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Josh, Janet, are switching to the Depok Chopra camp :) David > -----Original Message----- > From: Parkinson's Information Exchange > [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of janet paterson > Sent: Saturday, November 28, 1998 4:19 AM > To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN > Subject: NEWS: 'Your' song could soon help repair your brain > > > 'Your' song could soon help repair your brain > > Friday, November 27, 1998: Musically minded Canadian researchers > have unlocked a secret in our brains that promises to help > treatment of neurological disorders. > > They have discovered a region of the brain where blood flow > increases when it hears music it loves and another region where > it pumps harder in response to music it hates. > > The researchers with music on the brain are led by Anne Blood at > the Montreal Neurological Institute, attached to McGill University. > > "In the long run, this is significant for those with a > neurological illness where there is a decreased blood flow in > part of the brain", says Ms. Blood. > > "Suppose a certain type of music produces an emotion that > increases the blood flow. Over time, if you keep playing that > music, then you retrain the brain to become more active in that > region. Reaching that conclusion could be a bit of a stretch > right now. But we are going that way." > > Ms. Blood and colleagues are not new to using music to study the > brain. Already they have found the areas that are responsible for > pitch perception and the ability to remember melodies. > > "Music is very good at letting us examine emotion in general, and > this is helping us research anxiety, depression, and emotional > disorders", she said. > > The latest study set out to pinpoint areas of the brain that are > affected emotionally by music. Ten volunteers were monitored by a > brain imaging scanner as they listened to six different versions > of the same piece of music, which had been written especially for > the purpose. > > At one end of the scale, the music was composed with the highest > level of consonance - all the notes sounding pleasant together. > At the other extreme, the music combined the greatest level of > dissonance - none of the notes sounding pleasant together. Both > had an effect on areas of the brain already known to be involved > in emotion. > > The more unpleasant the music sounded, the more active an area on > the right side of the brain called the parahippocampal gyrus > became. The more pleasant volunteers found the music, the more > active their frontal lobe regions became. > > The volunteers were asked to describe each piece of music with > one of a list of adjectives, ranging from calm to irritated and > relaxed to tense. Those descriptions mostly matched the emotional > levels recorded. > > by Richard Starnes > The Ottawa Citizen > > janet paterson - 51 now /41 dx /37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada > [log in to unmask] >