An international study in co -authorship of McGill’s psychologist, Caroline Palmer, suggests that our brains and bodies not only understand music, but physically resonate with her. These discoveries, based on findings in neuroscience, music and psychology, support neuronal resonance theory (NRT).
NRT argues that, instead of depending on expectations or predictions learned, musical experiences arise from the natural oscillations of the brain that are synchronized with rhythm, melody and harmony. This resonance shapes our feeling of time, musical pleasure and the instinct of moving with rhythm.
“This theory suggests that music is powerful not only because we listen to it, but because our brains and bodies become,” said Palmer, a professor in the Department of Psychology of McGill and director of the sequence production laboratory. “That has great implications for therapy, education and technology.” The publication of the study in Nature reviews neuroscience It marks the first time that the entire NRT is published in a single article, he said.
The theory suggests that structures such as pulse and harmony reflect stable resonant patterns in the brain, shared among people regardless of their musical background. According to NRT, the way we listen and produce music can be explained by fundamental dynamic principles of the mechanisms of the human brain that apply from the ear to the spinal cord and the movements of the extremities.
Researchers say that potential applications of the theory include:
The study was directed by Edward Large (University of Connecticut) and in Caroline Palmer co -authorship.
The study was partly funded by a investigation president from Canada and a subsidy of Discovery of NSERC.