Music is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the world. It is hard to find someone that does not listen to some genre of music. In fact, music is so popular that there is currently over twenty six billion songs on iTunes (Neumayr, 2012), with over thirty five billion songs sold as of last year (Cue, 2015). That comes out to around five songs sold for every living person in the world.
It is believable to say that almost every person in the world has been exposed to some form of music throughout their life. In fact, a study by Nielsen found that 93% percent of Americans listen to music regularly (Nielsen, 2015). The same study also showed that on average, Americans spend more than twenty five hours a week listening to their favorite …show more content…
In fact, many people are extremely passionate about the music that they listen to. The internet is full of thousands of message boards and forums for people with a similar specific “taste” in music. On those forums you can find hundreds of people claiming that the music they listen to changed their life. (Examples: (How Has Playing Music Changed Your Life, 2015), (Music has changed my life, 2012), (Dunne, 2013) ) Furthermore, these also show that music has the power to provoke deep emotional reactions in people. Many people even use music as method of relaxation and find that it is extremely …show more content…
What sort of impact does listening to music have on the human mind? Does it leave a lasting impression on your brain or is it just a fleeting sound that leaves no trace whatsoever after you hit the “off” button? I believe that listening to music leaves long lasting impacts. I think that it has serious psychological and physiological effects. Moreover, I believe that these impacts are predominantly positive. To test my hypothesis I will look at the research that has been done on this matter. I will introduce multiple studies that have been conducted on the effects that listening to music has on the human mind. I will attempt to find a direct positive cause-and-effect relationship between listening to music and psychological health.
In a study conducted by Nature Neuroscience researchers tested to see what impact listening to one’s favorite has on their brain. The researchers used PET and fMRI scans on the participants to see whether there were any changes in their brain when they were exposed to music. The results were surprising. They found that when the participants were listening to music their brain released Dopamine into their body (Salimpoor, Benovoy, Larcher, Dagher, & Zatorre, 2011). Dopamine is an essential neurotransmitter that lets you experience happiness. In fact, many highly addictive drugs increase dopamine concentration in the brain, and here we see that simply listening to music can have a similar
It is believable to say that almost every person in the world has been exposed to some form of music throughout their life. In fact, a study by Nielsen found that 93% percent of Americans listen to music regularly (Nielsen, 2015). The same study also showed that on average, Americans spend more than twenty five hours a week listening to their favorite …show more content…
In fact, many people are extremely passionate about the music that they listen to. The internet is full of thousands of message boards and forums for people with a similar specific “taste” in music. On those forums you can find hundreds of people claiming that the music they listen to changed their life. (Examples: (How Has Playing Music Changed Your Life, 2015), (Music has changed my life, 2012), (Dunne, 2013) ) Furthermore, these also show that music has the power to provoke deep emotional reactions in people. Many people even use music as method of relaxation and find that it is extremely …show more content…
What sort of impact does listening to music have on the human mind? Does it leave a lasting impression on your brain or is it just a fleeting sound that leaves no trace whatsoever after you hit the “off” button? I believe that listening to music leaves long lasting impacts. I think that it has serious psychological and physiological effects. Moreover, I believe that these impacts are predominantly positive. To test my hypothesis I will look at the research that has been done on this matter. I will introduce multiple studies that have been conducted on the effects that listening to music has on the human mind. I will attempt to find a direct positive cause-and-effect relationship between listening to music and psychological health.
In a study conducted by Nature Neuroscience researchers tested to see what impact listening to one’s favorite has on their brain. The researchers used PET and fMRI scans on the participants to see whether there were any changes in their brain when they were exposed to music. The results were surprising. They found that when the participants were listening to music their brain released Dopamine into their body (Salimpoor, Benovoy, Larcher, Dagher, & Zatorre, 2011). Dopamine is an essential neurotransmitter that lets you experience happiness. In fact, many highly addictive drugs increase dopamine concentration in the brain, and here we see that simply listening to music can have a similar