Field Research: Emailed Interviews
1st-Emailed interview questions to my Psych professor:
1) What is your psychological perspective of how music affects people’s emotions? Memories? Learning abilities?
I think that music is one of the most fundamental neurological phenomena of the human mind. To our knowledge, no other creature has anything akin to music (maybe whales?). It has been demonstrated by researchers that music involves nearly every neural structure and deeply affects all faculties of the brain.
2) How do you believe people are able to connect a particular song to a memory so that when that song is played, that memory is recalled?
This is a very deep question that is still being researched – I would direct you to “This Is Your Brain On Music” by Daniel Leviton for a more up to date and in depth discussion of this topic.
3) Do you believe music can increase learning ability in infants and children?
-What about adults?
While it probably cannot hurt, except as a distraction, there is little evidence that simply listening to music can enhance learning, however, there is strong evidence that formal music education can enhance learning strategies overall. Again, refer to Leviton or Oliver Sachs “Musicphilia.”
4) Why do you think emotions can be triggered through music?
-How do you think they are triggered?
Music strongly interacts with the limbic system, the emotional part of the brain, when being encoded into long term memory. Memory of actual percepts is a two-way street, with re-experience of either the actual percept triggering the emotions felt at the time of the original experience or, conversely, similar emotional experiences triggering the memory of the musical persept.
4) Do you believe the Mozart Theory is effective? Explain.
The research has shown there to be no Mozart effect.
6) Why do you think music is so powerful?
-Is it a form of hypnosis?
Music is so powerful (meaningful? moving?) precisely because it involves so many brain functions in such a pervasive way. I believe that the human response to music is inextricably related to the very neural structures that make us human, although research has yet to establish how all of this works.
No, as I don’t believe in hypnosis, I certainly do not believe that music is a form of hypnosis. Can music “transport” you or be “hypnotic,” in other words, foster a different state of consciousness? Well, yeah, but I wouldn’t call that hypnosis.
7) One research study found that older people who listened to music often were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease because they were able to link memories to different songs. Do you agree with this study? Explain.
I really can’t explain, however, both Leviton and Sachs discuss several hypotheses to explain such phenomenon. It is my understanding, however, that Alzheimer’s is not stopped by musical memories, just that people with Alz. are often able to remember musical memories better for longer periods of time as opposed to other crystallized memories. This is probably due to the pervasive nature of musical memory, in other words, music’s tendency to involve so many brain areas in both perception, storage, and recall.
8) Can music, like television, trigger negative emotions that over time influence violent behavior? Or the opposite, does it relieve stress and negative emotions?
I would suppose that music is not exclusively positive. I’ve certainly witnessed plenty of antisocial behavior in response to musical input. I think, depending on the music, it can do both.
2nd-Emailed interview questions to my H.S Music teacher:
1) What is your psychological perspective of how music affects people's emotions? Memories? Learning Abilities?I think that music can serve as a shortcut to certain memories and emotional states. Somewhere in our brain, pathways are forged and a particular song or kind of song will trigger a past experience. I also think that culturally, we have been trained to associate certain sounds with certain emotions. In the Western music culture, we tend to associate music in minor with sadness or grief. Major music sounds "happier" to us. This association is not universal, because it does not hold true in other cultures. However, in our culture, this association has been cemented by centuries of common composition practices.2) How do you believe people are able to connect a song to a particular memory so when that song is played, that particular memory is recalled?I think our most vivid memories, and the ones we can recall the best, capture all of our senses. If we can remember what we smelled, tasted, felt and heard, in addition to what we saw, the memory will be much more potent. That's why certain songs can take you back to a specific moment. Also, because songs have certain emotions engrained in them, a song can take you back to a certain emotional state and a time period when you felt that way. Music from high school will always make me feel carefree and happy, because those are the feelings I associate with hs.3) Do you believe music can increase learning ability in infants and children? Why?-What about Adults?For both, I think there are researchers that are far better qualified to answer, but I certainly hope so. The research I have read, indicates that playing an instrument can help with brain development. In one particular study, brain scans for children who played instruments showed more activity than non-instrumentalists. Music playing can also help strenghten the connection between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.4) Why do you think emotions can be triggered through music? How do you think they are triggered?I really don't know for this one.5) Do you believe the Mozart Effect is in fact effective? Explain.I think that study is flawed, because they only used one specific passage of music with a very specific kind of logic exercise. I certainly think that there is the possibility that music makes you "smarter" but more research is needed. 6) Why do you think music is so powerful? -Is it a form of hypnosis?I'm not sure of the psychological reasons, but I believe that music and the arts in general are what give humans humanity. This is how we are different from animals. Humans have a need to express themselves through the creation of beauty. Music and the arts are not required for life, but they make life bearable and something worth living. Also, humans have a need to create something lasting. You can see it all around us in our monuments, buildings, literature, even our families. We all want to leave a legacy. The arts allow us to do this. There is a latin expression that says it best... Ars longa, vita brevis: art is long, life is short.7) One research study found that older people who listened to music were less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease because they were able to link memories to particular songs. Do you agree/disagree with this study? Explain.I agree, only because I had a professor who did music therapy with Alzheimer's patients. She told us many stories about patients who were not lucid at all, but she would play music from the 40s and for a brief time, they would be able to recall memories and seem more like themselves.Maybe our memories associated with music are stored somewhere else and remain intact longer?8) Can music, like TV, trigger negative emotions that over time influence violent behavior? OR does it do the opposite and act as a stress reliever?I think it depends entirely on the person and the music. Personal preference plays a huge part. That's the beauty of music... it's personal and it has a profound ability to affect each person differently.
No comments:
Post a Comment