Music as brain medicine-- Autism
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Music may be used as a treatment for people with autism spectrum disorder. It may activate the neural (brain) circuitry that governs emotional response. In a 2019 publication, Canadian scientists hypothesized that listening to music taps into the circuit that connects the midbrain (an evolutionarily primitive area (part of the brainstem) that governs heart rate, breathing, etc.) to the limbic system (parahippocampal gyrus, amygdala, ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens ((all of which govern emotion)) and orbitofrontal cortex (part of the brain responsible for decision making and focusing attention). By the same mechanism, listening to music may benefit the brain health of people with social and behavioral abnormalities.
“Wow,” I hear you saying. “Who knew music could affect your brain like that? How does work its magic?
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The wiring of your brain is not set in stone. Brain cells (neurons) and the circuitry that connects far flung neurons changes throughout your life. This process is called neuroplasticity and occurs through a combination of growth and pruning, much like a well-maintained garden. When you listen to your preferred music, regardless of the genre, you experience profound personal thoughts and memories. This occurs in your brain because the functional connections between far flung areas of the brain are activated. One specific circuit, called the default mode network (DMN), is crucial during internally focused thoughts. It turns out that this circuit is most active when listening to your preferred music.
Several unique music-centric circuits have been identified. The wiring of these circuits is buttressed while listening to your favorite music. One circuit runs through the auditory (hearing) brain area and the limbic system (brain area responsible for memory and emotion), with a central hub in the hippocampus. The nodes of another music-related network comprise the bilateral basal ganglia (a part of the brain responsible for motor control and motor learning), right inferior frontal gyrus (a part of the brain responsible for attention, motor inhibition and imagery, social cognitive processes) and temporal lobes (a part of the brain responsible for auditory and memory processes).
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