The capacity for language is distinctly human. It allows us to communicate, learn things, create culture, and think better. Because of its complexity, scientists have long struggled to understand the neurobiology of language. In the classical view, there are two major language areas in the left half of our brain. Broca’s area (in the frontal […]

Listening or playing music is often used by teenagers to assist in their study or to celebrate afterwards. But does it help them perform better in the exam itself? This study found that stressful situations can be alleviated by music and other activities in preparation for a stressful event. It also found that listening to […]

Do you have similar musical tastes to your friends? How about your work colleagues? Do you think musical tastes tell us anything else about a person? This study thinks it might when it compared musical taste with political leaning. The big five personality domains they are referring to are: Openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious) […]

Wouldn’t you love to tell your inner critic to quit it sometimes? It turns out that when musicians improvise, that pesky inner voice that tells us “don’t say that” and warns “what will happen if you’re wrong?” goes quiet. It makes sense, Thelonious Monk said “wrong is right” in jazz and if this is so, […]

We know that music listening and playing can change our mood. Sometimes it cheers us up, sometimes it makes it safe to feel sombre emotions, but did you ever wonder why? Now we know. Music listening can increase an antibody that plays an important role in immunity of the mucous system, known as immunoglobulin A, as […]

Do men and women hear differently? Maybe. This report speaks on the lack of auditory processing differences at birth and in young children, but how differences may appear in adolescents as puberty changes our brains and bodies. This research has interesting implications – it may contribute to our understanding of why males seem more vulnerable […]

We are just going to leave this here … Arthur (Brooks, leading US economists and social scientist) was once asked whether he’d learned anything as a serious musician that applied to his current work (as a faculty member of the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School and author of 2 New York Bestseller books on […]

This article is about the stuff of music – sound. Music learning assists in refining sound processing and is particularly important in the processing and engaging with language for children between 8-16 years of age. “Children with hearing problems tend to do less well than their peers in terms of language development and academic performance. […]

We are sharing this again as we have recently had people asking for an updated post focusing on more scientific aspects of the study. Connectivity is an interesting thing. In society, we continually look for connectivity, whether it be with people, places or ideas. Sometimes, that connectivity is very strong, other times it is very […]