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Music Media Science

Researchers Map Brain Areas That Process Tunes 30

Posted by timothy from the how-amusink dept.
LeBain writes "From Science Daily: 'Researchers at Dartmouth are getting closer to understanding how some melodies have a tendency to stick in your head or why hearing a particular song can bring back a high school dance. They have found and mapped the area in your brain that processes and tracks music.' Don't tell the RIAA!"
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Researchers Map Brain Areas That Process Tunes More

Researchers Map Brain Areas That Process Tunes

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  • Uh oh (Score:2, Funny)

    by toygeek ( 473120 )
    Now I'm going to get charged every time a song pops in my head?!

    Seriously though this is pretty cool. Maybe they can now engineer a christmas song that won't get stuck in your head.
    • On the other hand, I hope music publishers don't get a hold of this data.
      Next year there will be a new band that sounds like someone banging on shit with a rubber mallot and it will instantly sell millions.

  • MP3 Cortex (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jeremiah Cornelius ( 137 ) on Monday December 16, 2002 @01:53PM (#4900231) Homepage Journal
    Ahhh.. This is the source of those DMCA violations.

    We can have your equipment compliant with this simple, and nearly painless, compulsory surgical procedure!

  • Now they can develop a pill to get rid of "It's a small world after all" when it pops into your head.
    • HAHA I was just on that ride last week. Half way through I wanted to kill the little people singing.
    • I can't beleive you just said that!!!!
      not only did I just have 2nd grade flashbacks of Mrs. Pierce playing piano while we sang, but i'm afraid it brought back that crush I had on Lindsey Grant all over again. NOT ONLY that, but now I've got the song stuck in my head.

      why god, oh why! (beats head into wall... get out! get out!!!)
    • Upon reading that, I was instantly attacked with a thought of the bird from The Lion King singing it in his accent. Spooky...
  • Using this research, I will be able to write advertising jingles that you can never stop singing. I'll make a fortune.

    • Re:Excellent (Score:4, Funny)

      by Dannon ( 142147 ) on Monday December 16, 2002 @02:05PM (#4900365) Journal
      Already been done:

      Meow meow meow meow, Meow meow meow meow....
    • I wish I could remember the name of the story and the author - back in the '60s I read a short SF story about a scientist who developed a computer program that analyzed popular songs and advertizing jingles to determine what made a song stick in the brain. The computer used those elements to create the Perfect Song and play it back. The morning after the program is run, the scientist is found in a cataleptic state. I think they had to send in someone who was tone deaf to turn off the music (I don't remember why they didn't just pull the plug).
      • I remember this one. If I recall correctly, it was one of Asimov's Azazel [amazon.com] short stories.

        • No, that would be one of Arthur C. Clarke's Tales from the White Hart. It's been a while, so I don't specifically remember the advertising angle, but I definitely remember the tone-deaf assistant saving the day (kind of).

          • Ah, thanks, now I remember. I think I was just reading a lot of old sci-fi short stories by the Greats around that time....
  • Watch me restrain myself. ...

    Still watching?

  • ok then. altogether now...

    <lyrics>
    It's a small world after all,
    It's a small world after all,
    It's a small world after all!
    It's a small, small, small, world!
    </lyrics>
  • I read "Demolished Man" a few months ago. One of the major plot points involves the bad guy hiding his bad thoughts from the thought readers by covering it with that jingle.

    The idea is also used similarly in "The Truth Machine", a lesser known more recent novel about a boy genius who perfects the lie detector. Of course, he kills somebody in the process, otherwise there would be no plot :). So he memorizes that "O Captain my captain" poem and uses it as a trigger in the device to let him slip by when the machine is pointed at him.

  • My dogs (Score:1)

    by PD ( 9577 )
    My dogs don't seem to pay any attention to music at all. They seem completely oblivious to any music playing at all from any source. Maybe this is because they don't have the parts of the brain needed to figure out that certain sounds are related through pitch and duration.
  • > or why hearing a particular song can bring back a high school dance

    Maybe because it was played at the high school dance?

  • Funny story (Score:3, Funny)

    by mbrubeck ( 73587 ) on Monday December 16, 2002 @03:53PM (#4901119) Homepage
    This reminds me of a story that the neurologist Oliver Sacks told in one of his books (from memory, I may not have the details right):

    Brain surgery is often performed with the patient conscious. A neurosurgeon once mentioned to Sacks that during a surgery he had found an area that when stimulated caused the patient to hear a certain rock song quite vividly. Sacks (who studies memory) was excited by this. He thought of all sorts of experiments that could be done to find out more about musical memory, like having the patient compare the "remembered" song to the actual recording.

    Sacks asked the neurosurgeon if he had explored this any further, and the surgeon said, "No. I hate rock music." Sacks asked if the patient would be returning for any followup procedures.

    "Yes, but I can't do any more experiments on that area. It was excised during the procedure."

    Sacks, disappointed: "Oh, it was too close to the tumor?"

    "No, I told you. I hate rock music."

  • Hmm... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by 9Numbernine9 ( 633974 )
    Does this mean that we are closer to developing a drug/surgical procedure that will eliminate a person's affinity for Britney's/Christina's/Boy Band of the Month's "music"?

  • Working at a craphole department store, am I at risk of brain damage? There's two main factors at play here:

    A) Constant loud white noise from a powerful aircon vent right above my desk.

    B) The following combined:
    • Hot Chocolate - I believe in miracles
    • Will Young - Light My fire
    • kylie - Can't get you outta my head
    • Deck the halls
    • Santa clause is comin' to town


    And assorted other dross, mostly christmas themed. Admittedly there are some decent songls played. But they're soon not decent when looping every hour, every day.

    Help... me...... please.....

  • ...does this mean that advertisers are going to be able to make even more annoying jingles?

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