We know music runs through many structures and areas of the brain and is very involved with memory processes. We remember hundreds if not thousands of tunes and melodies, can recall titles, lyrics, and artists, associate certain songs with emotions and events, and remember all this many decades after it is first learned. Clearly however memory works, music might be a great way in which we can come to understand it.
It all starts at the auditory nerve that processes sound and allows us to hear the music in the first place. From there, we are not so sure. The top theories out there say that because music affects emotions, it must be processed in the limbic system, an inner brain pathway that consists of the multiple areas shown below.
While the limbic area controls many aspects of function, it is largely involved with emotion. The amygdala in particular is known to control emotional behavior and motivation. This means it ultimately affects our emotional moods and actions that we do not really control, or autonomic responses, via communication with the thalamus and frontal lobe. Another part of the limbic system, the hippocampus, is involved with memory in regards to factual information, or declarative memory, and might be why certain music is thought to help students memorize vocabulary while studying for an exam.
Memories are deemed more valuable and seem to perpetuate longer when they are emotionally significant. It's easier to recall your happiest, angriest, and saddest moments versus those from emotionally uncharged circumstances. Songs which carry an emotional significance seem to trigger these memories, and this is especially important for those with dementia. When many of their most important and valuable memories seem permanently lost, music allows certain emotions, and the memories associated with them, to reappear. Concetta Tomaino, a renowned music therapist who has truly pioneered the field, wonders if in this way, music can be used to re-access the sense of self in a dementia patient who has essentially forgotten who they are. She even quotes world-renowned neuroscientist Oliver Sacks from his novel "Music and the Brain" which I have also happened read for the purpose of this project, that I feel perfectly sums up this idea that music can rekindle lost memories and even oneself: "[I]t is the inner life of music which can still make contact with their inner lives which can awaken the hidden, seemingly extinguished soul; and evoke a wholly personal response of memory, associations, feelings, images, a return of thought and sensibility, an answering identity."
Citations
Tomaino, C. (2009, May 20). Cognition ~ How Music Can Reach the Silenced Brain. Retrieved March 24, 2017, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/musicinstinct/blog/cognition/how-music-can-reach-the-silenced-brain/?p=31
Hey Anila! It is incredible how music can help those suffering with dementia! I was wondering, has there been any research or anything you’ve seen or learned during your time at the Neurological Music Therapy regarding the possible benefit of actually playing a musical instrument to prevent, or delay the onset of dementia?
ReplyDeleteNeurological Music Therapy focuses on treating people who unfortunately already suffer from some sort of neurological disease or disorder, such as dementia, and does not address preventative measures for such illnesses. However, from personal research, I have found that it is hypothesized that playing a musical instrument delays the onset of dementia.
DeleteIt is something that is difficult to prove though. Multiple studies have shown a correlation between playing a musical instrument and the onset of dementia, where in twin studies, the twin that plays an instrument remains cognitively healthy while the other may develop dementia at the same age. Unfortunately, correlation does not imply causation, so it is tricky to say whether music was the reason for delayed or prevented onset, or if it were some other factors of which we are unaware.