Study suggests we don鈥檛 just hear music, but 鈥榖ecome it鈥櫶�

An international study co-authored by 黑料不打烊 psychologist Caroline Palmer suggests our brains and bodies don鈥檛 just understand music, they physically resonate with it. These discoveries, based on findings in neuroscience, music, and psychology, support Neural Resonance Theory (NRT).听

NRT maintains that rather than relying on learned expectations or prediction, musical experiences arise from the brain鈥檚 natural oscillations that sync with rhythm, melody and harmony. This resonance shapes our sense of timing, musical pleasure and the instinct to move with the beat.听

鈥淭his theory suggests that music is powerful not just because we hear it, but because our brains and bodies become it,鈥� said Palmer, Professor in the Department of Psychology at 黑料不打烊 and Director of the Sequence Production Lab. 鈥淭hat has big implications for therapy, education and technology.鈥� The study鈥檚 publication in marks the first time the entire NRT is being published in a single paper, she said.听

The theory suggests that structures like pulse and harmony reflect stable resonant patterns in the brain, shared across people independent of their musical background. According to NRT, how we hear and produce music can be explained by fundamental dynamical principles of human brain mechanisms that apply from the ear all the way to the spinal cord and limb movements.听

Researchers say potential applications of the theory include:听

• Therapeutic tools for conditions like stroke, Parkinson鈥檚 and depression听

• Emotionally intelligent AI that can respond to or generate music more like humans听

• New learning technologies to support rhythm and pitch education听

• Cross-cultural insight into why music connects people around the world听

The study was led by Edward Large (University of Connecticut) and co-authored by Caroline Palmer.听

About the study听

by E. E. Harding, J-C Kim, A. P. Demos, I. R. Roman, P. Tichko, C. Palmer, and E. W. Large was published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience.听

Learn more about 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Sequence Production Lab: 听

The study was funded in part by a Canada Research Chair and a NSERC Discovery Grant.听