Can Teens’ brains predict which songs will be popular?

Reference

Berns, G. and Moore, S. (2012). A neural predictor of cultural popularity. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22 (1), pp.154-160.

Summary

The current approaches to predicting popularity rely on standard marketing strategies such as focus groups and questionnaires. The purpose of the paper was to test whether it is possible for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to forecast the popularity of music (cultural popularity). Past research had suggested that “activity in reward-related regions of the brain, notably the orbitofrontal cortex and ventral striatum is predictive of future purchasing decisions of the individuals who are scanned.” However, it had not been clear whether this activity in the brain of individuals can correlate to purchasing decisions of a population.

Teenagers were first asked to rank 6 musical genres. The ranking of the genres showed that the participants had tastes similar to the national population. They listened to 20 songs from each of their top 3 genres. The songs were by unknown artists from myspace.com. What they heard was a 15-s clip including either the hook or chorus of the song. Each participant went through 60 trials, two-thirds of which included a display of popularity of the song among myspace.com users. The brain scan was taken before the display of popularity. The total of sales of the songs within the three years following the scans were compared to the initial scans or brain responses.

Although the individuals’ personal opinions on the likability of the songs did not correlate with the number of units sold, their brain responses did.  The study found that the “final pathway linking the brain to album sales was mediated only thought the NACC. When these relationships were visualized, it became clear that “hit” songs did not result from a specific combination of NACC and OFC activity, but that “non-hits” were associated with a combination of both low OFC and low NACC activity.”

We should note that most of the songs that were heard did not go on to be ‘hits’, many genres were used and only 27 individuals were used, all teenagers who make up only 20% of music consumers.

OFC = Orbitofrontal cortex

NACC = ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens

Reflection

This article left me wanting more, although the topic is very attention-grabbing, it lacked in depth explanations of the results from a neuroscience perspective. More background information was necessary regarding the functions of the orbitofrontal cortex, the ventral striatum and their connections. However, I understand that the paper’s aim was more to do with marketing than science.

The authors did address several reasons that may have caused the ratings not to go hand-in-hand with the brain scans but I still think that the brain’s ability to “know” which songs are “hits” regardless of the compatibility with likability is quite remarkable.

Dangerous Music

 Krash, J. and Middleton, N. (2009) Dangerous Music, Jessica Krash and Norman Middleton: Music and the Brain. [podcast] January 29, 2009.

Link: http://www.loc.gov/podcasts/musicandthebrain/podcast_dangerousmusic.html [Accessed: October 12, 2012].

Dangerous Music

This podcast is another from the Library of Congress’ Music and The Brain series. It is an interview with Jessica Krash, musician and composer who teaches at George Washington University, and Norman Middleton, concert producer at The Library of Congress. Krash teaches a course on “dangerous music” at GWU and this is the subject of the podcast.

They begin the interview by discussing the tritone, considered by many throughout history to be a “devilish” interval. Krash explains that this may be rooted in physics, for if you take a string tuned to C and another tuned to F# (a tritone), the ratio would be √2:1. Historically the √2 has been an uncomfortable number for mathematicians and physicists; it was even forbidden on various occasions. Interesting how the sound of that ratio is also uncomfortable for our ears! Middleton mentions that diminished chords are still frowned upon in gospel music, adding to the negative connotation of the tritone today.

Continuing on the topic of Diabolis Musica, the “devil in music,” Middleton touches on urban myths linked to evil within music, including musicians selling their souls to the devil for enhanced talent. They discuss myths surrounding the Italian baroque composer Tartini, Italian violinist Paganini, and American blues musician Robert Johnson. And finally, naturally, they talk about the devil in heavy metal music. Middleton notes that heavy metal musicians use the tritone heavily in composition on purpose because they know that the interval is considered evil.

The subject takes a political turn when Krash starts discussing Jewish music in Nazi Germany during WWII. She says that the Nazi party was able to latch onto the negative reception of modern dissonance in Jewish compositions to gain public support. Germans were already uncomfortable with this new, modern sound and it was used against musicians like Schoenberg during the war. The Nazis claimed that he was destroying the triad and ruining German music, when Schoenberg saw himself as a rescuer of it. An interesting side note - the Nazi’s tolerated the same kind of modernist dissonance from the Italians and from Stravinsky in Russia.

