{"id":2126874,"date":"2025-10-31T13:15:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2126874"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:15:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:15:31","slug":"the-ongoing-history-of-new-music-episode-1061-medical-mysteries-of-music-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-ongoing-history-of-new-music-episode-1061-medical-mysteries-of-music-6\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 1061: Medical mysteries of music (6)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Here\u2019s a simple question with a very complicated answer\u2014and I\u2019m not even sure we know the answer: why do we have music?<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s no known evolutionary or biological need for it. We could probably exist as a species without it\u2014but that would make life pretty dull.<\/p>\n

Yet our brains come hardwired for music. There are at least six separate parts of the brain that deal with music, and they all work together. Let me give you some examples.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe, which stretches across our brains just behind the ears. We use this for processing sound information, including pitch and melody, when it comes through our ears. But it also goes into action when we just mentally replay a song in our heads. It appears that the auditory cortex is where the bulk of our music memories live\u2014our musical database, if you will.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s strongly connected to the hippocampus, which is the source of most of our memories\u2014and memories are often tied to emotions. This explains why music can trigger strong feelings, and why a song can make us remember certain events.<\/p>\n

Musical memories can even survive long after the rest of the brain has degenerated. There\u2019s the medial prefrontal cortex, found on the inner surface of the frontal lobe just behind our forehead.<\/p>\n

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When someone is afflicted with dementia or Alzheimer\u2019s, this is one of the last parts of the brain to go. Musical memories can survive even when all other memories are wiped out.<\/p>\n

There is so much wonderful stuff about music, the brain, and our bodies that\u2019s fascinating. And if we know how it all works, we can devise and implement our own personal life hacks using nothing more than music.<\/p>\n

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