Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00538)

Lower case and CAPS and back again:

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then to change a word or a paragraph or a whole document from lower
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then hitting

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Dallas

=========================

-----Original Message-----
From: Nisk98114
Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2002 11:42 AM
To:
Subject: Music in Caps

This all cap post was made in a single click from a program i recently
installed that changes all small text to large text. Waddya think?
=======================================================
DECEMBER 13, 2002 lOS ANGELES TIMES
FRONT PAGE

MUSIC lEAVES ITS MARK ON THE BRAIN

IF IT'S PLEASING TO THE EARS, IT'S TIED TO REWIRED CIRCUITS THAT FIND
NOTES
HARMONIOUS, STUDY SAYS.
BY ROBERT lEE HOTZ, TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK -- FROM MOZART TO MILES DAVIS, THE HARMONIES OF WESTERN MUSIC
REWIRE
THE BRAIN, CREATING PATTERNS OF NEURAL ACTIVITY AT THE CONFLUENCE OF
EMOTION
AND MEMORY THAT STRENGTHEN WITH EACH NEW MELODY, RESEARCH MADE PUBLIC
THURSDAY SHOWS.


BY MONITORING THE BRAINS OF PEOPLE LISTENING TO CLASSICAL SCALES AND
KEY
PROGRESSIONS, SCIENTISTS AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE GLIMPSED THE BIOLOGY OF
THE
HIT-MAKING MACHINERY OF POPULAR SONG. FOCUSING ON THE STRUCTURE OF
WESTERN
MUSIC, RESEARCHERS SHOW HOW THE MUSICAL MIND HEARS THE FLAT NOTES IN
FLATT
AND SCRUGGS, THE SHARPS OF THE HARMONICATS AND ALL FIVE OCTAVES IN POP
DIVA
MARIAH CAREY'S REPERTOIRE.
THE FLASH-DANCE OF THESE BRAIN CIRCUITS, WHICH PROCESS THE HARMONIC
RELATIONSHIP OF MUSICAL NOTES, IS SHAPED BY A HUMAN CRAVING FOR MELODY
THAT
DRIVES PEOPLE TO SPEND MORE EVERY YEAR ON MUSIC THAN ON PRESCRIPTION
DRUGS.
THE CIRCUITS CENTER IN A BRAIN REGION THAT RESPONDS EQUALLY TO THE
MUSICAL
PATTERNS OF EMINEM'S HIP-HOP BUSTA RHYMES AND BACH'S BAROQUE FUGUES.
"MUSIC IS NOT NECESSARY FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL, YET SOMETHING INSIDE US
CRAVES
IT," SAID DARTMOUTH MUSIC PSYCHOLOGIST PETR jANATA, WHO LED THE GLOBAL
RESEARCH TEAM. "OUR MINDS HAVE INTERNALIZED THE MUSIC."
WHATEVER THE REASON, THE EFFECT ON THE INDIVIDUAL BRAIN IS MEASURABLE.
AMONG EXPERT MUSICIANS, CERTAIN AREAS OF THE CORTEX ARE UP TO 5%
LARGER THAN
IN PEOPLE WITH LITTLE OR NO MUSICAL TRAINING,
RECENT RESEARCH SHOWS. IN MUSICIANS WHO STARTED THEIR TRAINING IN
EARLY
CHILDHOOD, THE NEURAL BRIDGE THAT LINKS THE BRAIN'S HEMISPHERES,
CALLED THE
CORPUS CALLOSUM, IS UP TO 15% LARGER. A PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN'S
AUDITORY
CORTEX - THE PART OF THE BRAIN ASSOCIATED WITH HEARING - CONTAINS 130%
MORE
GRAY MATTER THAN THAT OF NON-MUSICIANS.
THE NEW STUDY, PUBLISHED TODAY IN SCIENCE, SHOWS FOR THE FIRST TIME
THAT THE
ABSTRACT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE HARMONIC RELATIONSHIPS IN MUSIC INSCRIBES
ITSELF
ON THE HUMAN CORTEX, GUIDING EXPECTATIONS OF HOW MUSICAL NOTES SHOULD
RELATE
TO ONE ANOTHER AS THEY ARE PLAYED. THROUGH CONSTANT EXPOSURE, SYNAPSES
ARE
TRAINED TO RESPOND LIKE A SERIES OF TUNING FORKS TO THE TONES
CHARACTERISTIC
OF WESTERN MUSIC, SEVERAL EXPERTS SAID. SO FAR, NO ONE HAS TESTED THE
MUSIC
OF OTHER CULTURES, BUT RESEARCHERS SPECULATE THAT ALL MUSIC SHOULD
HAVE THE
SAME EFFECT.
THE PATTERN IN THE MUSIC LITERALLY BECOMES A PATTERN IN THE BRAIN. "IT
SHOWS
THIS LINK BETWEEN MUSIC THEORY AND PERCEPTION AND BRAIN FUNCTION,"
SAID
FRANCES H. RAUSCHER, AN EXPERT IN MUSIC COGNITION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