Middleton goes on to discuss a specific instance of suicide that was motivated by rock music where two young men in Las Vegas committed suicide after listening to “Beyond the Realms of Death” by Judas Priest. They discuss the prevalence of murder and/or suicides being attributed to an individual’s reaction to rock and roll or heavy metal music.

Finally they touch on the subject of “dangerous” dance. Krash examines Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” and the riots that occurred at the premiere of the work. She notes that the destruction of the traditional ballet hierarchy in the choreography represented a strong political statement; it was “provocative in it’s primitivism.” Middleton comments on the sensuality inherently associated with dance and notes the rules established within the three major religions - Christianity, Muslim, and Jewish – to include dance in their individual moral frameworks.

Reflection

I have always been really interested in the social implications and culture of music. I love learning about specific instances throughout history when music was condemned and/or lauded and why that was. What I enjoyed most about this interview was not necessarily the information I learned, but the way in which I reacted critically to it. I found myself, for maybe the first time, unconsciously questioning what I was listening to and constantly asking “why”?

In keeping with our class subject I was really interested in the suicide-by-music story. Naturally, it brought to mind images of Charles Manson and I began humming The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter.” I wonder why some humans have a compulsion to act aggressively and sadistically when listening to specific genres of music. Does it happen with all types of music but we just don’t think about it the same because it doesn’t cause mayhem? Is it the music itself, or the associations one may have with music? We know music evokes an emotional response – is that all that it boils down to? What’s going on in the brain when someone is listening to satanic music? Are neurons firing in the same part of your brain that processes aggression? Morals? Is there a physiological area in the brain that is associated with “evil?”

If so, can we start looking at ways in which we can use music to combat aggression? Violence? Would it be the same way in which we lower stress and anxiety? Are these things all linked anyway?

Using music to reconstruct language

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdyHuWv3fsc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJ9X_wLSWM

Summary:

The first video is an interview with Dr. Barbara Reuer and Dr. Anirrudh Patel on a television show called Health Matters. The interview focused on the role music plays in brain development and how this information can be used to help people recover from certain conditions.

The second set of videos chronicle a public figure’s recovery from brain damage. Gabrielle Giffords, an American congresswoman was shot in the head and sustained damage to the left side of her brain. She made a remarkable recovery and was able to re-obtain much of her language skills through the use of music therapy.

Reflection:

The first video focused on music therapy from the practitioner’s point of view (Reuer) and the neurological point of view (Patel). In this interview, the topic of brain plasticity arose and I found myself to be highly intrigued. I conducted several searches for related resources which led me to videos about Gabrielle Giffords, a public figure who suffered damage to her left brain, consequently losing language function and full control of the right side of her body. She made remarkable progress in regaining her language skills through the use of rigorous music therapy. I found it worthwhile, therefore, to examine the connection between both videos.

The main theme in these videos is that music and language are neurologically related. Dr. Patel even stated that musically trained people are proven to be more efficient at mastering a second language. He claims that music that people like stimulates deep and ancient reward centers in the brain and he linked this to Dr. Reuer’s theories that music has healing powers. Reuer spoke of a specific example in music/language therapy where a song that people like is used and key words are left out, e.g.  ‘you are my __________’ (sunshine). Because music is involved, the brain takes a different route to access the word. Research exists supporting claims that music can help stroke patients recover speech and can also help Parkinson’s patients recover some motor function. Robert Jourdain claims that in aphasia, rote aspects of speech such as greetings or swearing may be preserved because these aspects are more ‘performed than spoken’.

These theories are difficult for the layman to believe. However, the specific anomic aphasia case and recovery of Gabrielle Giffords is considerable proof of the claims of Dr. Patel and Dr. Reuer. At one point, Giffords was having trouble saying the word ‘light’ and burst into tears. However, when the therapist started singing ‘this little light of mine’, Giffords sang along with almost all the words… inclusive of the word ‘light’! Her music therapist Meagan Marrow, says that pitch, melody and rhythm work from a different part of the brain to access language (as opposed to the areas that traditionally process language on the left side of the brain, such as the Broca’s Area). The same technique mentioned by Dr. Reuer was used on Gabrielle Giffords. The therapist sang ‘Now I’m free, free_________ ‘(fallin’). The videos showed a most dramatic improvement over a period of time with the help of music therapy. Possibly, also supporting these claims is the fact that every time the reader has encountered a missing word in this passage, they have perhaps filled in the blanks on pitch in their minds.

