Why some songs feel like they were made for you |
Ever heard a song and thought, “Oh, this is so me?” Well, that’s not just a feeling. It’s true. That song is literally resonating with your brain. Yes, that’s right.A recent study showed that music can sync with your brain’s natural rhythms, its oscillations, making certain melodies, beats, and harmonies feel perfectly aligned with your mood, personality, and even your body. The findings of the study are published in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
Music does something amazing to our brains
According to neural resonance theory, our brains and bodies don’t just hear music, they respond to it. This is why certain songs can feel deeply personal, no matter your age, culture, or musical background.
“This theory suggests that music is powerful not just because we hear it, but because our brains and bodies become it. That has big implications for therapy, education, and technology,” Caroline Palmer, neuroscientist at McGill University in Canada, said in a statement.So, no. If you feel like a specific song is just made for you, it’s no coincidence. Palmer and co-authors have now formally described Neural Resonance Theory (NRT) in a perspective paper reviewing the literature on musical neuroscience.NRT says that the brain waves sync up with sounds we hear at different rates. The slower sounds, like the beats in music, create a rhythm you can dance or play along with. Neurons in the cortex oscillate at frequencies that resonate with those pulses in the music.
Higher sounds, which is from about 30 to over 4,000 Hertz, are what we hear as pitch. Brain waves in the gamma range sync with the lower pitches, on the other hand, the ear and brainstem respond to the higher ones. All this work in tandem to make a music pleasurable regardless of musical background. This applies to young children to classically trained pros.
“Statistically universal structures may have arisen in music because they correspond to stable states of complex, pattern-forming dynamical systems. NRT can provide insights into both neuroscience and human behavior, as well as the link between the two,” the researchers said.
“Such insights can shed light on the interconnectedness of brain and body, the ability of music to communicate affect and emotion, the role of music in interpersonal bonding, and applications of music to brain health,” they added.
