Summary: New research reveals that music can do more than trigger memories—it can alter their emotional tone. When participants recalled neutral stories while listening to emotionally charged music, they later…
Tag: music
Listening to Music After Surgery Lowers Pain and Anxiety
Summary: A new study suggests that listening to music after surgery can significantly reduce pain, anxiety, and even heart rate, aiding recovery. An analysis of 35 studies found that patients…
Is it bad to listen to music all the time? Here’s how tunes can help or harm
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. I like to listen to…
Pitch Perfect: Singing Earworms Reveals Surprising Trait
Summary: Researchers discovered that nearly 45% of people sing earworms in perfect pitch, suggesting a hidden “perfect pitch” ability in the general population. Even without formal musical training, participants accurately…
Classical Music Synchronizes Brain Waves, Improving Depression
Summary: Western classical music can significantly affect brain activity, particularly in people with treatment-resistant depression. By measuring brainwaves and neural imaging, scientists discovered that music synchronizes neural oscillations between brain…
Unlocking Flow: The Neuroscience of Creative Bliss
Summary: A new study involving Philadelphia-area jazz guitarists, has explored the brain processes that enable creative flow. The research reveals that achieving flow requires a solid foundation of expertise, after…
The Power of Music on Cognitive Arousal
Summary: A new study explores the influence of personalized music on cognitive arousal and performance, drawing on the Yerkes-Dodson law’s inverted-U theory. The study used participants’ physiological and behavioral signals…
Harmony in Chaos: How BPD Influences Music Tastes
Summary: Recent research reveals that individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) exhibit distinct music preferences, favoring reflective and complex genres such as classical and jazz over intense, rebellious ones. The…
Imperfect Harmony: Rethinking Pythagoras’ Musical Consonance
Summary: New research challenges Pythagoras’s ancient theory on musical consonance, revealing our preference for slight imperfections in chords rather than the perfect integer ratios traditionally associated with beautiful music. The…
