1-2 The Effects Of Music On The Brain

The well-known writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks is exploring the idea of how the brain reacts to music. He is trying to figure out why some brains can't decode music at all, while others are sensitive to the slightest musical nuance. In general, I'm a Bach lover and have always been. You know, even when I was a kid when I was five, I'm told that I was asked what my favorite things in the world were, and I said smoked salmon and Bach.

And 70 years later, it's still pretty much the same.

In his quest, Dr. Sachs is offering himself up as a test subject.

A team of neuroscientists at Columbia University have designed a test that will reveal if the brain of Dr. Sax loves Bach as much as he does.

Hal Henkel gives Dr. Sax a device to rate his emotions,

while at the same time, a scan will record the activity of his brain.

He'll hear two pieces of music, one by Bach and one by Beethoven.

First the Bach.

Then the Beethoven.

The composers are different, but the music shares certain qualities.

Oliver, that completes the first emotional scan. I would like to hear how that was for you. for you. The Bach sort of blew me away, especially that point where the soprano came in and there was a wonderful harmonic modulation. But the Beethoven face would have left me flat. The results of the scan amazingly seem to confirm his feelings.

What you can see just in an immediate overview here is that this is your Bach brain and this is your Beethoven brain. Sorry Ludwig. Yeah, sorry Ludwig. There's not much there. Bach clearly excited much of his brain, including the many regions essential to appreciating the complexity of music. But unlike Beethoven, Bach activated the amygdala, which is vital to processing emotions.

Here we see large activity associated with the right amygdala when you're listening to Bach. There is none of that when you are listening to this very comparable piece in Beethoven. But during another part of the test, Dr. Sachs was unable to distinguish Bach from Beethoven. Again, we'd like to hear what your response was to it. Well, I'm sort of confused.

I could hardly differentiate Bach from Beethoven. I don't think it's a good thing very much. But his brain tells a different story. The remarkable finding for you was even when you might have thought it was Beethoven. Even when I was confused. Your brain can tell Bach from Beethoven. Dr. Sachs clearly favors Bach over Beethoven. Even when he couldn't tell them apart, the brain scan on the left still shows increased activity.

So in fact, his brain recognizes the difference and makes its preference clear.

So my brain knows even when I don't. That's the conclusion. Your brain can distinguish them even when you don't.