The Evolutionary Purpose of Music
Music is one of our most transcendent art forms. It stretches to all corners of our earth. People dedicate their lives to it (MAM included).
Studies show music has long-term psychological, cognitive, and physical effects on us; our bodies are inextricably linked to music. Why?
Dr. Leonid I. Perlovsky, a visiting scholar at Harvard University and Principal Research Physicist and Technical Advisor US Air Force, could have the answer.
He believes our affinity towards music is an evolutionary function to sooth cognitive dissonance.
"While language splits the world into detailed, distinct pieces, music unifies the world into a whole," Perlovsky states. "Our psyche requires both."
Perlovsky describes cognitive dissonance as the "unpleasant feelings" people have when confronted with contradicting information. A common way to remedy this discomfort is to simply reject one side or the other, until all the knowledge lines up nicely.
This doesn't allow for human development of things like, say, language.
This is where evolution stepped in, per Perlovsky, citing several studies where human subjects were able to cope with cognitive dissonance when listening to music.
"Thus, because we constantly grapple with cognitive dissonances, we created music, in part, to help us tolerate – and overcome – them,” Perlovsky concludes. “This is the universal purpose of music."
If Perlovsky answers ‘why’ we invite music into our heads, what’s up with music we can’t get OUT of our heads?
Cognitive musicologist Dr. John Ashley Burgoyne studies recognition in music: what makes certain songs so memorable.
Burgoyne introduced Hooked on Music with the Manchester Science Festival and the Museum of Science and Industry to see what makes a song stick. (Watch out -- it’s presented as a game that’s as addictive as the tunes he’s testing!).
His results: the catchiest, most memorable song in the UK was Spice Girls' "Wannabe".
Burgoyne believes long-term memory associated with music can be used in musical therapy with dementia patients:
"Some people have family... but the number of people in care facilities who are never visited by anyone and don’t have any family is heartbreakingly high.” Burgonye says. “If we can make a version of the game we created that a care-giver could use, they might be able to figure out what music the patient responds to best."
If Perlovsky is correct that our psyche needs music (we're definitely on board with that theory), then Burgoyne is also on to something truly wonderful for dementia patients and their caregivers.