ABSTRACT
Perhaps no other area of music psychology has seen such rapid advancement as the neuroscience of music. The first section of this chapter is devoted to an explanation of how the brain works and the second to important findings concerning music and the brain. What is clear is that through genetics, learning experiences, and processes such as neural pruning, myelination, and plasticity, we have a brain honed for musical experiences. Modern technologies, including electroencephalography (EEG), event-related potentials (ERP), magnetoencephalography (MEG), positron emission tomography (PET), MRI and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provide increasingly informative windows into the “musical brain.” Musical processing involves widely distributed but locally specialized neural networks that support music perception and cognition, affective responses, musical performance, and music learning. Our brains make it possible for us to derive infinite delight and pleasure from the music we love best, whether we are listening to it, performing it, or creating it.
