Emotions - Music & the Brain II

While I continue to collect and publish resource information for "The Pages", here are a couple of documentaries re: Music & the Brain for your consideration:

http://ww3.tvo.org/video/162960/music-brain  - This is an Australian Film production featuring Dr. Perez, University of Montreal, as well as other researchers.

The following is a very engaging six part series on music and the brain, featuring Sting and Dr. Levitin, as well as other musicians and researchers.

http://watch.bravo.ca/#clip184593     - My Musical Brain - Part 1

http://watch.bravo.ca/#clip184594     - My Musical Brain - Part 2

http://watch.bravo.ca/#clip184595     - My Musical Brain - Part 3

http://watch.bravo.ca/#clip184596     - My Musical Brain - Part 4

http://watch.bravo.ca/#clip184597     - My Musical Brain - Part 5

http://watch.bravo.ca/#clip184598     - My Musical Brain - Part 6


Dr. Levitin of McGill University has several videos regarding music and the brain: http://daniellevitin.com/publicpage/videos/all-videos/

Here are a couple of documentaries re: the plasticity of the brain, with Dr. Norman Doidge author of The Brain that Changes Itself.

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/The_Nature_of_Things/2008-09/1456789208/ID=1233752028

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/The_Nature_of_Things/2010-11/1598925165/ID=1605117929


Enjoy!  You will now have viewed much of what has informed and formed my lay person's ideas about, and understanding of, the brain.  Can the brain work against us?  Yes.  Can it work for us? Yes.  And, the more we understand the mechanisms, the better we can make the choices involved in rewiring the brain and healing us.  Should we choose to do so.

Note to the Reader

Thank you for following my blog. 

Over the next few days I am going to update The Pages section of this blog with the resources I have found.

Please bear with me as I struggle with the format to make this possible.

I will return to posting about Emotions soon.

(The Pages are found at the bottom of the blog entry, just before the "wingshot" photo.)

Emotions - Music & the Brain I

In 2006, I was privileged to attend a round table on Mental Health and the Arts at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.  And again, in 2007, Healing and the Arts.

Many of the presentations made, and the discussions, have stayed with me.

Canada is the world leader in research regarding music and the brain.  Without going into each of the individual presentations, it has been found that music can be used to help in pain management at cancer centres like the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto.  A program in Saskatoon, Music Sensory Awakening, has been successful in treating autistic children.

Research in Montreal showed that patients suffering from memory loss could remember the words to songs and sing them, when it was impossible for them to write those words out, or even name the song.  A doctor in Calgary has found that while listening to a favourite piece of music, a Parkinson's patient was able to walk more smoothly.

Clearly, music has a special function in our brains which is only beginning to be explored.  And perhaps some of this research can help those of us with mental health conditions.

Some of the presenters cautioned that not all music has a positive effect.  For example, one patient began to cry when presented with music she had heard in a concentration camp.  (Although, this might also be seen as a method of grieving, important to our mental health.)

I've watched several documentaries on the topic of music and the brain.
Studies in Britain have been conducted of babies in utero listening to various kinds of music.  The unborn children seem to like classical music, while grimacing and turning away from aggressive rock.

Downtown Rideau in Ottawa has problems with street crime.  To help curb that phenomena, McDonald's has started playing classical music piped out into the street.  I would like to know the outcome of that tactic.  While it is nice for me, does it prevent people from acts of aggression?  Although there must be something to it, if McDonald's is doing it.

Film makers have long known the use of music in setting up scenes to elicit emotions.  You know something bad is about to happen when you hear ominous music.

Research has shown there is a positive correlation between mathematical skills in children who are taught music or play an instrument.

With all the positives involved in listening to, and learning to play certain types of music, it is a wonder music is not used more often as a teaching aid and/or a treatment therapy.

How is music processed in our brains?  How can it help us modulate our emotions?

To be continued...

Today's column is dedicated to my dear friend, Louisa, who made it possible for me to attend the National Art Centre forums.

Thank you Lou.

Emotions - Old brain, continued

The older part of our brain has a lot of things going on which pretty much happen automatically.

The olfactory bulb

The olfactory bulb is part of this system, which explains how smells can trigger memories and emotions, and help in creating long term memories.

One of the earliest smells I remember is the smell of carnations at the funeral of my great grandmother, when I was three.  Until I worked in a florist shop and smelled carnations on a daily basis, that association remained; but has now been replaced with other memories and associations.

One of my earliest emotional memories is also from that funeral.  One of my cousins opened his arms and I thought it was for me.  It was for my two year old sister.  I ran to him, only to be humiliated.  Even my mother was laughing as she gathered me up.

