Music can improve verbal IQ.
10 Magical Effects Music Has On the Mind.
Music can improve verbal IQ, aid in heart disease treatment,
evoke colours in the mind and even help you see happy faces all around.
Every fan of music knows the tremendous power it can have
over both thoughts and emotions.
Great music can transform an ordinary day into something
magical, even spiritual. It can provide solace, release, strong sensations and
more.
But music’s influence spreads further still: right up from
our genetic code, through our thoughts and bodies and out into how we relate in
groups.
A1.
Improve verbal IQ
Practising the piano won’t just improve your musical
abilities, it can also improve your visual and verbal skills.
A study of 8 to 11-year-olds found that, those who had
extra-curricular music classes, developed higher verbal IQ, and visual
abilities, in comparison to those with no musical training (Forgeard et al.,
2008).
This shows the benefits of learning an instrument are not
purely musical, but extend into cognition and visual perception.
A2.
Feeling the chills
Have you ever felt chills down your spine while listening to
music? According to a study by Nusbaum and Silvia (2010), over 90% of us have.
How much you feel, though, depends on your personality.
People who are high in one of the five personality dimensions called ‘openness
to experience’, are likely to feel the most chills while listening to music.
In the study, people high in openness to experience were
more likely to play a musical instrument, and more likely to rate music as important
to them.
A3.
Active listening amps up happiness
If you’re not feeling the chills, perhaps you should try a
little harder.
A recent study contradicts the old advice that actively
trying to feel happier is useless.
In research by Ferguson and Sheldon (2013), participants who
listened to upbeat classical compositions by Aaron Copland, while actively
trying to feel happier, felt their moods lift more than those who passively
listened to the music.
This suggests that engaging with music, rather than allowing
it to wash over us, gives the experience extra emotional power.
A4.
Singing together brings us together
Since music is often a social activity, making it together
can help bring us together.
A study of almost one thousand Finnish pupils who took part
in extended music classes, found they reported higher satisfaction at school in
almost every area, even those not related to the music classes themselves
(Eerola & Eerola, 2013)
Explaining the results, the lead researcher Päivi-Sisko
Eerola, said:
“Singing in a choir and ensemble performance are popular
activities at extended music classes. Other studies have established that
people find it very satisfying to synchronize with one another. That increases
affiliation within the group and may even make people like each other more than
before.”
A5.
Music treats heart disease
…or at least it can help with the stress and anxiety
associated with having treatment for coronary heart disease.
A review of 23 studies covering almost 1,500 patients found
that listening to music reduced heart rate, blood pressure and anxiety in heart
disease patients (Bradt & Dileo, 2009).
A6. Why
sad music lifts you up
‘Mood management’ is the number one reason people love
music.
And, all music fans know that music can have a cathartic
effect. But, it’s still odd that, for some people, sad music can, under the
right circumstances, improve their mood. Why?
According to a study by Kawakami et al. (2013), sad music is
enjoyable because it creates an interesting mix of emotions; some negative,
some positive.
Crucially, we perceive the negative emotions in the music,
but don’t feel them strongly.
A7.
Seeing happy faces
Music may make you feel different, but as little as 15
seconds of music can change the way you judge the emotions on other people’s
faces as well.
A study by Logeswaran et al. (2009) found that a quick blast
of happy music made participants perceive other’s faces as happier. The same
was true for a snatch of sad music. The biggest effect was seen when people
looked at faces with a neutral expression.
In other words: people projected the mood of the music they
were listening to onto other people’s faces.
A8. The
colour of music
Music naturally makes people think of certain colours.
Across different cultures, people pair particular types of music with
particular colours.
In a study by Palmer et al. (2013), people from both Mexico
and the US showed remarkable similarities in connecting duller, darker colours
with sadder pieces of music and lighter, more vivid colours with happier music.
A follow-up study showed that these music-to-colour
associations were seen because of the emotional content of the music.
A9.
Could music bring back your vision?
In 60% of people who have a stroke, the visual areas of the
brain are affected.
This leads to ‘visual neglect’: the patient loses awareness
of objects on the opposite side to where the brain has been damaged.
But, studies have found, when patients listen to their
favourite music, some of their visual attention is restored (Tsai et al.,
2013).
So, music can be an important tool in rehabilitation for
stroke patients.
A10.
Babies are born to dance!
Infants as young as five-months-old respond rhythmically to
music and seem to find it more interesting than speech.
In a study by Zentner and Eerola (2010), the babies
spontaneously danced to all different types of music, and those that were most
in time also smiled the most.
Maybe music really is in our genes!
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