While you listen to music, parts of your brain process the melody and lyrics of the song – while the left hemisphere deals with words, the right one is in charge of the melody. It is known that left hemisphere injuries may cause problems with speech abilities, while the injuries of the right hemisphere affect musical abilities, so this new research, published in the Science journal, is more than logical.
The division of labour related to songs, between the left and the right hemisphere, could also explain why for some people melody is important while others like to thoroughly hear the words.
People who learn to play an instrument have the structure and function of the brain changed – if, for example, we play the keyboard, the part of the brain linked to the finger movements enlarges. It is also acknowledged that the corpus callosum, a thin part of the tissue connecting the hemispheres, is enlarged in musicians, and their hemispheres communicate better than in other people.
While a pianist is listening to music when being in MRI, both hemispheres light up almost symmetrically, compared to musicians who play string instruments and do not use their fingers symmetrically.
Actually, music has so much impact on the brain that it has been observed that professional musicians, particularly the ones involved in music since childhood, have much more functional brains in old age and they suffer less from dementia.
M.Đ.
Photo: Pixabay/sweetlouise