. Frazier sent it to
me for research. Im not allowed to share it.