Lecture 5 - Music and The Brain Flashcards
What is the function of music according to Darwin, 1971
TO ATTRACT MATES
What is the function of music according to Huron, 2001
Social cohesion - connectedness
What is the function of music according to Mithen, 2005
Acts as a precursor for language - babies produce songs before words
What is the function of music according to Pinker, 1997 (opposite of Mithen)
Music evolves from the language part of the brain. Evolutionary byproduct - need language to survive but music is for enjoyment - AUDITORY CHEESECAKE
How does sound travel?
- Enters through the pinna (ear)
- Down the auditory canal to the ear drum and tympanic membrane, which responds to sound by VIBRATING
- Vibration pattern transmitted through the middle ear
- Enters inner ear and cochlea where sound energy translated to neural impulse
- In the cochlea, Basilar Membrane displaces auditory receptor cells and hair cells. As tiny hairs (cilia) are bent through movement, receptor cells fire
- Neural impulses generated by hair cells leave the cochlea along auditory canal
What is the middle ear?
Portion between ear drum and cochlea that contains 3 small bones.
What are cilia
Tiny hair cells
What happens to a pitch of LOW frequency when made louder
It gets lower
What happens to a pitch of HIGH frequency when made louder
It gets higher
What are pure tones?
- Sounds that consist of a single frequency
- Sinusoid waveform
- Simple and distinct sound
- Rarely occur as most sounds composed of multiple frequencies (complex waveforms)
What is an important role of the pinna and auditory canal?
Reflect sound waves and amplify certain sounds
- Important for detecting the location of a sound source
What does the middle ear do?
Converts airborne vibrations to liquid borne vibrations with minimal energy loss
What are the three small bones in the middle ear called?
Malleus, Incus and Stapes
Known as OSSICLES
What do the Malleus, Incus and Stapes do?
Transmit sound vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear.
- Malleus is the outermost and largest ossicle - causes sound waves to vibrate and transfer to Incus
- Incus amplifies and transfers the vibrations to the Stapes
- Stapes is the innermost and smallest ossicle, connected to the oval window (membrane that separates middle ear from inner ear). Stapes transmits vibrations to the fluid-filled cochlea of the inner ear through movement against the oval window
TRANSFER OF VIBRATIONS TO THE INNER EAR
What is the missing fundamental phenomenon?
Perceive the fundamental frequency of a sound even when it is absent.
Can perceive the pitch of the missing fundamental - brain reinstates it.
What is Timbre?
The quality of sound - enables us to distinguish between instruments
What is the Cochlea?
Part of the inner ear that converts liquid borne vibrations into neural impulses
What is the Basilar Membrane?
A membrane in the cochlea that holds auditory receptors (hair cells)
What is Pitch?
How high or low a sound is
What is Loudness?
How intense a sound is
What is the fundamental frequency
Lowest frequency of a sound wave - DETERMINES THE PITCH
What synapses does sound travel through in the auditory pathway from the ear to the brain?
Auditory nerve
Cochlear nuclei in brainstem
Medial geniculate nucleus (in thalamus)
Primary auditory cortex
What is the core region?
Primary auditory cortex
Where is the primary auditory cortex located?
Temporal lobes
