How does music wake up the brain? 🎧🧠

How does music wake up the brain? 🎧🧠

Even when we’re just listening, music engages emotion regulation (Koelsch, 2014), auditory–motor links (Zatorre et al., 2007), language & memory networks (Patel, 2008), and the basal ganglia’s role in beat perception (Grahn, 2009).

Put simply, one melody can switch on emotion (hippocampus/amygdala), memory (temporal lobe), rhythm (basal ganglia/cerebellum), decision & focus (frontal lobe), and visual processing (occipital lobe) at the same time.

• 🎭 Emotion regulation (hippocampus/amygdala) → helps with stage nerves

• 🧠 Attention & memory (temporal lobe) → better retention

• 🥁 Rhythm & timing (cerebellum/basal ganglia) → cleaner accuracy

• 👀👂 Visual–auditory integration (occipital/temporal) → easier score reading

• 🧭 Decision & focus (frontal lobe) → stronger planning and control

  
  

When do you use music as a brain boost?

Refs: Koelsch, 2014; Zatorre et al., 2007; Patel, 2008; Grahn, 2009.

1. Koelsch, S. (2014). Brain correlates of music-evoked emotions. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15(3), 170–180. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3666

2. Zatorre, R. J., Chen, J. L., & Penhune, V. B. (2007). When the brain plays music: Auditory–motor interactions in music perception and production. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 8(7), 547–558. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2152

3. Patel, A. D. (2008). Music, language, and the brain. Oxford University Press.

4. Grahn, J. A. (2009). The role of the basal ganglia in beat perception. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169(1), 35–45. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04553.x