Between Music and Medicine - Robert Gupta

TED Talks: Robert Gupta - "Between Music and Medicine"
http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_gupta_between_music_and_medicine.html

Summary

In this talk, Robert Gupta, violinist and member of the LA Philharmonic, discusses his personal experiences in deciding to turn to music after completing a pre-med undergraduate degree. Gupta has strong assertions about the important role music can play in the lives of the mentally ill, and how his personal experiences have Gupta exemplified this assertion.

Gupta begins by describing his response to a video of Gabrielle Gibbons, the US Congresswoman who was shot in Tuscon last November, as she struggles to regain her control of speech after damage to the left hemisphere.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJ9X_wLSWM&feature=endscreen&NR=1) The video is very emotionally charged, and Gibbons is seen crying in frustration while working with her therapist. Miraculously, moments later, she is able to sing "This Little Light of Mine" with the help of her therapist.

At the age of 17, Gupta decides to visit prominent neuroscientist Dr. Gottfried Schlaug, himself a former organist. He describes how Schlaug gives him an overview of some of the most exciting research being done surrounding music and the brain, including the ability of sufferers of an aphasic stroke being able to sing through the favourite songs, allowing the brain to create an almost new speech centre in the right hemisphere. Schlaug gives Gupta many examples of how music could be - and has been - used in helping patients with Alzheimer's and children with autism. Ultimately, Schlaug advises Gupta that while "medical school can wait, the violin will not[,]" and Gupta lands his first orchestral position with the LA Philharmonic.

A year later, Gupta comes across a man named Nathaniel Ayers - homeless and living on the street, but with a very unique story. Ayers entered Julliard in the 70's as a double-bass player, but when his schizophrenia and psychotic episodes began to take hold, he dropped out, and eventually wound up living on the streets of LA, still playing a violin. Nathaniel Ayers himself became very famous, especially after the release of the movie "The Soloist", which is based on his story. (http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=eHJ0GrYCHJQ&feature=mv_sr) Gupta takes Ayers on as a student, stating "wherever he had his violin, and wherever I had mine, I would play a lesson with him."

Seeing Ayers on skid row, Gupta recounts his frustration at how many people there must be aside from Ayers living on the street because of mental illnesses but who were "never going to have a book or a movie made about them to [get] them off the streets[.]" Gupta takes this newly found outrage and pours it into his project, the Street Symphony, which was an organization beginning in Skid Row that brought classical music to the homeless and mentally ill in homes, hospitals and clinics. He recounts a woman approaching him after a concert, describing how she had never heard classical music before but that it sounded "like sunshine," and how no one ever came to visit the patients at the hospital. She suffered from a palsy, but during the concert her shaking stopped - the first time this had happened without medication in 6 years.

In the end, Gupta extols the virtues of bringing classical music to these audiences that might never have access to it in the way that we do, and how important a role musicians can play in the therapeutic delivery of our talents. He culminates this belief in this statement:

          "[For] those living in the most dehumanizing conditions of mental illness within homelessness and      

          incarceration, the music and the beauty of music offers a chance for them to transcend the world

          around them, to remember that they still have the capacity to experience something beautiful and that

          humanity has not forgotten them. And the spark of that beauty, the spark of that humanity transforms

          into hope, and we know, whether we choose the path of music or of medicine, that's the very first

          thing we must instill within our communities, within our audiences, if we want to inspire healing from

          within."

Reflections

Although this was certainly not the most "technical" of lectures I've seen on the relationship between music and the brain, I found Gupta's words to ring extremely true in terms of our responsibility as musicians to more than just the concert hall audiences. It is such an unfortunate circumstance that so many mentally ill or otherwise disabled people that would benefit so greatly from exposure to music, let alone music therapy, are unable to because of social or financial boundaries. It would be wonderful to see more organizations like Street Symphony pop up for all the good that they do and for the sake of bringing musical beauty into the lives of those who may most need reminding of the beauty in life.

