Artist- Baptiste Alchourroun

Summary of NY Times article, “Why Music Makes Our Brain Sing” by Robert J. Zatorre and Valorie N. Salimpoor. (June 7, 2013)

Music has been cherished within human culture since Paleolithic times. We know that music is pleasurable, but what is it beyond pleasure that entices us so? A study by neuroscientists Anne J. Blood and Robert J. Zatorre shows that the human brain responds to music with a release of dopamine and oxytocin. These hormones yield feelings of happiness, wellness, joy, trust, reward, and motivation. The release of these hormones often leads to the feeling of “chills down the spine.”

Links:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/why-music-makes-our-brain-sing.html?referrer=&_r=0

(http://www.pnas.org/content/98/20/11818.full)

Photo credit Stefan Gossati and artist Willem Heyneker