By Sarah Carnvek
Musicologists and brain researchers don't usually attend the same conferences. But at a recent Jerusalem event, not only did they go to the same lectures but they shared a common language: music.
The conference, “Music and Brains: The Surprising Link — An Interface between Music, Cognition and Neuroscience,” was presented by the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation (ICNC) at the Hebrew University’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Science.
"It was a unique and wonderful event," says Prof. Naftali Tishby, director of the ICNC and one of the organizers. "People that don't usually meet got to interact. A lot of collaborations came out of this. It really was a successful event."
Understanding how music affects our brains is "one of the most fascinating themes of research," says Tishby, an internationally renowned neuroscientist. "We're interested in music because it touches so many levels and mechanisms of the brain."
An Israeli academic course
While dozens of studies on the neurological benefits of music training are underway around the globe, HU is among the first academic institutions to offer a credited course on the topic.
"The course attempts to conduct an interdisciplinary discussion on the boundaries and links between brain research and musicology," reads the synopsis of the course taught by Tishby, neurobiologist Prof. Israel Nelken and musicologist Prof. Roni Granot.
"We will explore this interface along a number of facets, such as: music perception and the auditory system; music performance and the motor system; and the hierarchical structure and function of music and brains. A special emphasis will be placed on studying expectation and surprise in music and the brain. Our goal is to map the meeting points between brain research and musicology, highlight the remaining distance between them, and develop approaches for filling these gaps."
Tishby says the recent conference at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim Cultural Center came about thanks to strong interest in the original academic course. In fact, almost as soon as the conference was announced, Tishby reports there was immediate response from near and far.
"Israel is a leader in computational neuroscience, neuroscience of hearing and the connection between neuroscience and music," says Tishby. Researchers presented topics such as music and language, and the effects of music on thought processes and behavior. Musical performances at the event included works by Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Mahler and Schubert as well as Arabic music.
Musically speaking
Just about anyone who has listened to music knows that it can affect how we feel. Music has the power to create feelings of suspense, excitement, calmness, pleasure or sadness. It is widely believed – and has even been proven by the scientific community – that melodies can also shape how we think or learn.
Brain researchers and musicologists who attended the Jerusalem event spoke of other effects music has on our brains.
"Music helps certain cognitive functions. It helps how accurately we can imagine pitches, people's verbal working memory, and the ability to keep in mind verbal information," says University of California-Davis Prof. Petr Janata, one of the presenters at the conference. He is an associate professor in the psychology department and the Center for Mind and Brain.
Music can be described as auditory calisthenics for the brain.
"Listening to music definitely improves your brain and sharpens your sensory system," says Tishby. "It's not only listening to music but listening and playing or dancing. Music that involves a motor activity … keeps your brain fit in the best possible way."
Musicians, it has been shown, are better able to learn new languages as they can better identify different pitches. Tishby says the ability to follow a rhythm and short-term memory are linked.
But not everyone can appreciate music.
"It's an interesting line of research – the relationship between learning disabilities and people who cannot enjoy music," says Tishby, whose research interests include chemical mechanisms in the brain that make people enjoy music, and the interface between computer science, physics and biology. "You need specific abilities in mental function to be a good musician."
Tishby says the research he and his peers around the world are conducting is really just scratching the surface. "There's a lot more to be done," he sums up. “This is just the beginning."