Faculty of Physics - University of Bucharest

UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS

Guest
2024-11-22 2:32

HOME CONFERENCES SEARCH LOGIN NEW USER IMAGES

Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2010 Meeting

Section: Biophysics and Medical Physics;Electricity and Magnetism

Title:

Human brain on arts and music

Authors:

Radu Mutihac

Affiliation:

University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics, Department of Electricity and Biophysics

E-mail

mutihac@gmail.com

Keywords:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging, brain activation, statistical analysis.

Abstract:

Motto: Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth – Pablo Picasso What we define by “art” is highly subjective and quite often questionable or subject of debate at least. Art evokes ideas and thoughts through novel and unexpected ways. Art is representative of but independent of reality or a distortion of it. Nature has designed the human brain to respond to representational stimuli. Art that has no meaning is simply a sensorial experience. Studies of cerebral activity on arts indicated a correlation between participation in arts and increased brain function. Music, dance, and drama were under recent scrutiny, and all three areas revealed unexpected features. Music evokes and controls our emotions and can aid memory and/or cognition both by listening and practicing. Dance can aid learning by teaching individuals to observe and then translate their observations into action. And drama can increase an individual’s attention span and help their memory as well as improve general brain function. Music sells worldwide more than drugs, i.e., more “Happy Birthday” than prozac (fluoxetine hydrochloride) and ecstasy (methylenedioxymetamphetamine - MDMA) altogether. Left brain hemisphere is mainly involved in grammatical and musical syntax: language on the left and vocal tones on the right. The auditory system is tonotopically organized; right auditory cortex is more organized than the left. Right brain hemisphere is involved in intense emotions as well. As such, artists may use their right hemisphere more, but both sides get in on the act. Language elicits retrieval of information from several brain regions. Such regions involved in language and imitation are additionally supporting music interpretation. Yet musical “chills” activate the same brain areas as sex and drugs. Congenital amuses is distinct from language problems and probably is the consequence of impaired organization of the auditory cortex. Memory for musical scores and lyrics is remarkable and distinct from words and objects; words in songs and poems are highly memorable. Experimental evidence exists that supports the central role of the frontal cortex in music memory. Rauscher et al. reported that brief exposure to a Mozart piano sonata produces a temporary increase in spatial reasoning scores amounting to the equivalent 8-9 points on the Stanford-Binet IQ scale. The idea was that Mozart’s music was in tune with his brain. All positive mood music can work: from classical to pop, whereas sad music is not effective. A possible explanation is given by dopamine releasing in the right brain hemisphere. Nevertheless, Steele et al. showed that there is little evidence for a direct effect of music exposure on reasoning ability. Yet music instruction early in life (7-9 years) might improve performing spatiotemporal tasks that involve mental imagery and temporal ordering. Questions that need answers: (i) Are musical and artistic skills adaptive (i.e., help our surviving)? (ii) What makes the brain responsive to art and music? (iii) Are the brains of highly artistic individuals different in some way? (iv) Is listening to music or learning how to play/sing it beneficial to mental functioning? (v) Is art and particularly music unique to humans? As with language, we have actually not enough evidence to answer so far. Real-time fMRI might enhance our knowledge on brain on arts and music. What is for sure is that quite a few artists are making money while living! References Bak P, Tang C &Wiesenfeld K (1987) Self-organized criticality: An explanation of the 1/f noise. Phys. Rev. Lett. 59:381-384. Gruhn W & Rauscher FH (2008) Introduction to neurosciences in music pedagogy. In Gruhn W & Rauscher FH (Eds.), Neurosciences in Music Pedagogy, New York: Oxford University Press. Mutihac R (2008) Wavelet-based statistical analysis versus SPM of functional brain imaging. International Journal of Intelligent Computing in Medical Sciences and Image Processing (IC-MED), TSI Press 2(3):225-236. Steele KM, Bella SD, Peretz I, et al. (1999) Prelude or requiem for the “Mozart effect”? Nature 400:826-828.