I actually found the small amount of footage from Youtube (linked above) about Gabrielle Gibbons and her recovery to be very moving. I can't even begin to grasp how frustrating that struggle with words must be, and it was overwhelming to hear her singing along with such determination. To me, the fact that such a thing is even possible hints at the potentially limitless applications of music therapy in guiding the recovery of so many different kinds of brain damage. If we can access words through singing but not through speaking, would a pianist suffering from fine motor damage still be able to navigate through a familiar piece of music if it had been learned to the point of "auto-pilot"? In any case, the really important message seems to be one of endless possibilities, and it's hard not to feel overwhelmingly optimistic.

Reference: Podcast: Dangerous Music, Speakers: Jessica Krash (George Washington University) and Norman Middleton (Library of Congress Music Division), January 29, 2009. http://www.loc.gov/podcasts/musicandthebrain/podcast_dangerousmusic.html

Summary:

The podcast "Dangerous Music" explored issues surrounding the "censorship of musical expression" on moral or political grounds. First Krash spoke of the tritone which has been deemed an "evil" sound for centuries. The ratio of the interval is the square root of two to one, and coincidentally is viewed also by mathematicians to be an uncomfortable number to deal with- thus underlying perhaps rules in physics unseen and unexplainable. Further discussion was of the avoidance of diminished chords which are comprised of these intervals of an augmented fourth, the "devil" in music. Middleton adds that there is a prevalence of this interval in heavy metal music and how it is used as a marketing ply to attract a certain audience. He discloses a story of two teenagers who committed suicide while listening to this type of music, the song was entitled "Beyond the Realms of Death." Middleton considers to what effect the nature of the music influenced their decision psychologically. The dialogue advanced to the topic of dance and how music can cause our bodies to move in very intimate ways. Religious views of dance was brought up and how for many, it is seen as impure, as a result the nature of the music is viewed inappropriate to the ears. Krash uses the example of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" to speak of how music and dance can create a social uprising. The riot post premiere of this ballet denoted that Stravinsky had intentionally used his work to make a statement against the Parisian upper class society. Krash explains how he succeeded in this through the elimination of debasing hierarchical dancing to the more primitive communal form. Another example of musical censorship that was touched upon was the reaction to Schoenberg's music in Nazi Germany. As Schoenberg was Jewish, the Germans displayed to society this new dissonant music, which "destroyed the triad", as a negative music, therefore benefiting their plot for all to despise Jews.

Reflection:

I found this podcast to be very interesting in its description of how certain music can compel us to think, feel and act certain ways. I wonder very much whether the exposure to certain "evil" sounding music can shape our brain in particular ways that promote negative thoughts. On the physics end of the discussion, I would like to look into the mathematical construction of certain intervals more. Perhaps these laws of physics underline the same reason for why certain keys such as D major are considered  very "happy" tonalities.

Article: Mitchell, Kevin, The Neuroscience of Tone Deafness, January 18, 2011, Retrieved from:http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-neuroscience-of-tone

The Neuroscience of Tone Deafness

Summary:

Kevin Mitchell in his article “The neuroscience of Tone Deafness” discusses the correlation of two conditions: amusia and prospagnosia. These two conditions lie in the condition of “agnosias” which is defined as the “inability to recognize objects by use of the senses.” Mitchell explains how the brains of people with these conditions have a “lack of knowledge in certain categories.” In the case of prospagnosia, they sense the face with their vision and can understand gender, yet there is no identification process.  Both conditions are either congenital, familial, or caused by a head lesion. The result is a “structural disconnection” between the location where the brain senses the face/tone and the frontal and parietal lobes, which are the centres of consciousness.  Studies using the electroencephalography(EEG) machine show that within the brains of people who are “tone-deaf”, there still is an electrical response when a tone is played discordantly. He concludes that there are “mutations that cause these conditions” and how in the familial/congenital cases, no particular genes have yet to be found. The process of genetic variation will only benefit in decreasing the presence of conditions like amusia and prospagnosia.

