This Is Your Brain On Music

This Is Your Brain on Music

On this date in 1983, the bestselling album ever, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, hit number one, where it stayed for thirty-seven weeks. Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head? All it takes is a few bars for some tunes—and their lyrics—to loop in there for hours. That’s not always a bad thing. Catchy hooks can help children study the alphabet, learn books of the Bible, or remember the days of the week. And a lingering praise chorus can turn our attention to Jesus when we least expect it. Indeed, music gives words staying power.

However, there’s another side to music’s Velcro-like ability to stick. For example, have you ever been haunted by a commercial jingle, an annoying TV theme song, or an off-color chorus to a racy pop hit? You didn’t set out to commit it to memory, but it’s hanging around just the same. So what’s behind music’s hold on us?

While working at emergency rooms in New York, Dr. Richard Pellegrino often rescued drug addicts with Naloxone, a drug that binds opium receptors in the brain and short-circuits the high. Those same receptors also bind natural endorphins, which play a crucial role in how we experience music. Further experiments with Naloxone have shown that music significantly changes how we process and retain information!

In an article published in Billboard magazine, Dr. Pellegrino warned of “music’s immense power, and the responsibility that musicians and producers have to use that power wisely.” He concluded, “Take it from a brain guy: In twenty-five years of working with the brain, I still cannot affect a person’s state of mind the way that one simple song can.” Wow!

Of course, you don’t need to look far to see that the music industry doesn’t always act responsibly. So it’s up to us to choose tunes wisely. To guard our hearts and minds. To make sure lyrics promote God’s truth rather than, as Colossians 2:8 says, the “empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense” of the world around us. How does your favorite music measure up?

Daddy-Daughter Time

Why do you prefer certain musical styles over others? Which artists do you enjoy most and why? While in the car this week, take turns listening to and discussing each other’s favorite CDs. Be as specific as you can about what makes that music meaningful to you.

What’s The Word?

Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.   Colossians 2:8