How Does the Brain Process Songs?

By James Buchsbaum and Emily Siegel

The Idea

• Daniela Sammler of the Max Planck Institute and a team of scientists may have uncovered the truth about the human brain.

• They Observed an MRI brain scan of a person listening to music to identify when regions of the brain were processing just music and just lyrics. There were also some parts in which the music and lyrics were being processed together.

 • People with aphasia (who are not able to speak), are still able to

"hum a tune", which suggests that music and lyrics are each processed independently.

• Sammler believed that if she were to alter the tune of a song and keep the same lyrics, the inactive areas of the brain would be processing the lyrics (and vice versa).  

Image from NewScientist.com

The Experiment

• Involved 12 volunteers. Sammler's group wrote 6 songs to determine if they were having different brain functions. 

• From MRI scans, were able to see that one part of the brain, the superior temporal sulcus, was mainly responsible for responding to the songs.

• In middle of STS, lyrics & melodies were being processed as a single signal. 

• But in the front of the STS, only the lyrics seemed to be processed. 

• Did not find the portion of the brain for processing the melodies, possibly because there may be no individual process for them in an average brain (although experienced musicians may have this process).

The Conclusions

After the experiment was completed...

Sammler concluded that the brain first processes the music and lyrics together. Then a more complex process is used to decode the significance of the lyrics, and the music is treated separately. 

"The more they are processed, the more they are separated"

The high amount of inactivation in the STS was not what would be expected if the music and lyrics were being processed at the same time.

Varied Opinions Among Researchers and Scientists...Martin Braun of Neuroscience of Music is not convinced that the brain is ever processing both the music and lyrics at once. 

"Activation of a particular brain area by different stimuli doesn't imply that these different stimuli are integrated. The stimuli might just have a similar effect on the area." he argues.

But, if the truth is discovered, it should be a major factor in gaining further knowledge about the brain.

Sources

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18626-music-and-lyrics-how-the-brain-splits-songs.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=life