WEBVTT 00:03:11.511 --> 00:03:11.761 ♪ (music) ♪ 00:03:11.761 --> 99:59:59.999 [Narrator] These days, you hear music all the time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It wakes us up, motivates our workouts, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 keeps us company on our commutes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It doesné matter what kind of music it is, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 music itself has the ability to affect our moods and our bodies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in all sorts of ways. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We nod our heads, we sway, dance. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Music can give us chills, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 even make us cry. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Music activates every area of the brain we have so far mapped. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In fact, there's no area of the brain we know about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that music doesn't touch in some way. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But what's behind all that? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What exactly does music do to us? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To find out, I went to a whole series of tests 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 designed to measure my responses to musiC. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I met some kids whose brains may actually be changing, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 thanks to those hours of learning, practice, and performing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I spoke with a therapist who used music to help former congressman [ ] learn to speak again, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and got a glimpse inside the brain of a two-time winning artist while he played, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 all to find out how music affects us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ♪ (music) ♪ 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So what's going on when we listen to music? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We visited the USC Brain and Creativity Institute, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where I had my head examined, literally, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to try to figure it out. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm going to go into this [FMRI] machine, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a tiny tube will surround me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We'll get a baseline reading of my brain, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then I'm going to listen to some music. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We're going to see how my brain responds. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Just close your eyes, relax, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and try and get into the music as best you can, okay? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ♪ (music) ♪ 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And here's what we saw. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 These are scans of my brain. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The areas in red are where my activity is above average; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in blue, below average. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 As you can see, there is red activity all over my brain, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not just in one specific area. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Twenty-five years ago, the idea was that language is on the left side of the brain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and music is in the right side of the brain. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But now that we've got better quality tools, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 higher resolution imaging and better experimental methods, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we've discovered that's not at all right. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How does that play out in different regions of the brain? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When music enters and then gets shuttled off to different parts of the brain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it stops at specialized processing units in auditory cortex, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they track loudness and pitch and rhythm and [tambour] and things like that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's visual cortex activation when you're reading music as a musician 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or watching music 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 motor cortex when you're tapping your feet, snapping your fingers, clapping you hands; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and cerebellum which mediates the emotional responses; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the memory and the hippocampus, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 hearing a familiar passage, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 finding it somewhere in your memory banks. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Music is going on in both halves of your brain, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the left and the right, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the front and the back, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the inside and the outside. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ♪ (music) ♪ 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So what about a musicians's brain? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To play a piece of music engages so many things: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 motor systems, timing systens, memory systems, hearing systems. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's all sorts of brain activity happening. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's a very robust thing to play music. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ♪ (music) ♪ 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm Alex Jacob Robertson. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm Nathan Glenn Robertson. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We asked these 11-year old musicians 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to tell us what's going through their minds as they play. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Some of the most important things are 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think good posture, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 getting the note right, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 legato, staccato. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [violin playing] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For the violin, you need to hold your hand at the right place 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you need to be in tune 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then you also have to have not only the right intonation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but the right sound 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then you also need to have great vibrato. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's lot of things to think about. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [violin playing] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Narrator] Back at USC, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 researchers have been studying kids who play music over the past five years 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to see how it effects their development. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The multi-tasking areas of their brains understandable lit up 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but they've seen other results too. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Music training over the course of five years 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 has had benefits in cognitive skills and decision making, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 also had some benefits in social behavior 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we've also seen changes in the associated brain structures. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Did you hear that? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Changes in brain structures. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They found that the brains of children who have studied music 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 cast stronger connections between the left and right hemispheres 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that can make them better, more creative problem solvers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then there's emotion. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [emotional music] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When you hear a piece like this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's easy to understand why emotions play such a big part in music. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This song by Camille Saint-Saëns is known as the music for the dying swan in ballet. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Well it might move ballerinas to dance it inspires different reactions in others. Some people get goosebumps, chills, that weird tingly sensation that you get when a great piece of music just hits you in the right way. It's called frisson and not everyone gets it but it turns out I do. Now we're gonna have you listen to some pieces of music. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Okay When you experience a chill, if you do, I want you to just press this space bar so we have an indication of when those sort of peak moments of enjoyment are happening. Okay. Max Sachs, a PhD candidate at USC wired me up to measure my physiological response. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So when I'm feeling that kind of emotional connection 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that has a physical manifestation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we'll see what my body is actually doing? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Exactly. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [dramatic music] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Alright, how was that? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That was, that had a lot of them. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We got them all. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now full disclosure back in the day 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I played the cello 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which might have something to do with why that particular song affected me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Nice hair. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it turns out the brain is at work here too. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We processed the difference 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 between this pathway that connects the auditory regions on the side of the brain here, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the emotional regions 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we showed that the tract actually that connects those two regions is stronger, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's more fibers, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in that region in the people who get chills. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Which means that some people's brains might have better communication 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 between what they hear and how they feel. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The music itself also plays a role in frisson. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sachs uses different songs in his lectures to see if students get it. I'll say raise your hand when you get a chill and I'll play a piece of music, a classical piece, and maybe half the people will get it. [Narrator] Then he plays this.. Rolling Stone's Give me Shelter. Have you ever seen the movie 20 Feet from Stardom, the documentary? Oh about back up singers? Yeah, there's a part Where They Isolate the vocals from Give me Shelter. ♪from murder yeah ♪ ♪It's just a shot away ♪ ♪It's just a shot away ♪ and I play that and 90% of the people experience chills sort of independent of where I go. I have to tell you, bringing that up made me think about it and I got that little kind of thing at the back of neck. But why would that happen? The high pitched notes that she hits almost sounds like a scream and it's very important ancestrally for us to be able to pay attention to a scream, figure out what's going on and either run or fight, whatever we need to do. [Narrator] So how come that manifests as pleasure? Well it's because our pre-frontal cortex the more rational, thinking part of the brain kicks in. So you realize very quickly after you have this really quick startle reflex that there's nothing actually threatening about the piece of music that you're sitting in a safe space with your headphones on and it's in that reappraisal that we tend to think of the pleasure responses emerging. And whether you find listening to music so pleasurable that you get chills or you absolutely despise a song it can produce absolutely fascinating effects in the brain. According to Levitan music we enjoy triggers the brain's internal opiod system, yes, opiod system. And just like the opioids that come in pill form these chemicals make you feel good and help relive pain. And music you don't like well that releases cortisol, the notorious stress hormone. But that's not even the half of what music can do in the brain. Can you turn on the lights? [Narrator] When former Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords was shot in 2011 the left side of her brain was severely damaged leaving her struggling to speak, a condition called aphasia. Gabby are you frustrated? [Narrator] But to get an idea of just how powerful music's effect on the brain can be watch this video. You ready? [Together] This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine. That words that she'd been struggling to say, light, can easily be in song. Why would she be able to sing a word when she's unable to say it? What we know about the brain is that the left hemisphere controls