5.5 Neuroscience and Art
Amna Noor and Rena Patricia Seeger
Music
Music is one of the most abstract forms of art and yet can evoke real and measurable physiological mechanisms in the brain, allowing one to feel a part of a different dynamic — a purely musical dynamic (Walton, 1988; Trimble & Hesdorffer, 2017). The music-neuroscience interface has been studied by various researchers recently and in this section, some of the important findings, questions, and controversies will be discussed.
How is Music Processed?
It is important to learn how our brains process music to be able to implement music therapies and make informed choices for various brain traumas and neurological disorders. There is an inherent difficulty in the understanding of music processing due to the sheer plethora of music genres and the different neurological cascades they can kickstart by evoking different emotions such as stress, joy, happiness, melancholy, et cetera (Hernandez-Ruiz, 2019; Tai & Kuo, 2019). Each musical melody is made up of different elements which can be randomly categorized under pitch, tempo and rhythm, volume, timbre, texture, duration, and form. Out of these, only pitch and tempo and rhythm have been studied in detail (Hernandez-Ruiz, 2019).
Pitch is analyzed and computed in the right anterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) (Figure 1A). Changes in pitch can activate the posterior secondary auditory cortex. The right temporal cortex can also differentiate among melodies in the presence of contour information or pitch direction. The right anterior STG is also responsible for beat recognition (tempo) while the left STG controls groupings recognition (rhythm). This motor and perceptual timing also involve the functions of the cerebellum, basal ganglia, supplemental motor cortex, premotor cortex, and the parietal cortex (Peretz & Zatorre, 2005; Hernandez-Ruiz, 2019). As shown in Figure 1B, higher-order processing that involves the inferior temporal and frontal cortex is required for the establishment of musical memory (Peretz & Zatorre, 2005).
Overall, it seems that different components of a melody are processed by different areas of the brain. A study compared a musician with Alzheimer’s disease to a musician with semantic dementia to evaluate their abilities to recognize compositions. Musical knowledge was preserved in the musician with semantic dementia even though he experienced a loss of both normal expressive and normal verbal functions. This alludes to the double dissociation theory that suggests musical elements are processed independently and not sequentially (Omar et al., 2010; Hernandez-Ruiz, 2019).
Music Therapy in Neuroscience
Music therapy, defined as “clinical, evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program” is being increasingly used to enhance neural executive functions and neuroplasticity in recent