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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Music for the Brain Across Life

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Music is highly a versatile and multifaceted form of art and communication that has been an essential part of human societies since their early days. During the past 20 years, neuroimaging studies have shown that music is a powerful stimulant also for the brain, engaging not just the auditory cortex but also a vast network of temporal, frontal, parietal, cerebellar, and limbic brain areas that govern auditory perception, syntactic and semantic processing, attention and memory, emotion and mood control, and motor skills. Especially regions in the right temporal and frontal cortices are needed for the accurate perception and production of music as abnormal neural development or acquired damage in these areas can result in amusia, a selective and severe form of musical impairment. Normally, many of our basic musical skills, such as perceiving pitch and timbre, start developing already in utero, and babies are born with a natural preference to hear music and singing, especially from the mother. Music has many important roles and functions throughout life, ranging from emotional self-regulation, mood enhancement, and identity formation to promoting the development of speech as well as motor, cognitive, and social skills. Throughout human history, music has been associated with well-being and used in healing rituals and ceremonies. Today, music is used clinically as a part of treatment in many illnesses, which involve emotional, cognitive, communication, and motor disorders. Based on the evidence accumulated in clinical trials, different types of musical interventions, such as music therapy and music medicine, can be effective in many developmental, psychiatric, and neurological disorders, such as autism, depression, schizophrenia, and stroke, as well as in many chronic somatic illnesses that cause pain and anxiety. Thus, although more high-quality research is still needed, a promising view is beginning to emerge that music can serve as a powerful non-pharmacological means of therapy and care, as well as an enriching and useful hobby that can shape the development and maintain the healthy functioning of the brain across life.