Impact of Music on Cognitive Abilities, Emotions and Changing Lifespan

Running head: MUSIC PSYCHOLOGY
MUSIC PSYCHOLOGY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1MUSIC PSYCHOLOGY
Many believe in the idea that suggests where there is life there is music and where
there is music, there is life (Thompson 2015). People have been investing in music for a long
time now that is because of the emotional and behavioural gains that they receive through
music. This paper aims to reflect on the impact of music which it has on the cognitive
functions and emotions of individuals. It further states the effect of music during the change
in lifespan of an individual. From the studies it was successfully concluded that music does
have an impact on the cognitive abilities, especially different types of music has different
impacts. Regarding emotions it is safe to say that music helps to induce emotions in
individuals through several suggested phenomenon. With the changing lifespan music can
always be relied on for performance improvement in regards to memory retention and speed
task efficacy.
Listening to music has been an old habit of mine, in order to relieve the effects of
stress while engaging in any cognitive procedure like studying hard for a test, or completing
an important assignment or while reading and writing. I never had any preference for only a
particular genre of music and ended up listening to all kinds of music while studying without
understanding its beneficial or harmful effects. However literature surveys showed that
resorting to sedative music has better impact on the cognition abilities more than listening to
simulative music. Researchers have established that a particular kind of music can distract or
make one focus on a cognitive task performance (Kelly et al. 2014). When I turned to
sedative music, I realised the calming and relaxing effect it had which promoted better
academic performance. This kind of music creates a soothing environment for students
putting them at ease hence facilitating cognitive processing. Previous literature shows the
insights of the neurophysiological priming effect due to cortical neuronal networks.
According to Schellenberg and Weiss (2013), experiments conducted on a sample population
showed that the phenomenon of arousal had a mediating role in the impact of music on

2MUSIC PSYCHOLOGY
performing a task. The elevated levels of arousal has the ability to enhance memory. From
the results of the experiments the researchers concluded that music affected the psychological
levels of arousal and the brain function through a calcium/ calmodulin-dependent
dopaminergic mediation. Music even modifies neurotransmitters which are also known to
influence performance hence this way music can indirectly affect cognition. The stimuli of
music increased the brain’s noradrenaline levels for which a higher dose of the β- adrenergic
receptor antagonist, propranolol, was needed in order to block memory in the presence of a
rhythmic auditory stimulus. This chain of experiments carried out thus provides proof that
complex rhythmic auditory stimuli increase memory by promotion of medium levels of
physiological arousal through variation in the noradrenaline activity at β- adrenoceptors.
Neurophysiological changes in synaptic plasticity can occur due to exposure to auditory
stimuli. It is seen that sounds like wind chimes, classical music and complex sound effects
that rat voices and rustling of leaves enriches the auditory stimuli conditions. It was also
found that a number of indices of auditory cortex response increases the enrichment. The
elevation of auditory functions on the synaptic plasticity might change or the non-auditory
cortex might differ a number of indices of the auditory response of the cortex. This includes
many beneficiary roles which needs to be investigated(Särkämö, Tervaniemi and Huotilainen
2013). From the above discussion I am now aware that how listening to music rather to be
specific, how the type of music which I am listening to is making an impact on my cognitive
abilities and functions.
Music is something that is far more powerful than language to express or evoke
emotions. A full range of human emotion can be stirred by music from sad and nostalgic to
happy, calm and joyous (Short and Dingle 2016). The adolescent period is a tough time for
us, even I have faced certain emotional turmoil, especially as a student during this period.
Music has been my companion this then. From my point of view, music is the greatest gift to