language and there are many other parts of the brain that have music access. Music therapist Maegan Morrow's job is to help patients use those other pathways to regain language. Sometimes I compare it to being in traffic and you can't move any further but you might need to exit and take the feeder road to get you to your destination. So music is basically like that feeder road to the new destination. Like a detour, so we know that music can help us relearn things like speech by accessing alternative pathways in the brain and that learning to play music can help strengthen brain connections. But what about making music? To make music is like, it's the language of humanity, no matter where I go in the world, if I'm playing something, it doesn't matter if someone can't speak the language, if they're into it they're into it. [Narrator] This is Xavier Dphrepaulezz better known as Fantastic Negrito. We brought him to UCSF to meet Charles Limb a neuroscientist who studies musical creativity. The Duffler's up next. [Narrator] To understand how Fantastic Negrito's brain works when making music Dr. Limb had him play on of his songs while going through the fMRI. [Fantastic Negrito singing] so how did his brain respond? The areas that process sensory and motor skills along with sounds lit up, you can see them here. Red and yellow, makes sense right? But here's the really interesting part, Limb asked him to improvise to see what happens when he's creating something totally original. [Fantastic Negrito singing] now watch what happens to his brain. The areas that were active before the ones that deal with motor skills and sounds are even more active. And see how there's way more blue in the front of his brain? That's the pre-frontal cortex and it's associated with effortful planning and conscience self-monitoring and it's blue because it's less active. We see that the pre-frontal cortex appears to be really shutting down in these moments of high creativity kind of like letting of of these conscious self-censoring or self-monitoring areas that normally are there to help control our output. [Narrator] And Limb says it's about more than just letting go. You view it from perspective of survival if human beings only could do memorized route responses we'd be long gone. It is not just the thing that happens in clubs and in jazz bars, it's actually maybe the most fundamental form of what it means to be human to come up with new ideas. [singing] [Narrator] So music is so much more than notes on a page, it can change the way we think and speak and feel but is there a limit to what science can tell us about music? Just when I discover the answer to one thing five new questions pop up that are more interesting than the first and I've gained an appreciation for how complex the music making and music listening system is. It's not demystified to me at all. It's more mysterious than ever. [signing] [clapping]Some of the most important things are I think good posture, getting the note right, legato, staccato. [violin playing] For the violin you need to hold your hand at the right place and you need to be in tune and then you also have to have not only the right intonation but the right sound and then you also need to have great vibrato. There's lot of things to think about. [violin playing] [Narrator] Back at USC researchers have been studying kids who play music over the past five years to see how it effects their development. The multi-tasking areas of their brains understandable lit up but they've seen other results too. Music training over the course of five years has had benefits in cognitive skills and decision making, also had some benefits in social behavior and we've also seen changes in the associated brain structures. Did you hear that? Changes in brain structures. They found that the brains of children who have studied music cast stronger connections between the left and right hemispheres and that can make them better, more creative problem solvers. And then there's emotion. [emotional music] When you hear a piece like this it's easy to understand why emotions play such a big part in music. This song by Camille Saint-Saëns is known as the music for the dying swan in ballet. Well it might move ballerinas to dance it inspires different reactions in others. Some people get goosebumps, chills, that weird tingly sensation that you get when a great piece of music just hits you in the right way. It's called frisson and not everyone gets it but it turns out I do. Now we're gonna have you listen to some pieces of music. Okay When you experience a chill, if you do, I want you to just press this space bar so we have an indication of when those sort of peak moments of enjoyment are happening. Okay. Max Sachs, a PhD candidate at USC wired me up to measure my physiological response. So when I'm feeling that kind of emotional connection that has a physical manifestation we'll see what my body is actually doing? Exactly. [dramatic music] Alright, how was that? That was, that had a lot of them. We got them all. Now full disclosure back in the day I played the cello which might have something to do with why that particular song effected me. Nice hair. But it turns out the brain is at work here too. We processed the difference between this pathway that connects the auditory regions on the side of the brain here, to the emotional regions and we showed that the tract actually that connects those two regions is stronger, there's more fibers, in that region in the people who get chills. Which means that some people's brains might have better communication between what they hear and how they feel. The music itself also plays a role in frisson. Sachs uses different songs in his lectures to see if students get it. I'll say raise your hand when you get a chill and I'll play a piece of music, a classical piece, and maybe half the people will get it. [Narrator] Then he plays this.. Rolling Stone's Give me Shelter. Have you ever seen the movie 20 Feet from Stardom, the documentary? Oh about back up singers? Yeah, there's a part Where They Isolate the vocals from Give me Shelter. ♪from murder yeah ♪ ♪It's just a shot away ♪ ♪It's just a shot away ♪ and I play that and 90% of the people experience chills sort of independent of where I go. I have to tell you, bringing that up made me think about it and I got that little kind of thing at the back of neck. But why would that happen? The high pitched notes that she hits almost sounds like a scream and it's very important ancestrally for us to be able to pay attention to a scream, figure out what's going on and either run or fight, whatever we need to do. [Narrator] So how come that manifests as pleasure? Well it's because our pre-frontal cortex the more rational, thinking part of the brain kicks in. So you realize very quickly after you have this really quick startle reflex that there's nothing actually threatening about the piece of music that you're sitting in a safe space with your headphones on and it's in that reappraisal that we tend to think of the pleasure responses emerging. And whether you find listening to music so pleasurable that you get chills or you absolutely despise a song it can produce absolutely fascinating effects in the brain. According to Levitan music we enjoy triggers the brain's internal opiod system, yes, opiod system. And just like the opioids that come in pill form these chemicals make you feel good and help relive pain. And music you don't like well that releases cortisol, the notorious stress hormone. But that's not even the half of what music can do in the brain. Can you turn on the lights? [Narrator] When former Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords was shot in 2011 the left side of her brain was severely damaged leaving her struggling to speak, a condition called aphasia. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Gabby are you frustrated? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Narrator] But to get an idea of just how powerful music's effect on the brain can be watch this video. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You ready? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Together] This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That words that she'd been struggling to say, light, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 can easily be in song. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why would she be able to sing a word when she's unable to say it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What we know about the brain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is that the left hemisphere controls language 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and there are many other parts of the brain that have music access. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Music therapist Maegan Morrow's job 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is to help patients use those other pathways to regain language. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sometimes I compare it to being in traffic 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you can't move any further 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but you might need to exit and take the feeder road 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to get you to your destination. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So music is basically like that feeder road 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the new destination. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Like a detour, so we know that music can help us relearn things like speech 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by accessing alternative pathways in the brain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that learning to play music can help strengthen brain connections. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But what about making music? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To make music is like, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's the language of humanity, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 no matter where I go in the world, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if I'm playing something, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it doesn't matter if someone can't speak the language, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if they're into it they're into it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Narrator] This is Xavier Dphrepaulezz better known as Fantastic Negrito. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We brought him to UCSF to meet Charles Limb 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a neuroscientist who studies musical creativity. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Duffler's up next. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Narrator] To understand how Fantastic Negrito's brain works when making music 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Dr. Limb had him play on of his songs while going through the fMRI. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Fantastic Negrito singing] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so how did his brain respond? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The areas that process sensory and motor skills along with sounds lit up, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can see them here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Red and yellow, makes sense right? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But here's the really interesting part, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Limb asked him to improvise 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to see what happens when he's creating something totally original. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Fantastic Negrito singing] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 now watch what happens to his brain. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The areas that were active before the ones that deal with motor skills and sounds 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are even more active. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And see how there's way more blue in the front of his brain? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the pre-frontal cortex 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it's associated with effortful planning and conscience self-monitoring 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it's blue because it's less active. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We see that the pre-frontal cortex 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 appears to be really shutting down in these moments of high creativity 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 kind of like letting of of these conscious self-censoring or self-monitoring areas 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that normally are there to help control our output. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Narrator] And Limb says it's about more than just letting go. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You view it from perspective of survival 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if human beings only could do memorized route responses, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we'd be long gone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is not just the thing that happens in clubs and in jazz bars, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's actually maybe the most fundamental form 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of what it means to be human 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to come up with new ideas. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [singing] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Narrator] So music is so much more than notes on a page, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it can change the way we think and speak and feel 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but is there a limit to what science can tell us about music? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Just when I discover the answer to one thing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 five new questions pop up that are more 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 interesting than the first and I've gained 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 an appreciation for how complex the music making 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and music listening system is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not demystified to me at all. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's more mysterious than ever. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [signing] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [clapping]