Music plays a role in the lives of humans every day. We
listen to music when we workout as a method of motivation, when we are sad as
a coping mechanism, but most importantly, we use music as a form of communication.
The species with the most ample means of communication are also musical
creatures; humans, dolphins, and songbirds all incorporate music into their
respective forms of communication. Language and music each contain elements
that can be organized into varying sequences to create a message that can create
a meaning. Thus, music and language follow similar paths of organization
and are, in ways, parallels of one another.
According to current research, there is not yet a specific
area of the brain that is focused solely on music. However, many parts of the
brain interpret both language and music in one place. For example, Broca’s area
is concerned with the neural processing of both language and music syntax while
the prefrontal cortex is activated by the learning and memorization of language
and music. As well, similarities between linguistic and musical abilities are portrayals
of the potential neural connection between processing both music and language.
The contiguous relationship between music and linguistic
abilities are demonstrated by the study of people with brain damage. Many of
the people who show impairments in language due to brain damage also depict impairments
with music. A study done by Sebastian Jentschke, et al. explores the
relationship of language and music impairment in child development,
specifically by testing 5 year old children. The researchers hypothesized that language impairment
would cause a difference in the neural processing of music as compared to
children without language impairment. Electroencephalography (EEG) tests were
used to study the brain activity of learning impaired participants of the study
and sentences with varying voice timbres were read aloud as the stimulus. It
was confirmed through their study that children with language impairments
encounter more difficulties when processing musical syntax. These results are credible
as both music and language are syntactic forms of communication.
Likewise, music is often used to assist in recovery after
brain injuries occur. Although the specific syntaxes of the music cannot be
processed as well due to brain injuries, the auditory repetition of said
syntaxes may be linked to strengthening the brain after damage. With enough
strengthening, the brain has the ability to begin to recognize and distinguish
musical and linguistic syntaxes again.
Despite many claims of modularity between musical and
linguistic perception and the areas of the brain concerning each, recent and
continued studies in neuroscience are proving just how similar music and
language really are. In reality, music is language and our learning of it
compares quite well to that of learning a non-native language. As Gary Marcus,
author of “Guitar Zero”, discovered, music and language are “fellow travelers.”
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