WISCONSIN AT OSHKOSH. "NO ONE HAD LOOKED BEFORE."
THE DARTMOUTH GROUP SCANNED EIGHT PEOPLE WITH A FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC
RESONANCE
IMAGER AS THEY LISTENED TO AN EIGHT-MINUTE MELODY SPECIALLY COMPOSED
TO MOVE
CONTINUOUSLY THROUGH ALL 24 MAJOR AND MINOR MUSICAL KEYS. THE
VOLUNTEERS, WHO
EACH HAD ABOUT 12 YEARS OF MUSICAL TRAINING, PERFORMED SEVERAL
MUSIC-RELATED
TASKS WHILE THEY LISTENED IN THE SCANNER.
THE SCANNER, WHICH RECORDS CHANGES IN BLOOD FLOW ASSOCIATED WITH
MENTAL
PROCESSING, ALLOWED THE SCIENTISTS TO WATCH THIS MEANDERING OF KEYS AS
THE
MUSIC TRACED A PATH ACROSS THE SURFACE OF THE CORTEX.
ALTHOUGH MUSIC ACTIVATED MANY PARTS OF THE BRAIN, THE RESEARCHERS
DISCOVERED
THAT EVERYONE HAD JUST ONE AREA IN COMMON THAT TRACKED AND PROCESSED
MELODIES. THAT BRAIN REGION, NEAR THE CENTER OF THE FOREHEAD, IS
CALLED THE
ROSTROMEDIAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX. THIS REGION, WHICH LINKS TO SHORT- AND
LONG-TERM MEMORY AND EMOTIONS, IS DIFFERENT FROM AREAS INVOLVED IN
MORE BASIC
SOUND PROCESSING.
"IN THE SAME WAY THAT TRACING THE PATH OF A CAR ALLOWS ONE TO INFER
THE
UNDERLYING MAP OF A CITY'S STREETS, THE PATH TRACED BY THE KEYS ALONG
THE
CORTEX ALLOWED THE RESEARCHERS TO SEE THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE,"
EXPLAINED
DAVID HURON, HEAD OF THE COGNITIVE AND SYSTEMATIC MUSICOLOGY
LABORATORY AT
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.
"IT IS BEAUTIFUL."
SINCE THE FIRST PRIMITIVE HUMAN ANCESTOR CARVED A FLUTE FROM A BEAR
BONE MORE
THAN 50,000 YEARS AGO, MELODY, HARMONY AND RHYTHM HAVE STIRRED PEOPLE
OF
EVERY CULTURE. NO ONE KNOWS HOW OR WHY MUSIC EVOLVED TO BECOME SUCH AN
IMPORTANT HUMAN ACTIVITY. "MUSIC IS REALLY POPULAR, BUT WHAT DOES IT
DO FOR
THE BRAIN?" ASKED jANATA. "WHY IS IT WE HAVE THE EMOTIONAL RESPONSES
WE DO TO
MUSIC? WHY IS IT THAT MELODIES RUN SPONTANEOUSLY THROUGH OUR HEADS?"
MUSIC MAY BE AS MUCH IN THE GENES AS IN THE SOUL.
PERFECT PITCH, FOR EXAMPLE, APPEARS TO BE INHERITED, ONLY TO BE LOST
IF NOT
REINFORCED BY PRACTICE. BY 4 MONTHS OF AGE, BABIES ALREADY PREFER THE
MORE
MUSICAL INTERVALS OF MAJOR AND MINOR THIRDS TO THE MORE DISSONANT
SOUNDS OF
MINOR SECONDS, RESEARCHERS HAVE SHOWN.
gORDON SHAW AND MARK BODNER, BRAIN EXPERTS AT THE MUSIC INTELLIGENCE
NEURAL
DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE IN IRVINE, EMPHASIZED, HOWEVER, THAT THERE IS
NOTHING
SPECIAL ABOUT WESTERN MUSIC, AT LEAST AS FAR AS BRAIN ANATOMY AND
NEURAL
NETWORKS ARE CONCERNED. THESE DISTINCTIVE MUSICAL CIRCUITS IN THE
CORTEX
COULD BE JUST AS EASILY TUNED BY EXPOSURE TO THE MUSIC OF THE
ABORIGINE
DIDGERIDOO, TUVAN THROAT-SINGING OR jAPANESE COURT GAGAKU.
"THIS IS A BRAIN STRUCTURE THAT HAS ADAPTED TO THE WAY THE MUSIC IS,"
HURON
SAID. "THIS IS A MANIFESTATION OF WESTERN CULTURE THAT IS APPEARING ON
THE
CORTEX, NOT SOME INNATE STRUCTURE."
WITHIN THIS BRAIN REGION, HOWEVER, A MELODY CREATES A SLIGHTLY
DIFFERENT
PATTERN OF NEURAL ACTIVITY EVERY TIME IT IS HEARD, AS IF THE LASER
READING
THE DIGITAL PATTERN OF A COMPACT DISC RECORDING VARIED THE PATTERN
SLIGHTLY
EACH TIME THE MUSIC WAS PLAYED.
THIS DYNAMIC MAP MAY BE THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING WHY A PIECE OF MUSIC
MIGHT
ELICIT A CERTAIN BEHAVIOR ONE TIME, SUCH AS DANCING, AND SOMETHING
DIFFERENT
ANOTHER TIME, SUCH AS SMILING WHEN REMEMBERING A DANCE, THE
RESEARCHERS SAID.
"WE THINK IT MIGHT EXPLAIN WHY WHEN YOU HEAR A PIECE OF MUSIC ONE
TIME, IT
MIGHT MOVE YOU TO DANCE," SAID jANATA. "WHEN YOU HEAR IT ANOTHER TIME,
YOU
MIGHT INSTEAD REMEMBER THE PARTY OR THE FEELINGS YOU HAD THERE."



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