Reflection:

I found Kevin Mitchell’s article to be thought provoking and interesting. I am currently teaching piano to two students who are sisters. I became aware of their inability to recognize tones when we did an ear training exercise to pick out “Happy Birthday” starting on G. Each student could not tell the the direction of the melody from one note to the other even when I sang it and emphasized the intervallic jumps. I concur with Mitchell’s statement “The defect lies in connecting this sensory input with some implicit knowledge of musical structure and contours.”

Discussing the Mozart Effect and Brain Development

Article:  Elderkin, J. (1999, Mar 19). Music and brain power. The Times, p. 43. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/318077476?accountid=14771

Summary

This newspaper article, published on March 19, 1999, brings attention to the latest point of public interest and money-making craze within the music industry, “Baby Mozart”, and questions whether prolonged listening to classical music does indeed enhance brain development.   The article shows how seriously the public is invested in the idea by describing the Governor of Georgia, Zell Miller’s, decision to guarantee each child born in state hospitals a free cd of music by Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, based on the notion that it will help with brain development, specifically logic and spatial reasoning skills essential for mathematics. 

                Various companies are attempting to capitalise on the recent research with varying slogans on the benefits of classical music for infants.  For example, the internet company, Genius Babies, says its Baby Mozart videos “increase brain capacity”, Don Campbell supplies cds to “Tune Up Your Mind”, and Rhino Record’s cds feature “baby – friendly instruments and arrangements” of Mozart’s music.  However, it is unclear exactly how listening to Mozart helps develop the mind.

                The article briefly describes several studies that have been done. Several studies show that children who study music score higher on standardised intelligence tests, and pre-schoolers who learn to play musical instruments improve spatial reasoning abilities.  One study showed that college students scored better on spatial reasoning tests after listening to 10 minutes of Mozart vs. 10 minutes of silence and 10 minutes of rock music.  A second study showed that mice increased their ability to navigate through a maze after being exposed to classical music for 10 hours a day for 3 weeks.  

Response

 A third study showed that British children listening to Blur and Oasis (non-classical music) before spatial reasoning tests scored slightly higher than children who listened to Mozart and children who listened to oral instructions.  These findings seem to disprove the idea that it is solely classical music which has the ability to improve spatial reasoning skills or performance on tests.  Regardless of the type of music, it is worthwhile to note that this improvement has so-far been proven to be temporary.  This is not helpful for babies who will be writing math tests in 6-12 years.  In these studies, participants have been tested directly after the listening takes place, and, in my opinion, there needs to be a distinction between temporary improvement and actual brain development in the research.  I think an interesting study would be to test children who have developed a routine of listening to classical music for a reasonable amount of time (30 minutes) each day for a few months.  However, these students would not be tested directly after having listened to the music.  Their results would be compared with those who developed a routine of listening to light rock or some other musical genre that is somewhat relaxing but not classical. The reason why I suggest this is that it’s difficult to know, as Dr. Susan Hallam states in the article, if classical music stimulates the brain, causing it to further develop and function better, or if classical music is “stimulating children emotionally, perhaps putting them in a relaxed state of mind”, helping them to focus for the tests.  If this is the case, other genres of music could be just as effective. 

                Another test I read about in Judy Taylor and Beverly Rowe’s article The “Mozart Effect” and Mathematical Connection describes a study in which aviation students listened to a Mozart cd for the entire duration of a math test, and the results of their tests were compared to those of students who completed the test in silence.  The study concluded that playing Mozart during mathematics outcome assessments improves student scores.  This, to me, seems much more plausible than the claim that prolonged listening to classical music enhances brain development.  Still though, it is difficult to believe since listening to music is often a passive activity.  In the context of a test or prior to a test, it is not likely that the student is paying close attention to the music and actively listening.  Nor is it likely that a baby will be actively listening when a parent plays Mozart for their child.  Therefore, it’s hard to measure how effective listening to music is in stimulating the brain.  I do believe that taking music lessons and actively learning to play a musical instrument or sing could enhance brain development since it is this active involvement with the music which requires a higher level of brain activity.  However, I would not invest in Zell Miller’s classical CD for babies.