Did I decide from that moment forward that no arms open were for me? That I couldn't count on affection? Not to respond to affection for fear of humilation? I have no idea; but the fact that memory is branded on my brain is a function of emotion and scent.

How can I turn these sorts of negative emotions and memories around?

I was once given an exercise by a therapist to write a happy ending to a sad memory.  I've written about that earlier in this blog.  I'm thinking that just as my association of carnations with funerals and death changed after repeated exposure in a different setting (the flower shop); that perhaps I can change my emotional response to this memory by "rewriting" it with a happy ending and perhaps association with a different scent.

As much as I enjoy, very much, various smells and find them soothing; I haven't given much weight to aroma therapy.  This is a knowledge area I could revisit and learn more about, practice more often.

I know for a fact that using soft music or nature recordings to calm me and practice meditation, can help modulate emotions, with repetition.

I have hope that it is possible to "rewire" the brain through learning practices that will help me overcome the places where I get stuck in my thinking and feeling.

On that note, I would like to take a look at the function of music in memories and emotions.  Another response mechanism which involves the "old brain". 

Emotions - The old brain

I have long struggled with my emotions and my intellect.  Part of my journey has been believing I could overcome and manage things by myself, on my own.  And part of that process was to deny and control my emotions, as much as possible.

There is also an element of my Christian training which encouraged me not to trust emotions, with a diagram using geometric shapes. The ball was emotions; the rectangle, faith; and the triangle, fact.

I could draw the various configurations for this--but my diagrams don't reproduce well in this blog format.  Suffice it to say that faith was the rectangular foundation at the bottom; with fact (the triangle) placed on top of faith; and the ball (emotions) balanced on the pinnacle of fact.

When I googled this concept, interestingly, I got several Christian explanations, some of which differed from each other; but all put emotions last.  This tells me that what I was taught, must be a mainstream Christian concept.

As Christianity is a major underwriter of Western culture, I would surmise it is part of Western culture to discount emotions.  To what extent is this healthy, and part of being socialized?  To what extent is this unhealthy, leading to physical disease and mental illness?

Going back to the brain: the limbic system houses some important components involved with emotions and long term memory.  I might, as a layperson, loosely or clumsily think of the limbic system as the seat of the emotions.

The  amygdala

When I first started thinking about our brains perhaps working against us, I was reading AdaptAbility by M.J. Ryan.  She talked about the amygdala being an old part of the brain that constantly scans for danger; being velcro for negative perceptions and teflon for positive. 

Immediately I thought: This isn't good.  If my own brain is picking up more on negative things than positive, how can I be faulted for being depressed, or even suicidal?

The amygdala is involved in our impulse to fight, flight or freeze.

In reading through Wikipedia, I realize this small almond shaped portion of the old brain, present in both hemispheres, is a very complex piece of equipment.  It is at this point in the discussion I would like to call in a neuro scientist; but I think even if I were able to do that, I would get differing ideas and conclusions.

What I'm getting from what I read, is that yes.  Sometimes our brains, especially the older sections, in their vigilance to protect us, may over do it.

Perhaps one of the most important things to know about the amygdala, is how it contributes to the formation of our long term memories through emotional links.

So then.  Are our emotions friend or foe?  Are our brains working against us?

To be continued...

Emotions - Old brain/New brain

Sometimes emotions can blend with each other to create a third emotion--rather how you would blend blue and yellow to get green.

Anger and digust can blend to create a sense of contempt.  Anger and shame can blend to create a sense of jealousy or envy.  Shame and sadness can combine to form a sense of despair and powerlessness; and so on.

I asked in the beginning of this section about emotions: Who needs them?  I hope by breaking down some of the primary emotions into what they are, how they are generated, and what they do for us; to understand the really important part emotions play.  Emotions serve as an almost subconcious feedback loop, providing with us with important imformation to help guide us in navigating life.

Why then, have emotions become so overwhelming and problematic for some of us--to the point where we don't trust our emotions or attempt avoid them entirely?

I have the hunch that sometimes our brains work against us.

I need to emphasize that I am not an expert in any field to do with the brain.  I am simply, the occasionally proud owner of one.  Additionally, I am very excited about the new imaging and mapping technologies which daily add to what we know about the brain.  It's an exciting time for brains and their owners.

 First, let's take a look:

The image above shows the "old brain", generally speaking (the limbic brain).  The pink/grey material surrounding this older section of the brain is our cerebral cortex (cerebrum) the "newer brain".

My hunch about where things may go "wrong" is the interaction of the old brain with the new brain.

To be continued...