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music

·July 17, 2025·5 min read

Music Shows Promise in Easing Distress in Dementia

A new study highlights how music therapy can help ease severe distress in dementia patients on hospital wards. The MELODIC approach embeds a music therapist to deliver sessions and create personalized musical care plans for patients.

This shows an older man playing piano and a brain.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 15, 2025·5 min read

Playing Music Helps Older Brains Stay Sharp

Long-term musical training may help older adults maintain youthful brain patterns and better speech perception in noisy environments, according to new research. Scientists found that older musicians showed more efficient brain connectivity and better performance than non-musicians of the same age.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 10, 2025·5 min read

Learning Music Boosts Kids’ Wellbeing, Confidence, and Belonging

A new study highlights the powerful role of music learning in improving children’s social, emotional, and educational wellbeing. Beyond listening or casual participation, learning music builds self-confidence, emotional awareness, and a sense of belonging.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 30, 2025·3 min read

Brain Tracks Emotional Transitions Through Music

New research reveals how the brain navigates emotional transitions, using music as a tool to map changing neural patterns. Scientists found that emotional responses in the brain depend heavily on the listener’s prior emotional state.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 30, 2025·4 min read

Songs Trigger Faster, Stronger Personal Memories

New research shows that full songs are far more effective than spoken lyrics in evoking personal memories. By comparing reactions to popular pop songs and spoken-word versions, researchers found that music helps anchor memories to specific times and emotions.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 23, 2025·3 min read

Emotional Music Boosts Memory, But the Details Depend on You

Music has long been used to aid memory in conditions like Alzheimer’s, but how it works on the brain has remained unclear. A new study finds that the emotional intensity a person feels when listening to music determines which aspects of a memory are strengthened.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 4, 2025·5 min read

Nostalgic Tunes Trigger Stronger Urge to Dance Than Familiar Hits

A new study reveals that nostalgia plays a powerful role in making us want to dance, even more so than familiarity with a song alone. Researchers asked young adults to rate how much various pop hits made them want to tap, move, or dance, as well as how nostalgic and familiar the songs felt.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 29, 2025·7 min read

Singing to Infants Boosts Mood and Bonding

A new randomized study found that when parents sing more frequently to their infants, both babies and caregivers experience measurable improvements in mood and wellbeing. The study involved 110 caregiver-infant pairs who participated in a four-week music enrichment intervention via smartphone.

This shows a person wearing headphones and a brain.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 18, 2025·4 min read

How Music Can Emotionally Reshape Your Memories

A new neuroscience study reveals that music can alter the emotional content of our memories when played during recollection. Participants who listened to emotionally charged music while recalling neutral stories later remembered those stories with emotional tones matching the music.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·May 9, 2025·5 min read

Using Music to Detect Concussion in Kids

A new music therapy-based tool called MuSICCA may transform how healthcare teams assess consciousness in children with severe brain injuries. Developed to address the lack of reliable diagnostic methods for children aged 2 to 18, MuSICCA uses tailored live music performed by a therapist to evoke and record patient responses.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 4, 2025·4 min read

Music Mindfulness Eases Anxiety and Depression

Mindfulness exercises paired with music were found to engage both neural and cardiac systems, potentially reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. A recent study showed that live and virtual music mindfulness sessions lowered stress and altered states of consciousness, though only live sessions fostered social connection.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 3, 2025·3 min read

Your Brain and Body Literally Sync to Music

A new international study supports Neural Resonance Theory (NRT), which suggests that music perception and enjoyment arise from natural brain and body oscillations that sync with rhythm, melody, and harmony. Unlike prediction-based models, NRT proposes that our brains physically resonate with music, shaping timing, pleasure, and the instinct to move.