We’re using music in the same way we use drugs, really, for emotional regulation, partly because of the way it can modulate our neurochemistry, affecting our moods.ĭr. A lot of people use a certain kind of music to get going in the morning, to get out of bed, to get them through an exercise workout, to calm themselves down at the end of the day. We see this, in fact, in the way people incorporate music into their lives. Levitin said that we are all musical experts, because we know the kind of music that resonates with us on an emotional level. Our brain structure changes every time we learn something new.įor example, listening to music you like causes the release of dopamine, the so called “feel good” hormone, and on the opposite side, listening to music you hate, will activate the amygdala, the brain’s fight or flight center, and that will cause a release of adrenaline.ĭr. And by that, I mean specific regions of the brain dedicated to processing music and nothing else. We know that the brain is musical because there are specific neural circuits. He told EarthSky: Photo credit: Libertinus He said that music causes the release of neurochemicals in our brains. Levitin said that music activates neurons in more regions of the brain than almost anything else scientists know of. Daniel Levitin is the author of This Is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs, and professor of psychology and music at McGill University of Montreal.

Daniel levitin the world in six songs