Can complex physical theories explain why we like to listen to music?

In a special session at the Hebrew University, researchers tried to understand how music sounds under the influence of drugs, whether a robot can imitate drumming and why we love music so much

Processing and producing music is one of the most complex cognitive activities performed by humans. Even listening to a simple children's song involves the activation of a network of different brain areas, far beyond the audio areas, including areas involved in processing motor, emotional and linguistic information - along with attention and memory systems. The influence of music on many parts of our bodies and minds has raised the possibility in recent years that music is not just a delightful cultural decoration but has a real role in human survival.

Some of our body's reactions to music are prominent and well known to anyone who has ever been moved by a piece of music. These reactions include a change in heart rate, feeling suffocated, chills and even crying. However, some of the responses are hidden and we still do not have a clear picture of which systems are more affected, what are the musical variables that affect us and how the complex interaction between the properties of the physiological system and music works.

In a special session held on September 18 at the Hebrew University as part of an international conference on "complexity theory", the researchers will try to observe some of the phenomena that connect music, the brain and medicine. The methods of analysis and models that complexity theory offers will help to explain, even partially, the magic that music has on us.

The chair of the session, Dr. Roni Granot from the Department of Musicology at the Hebrew University, explains that "the idea of ​​the conference is to link the complex phenomenon of music with the complex phenomenon of the human body and mind. Through complexity theory, we strive to understand the full range of effects that music has on our minds and bodies." Her research dealing with musical memory, which she conducted together with Prof. Richard Ebstein, found that the gene that determines the amount of receptors in the brain is also related to our musical memory. This gene is unique in that it is related to social functioning and therefore the researchers conclude that music is a social matter that creates a type of communication between people.

In a lecture open to the general public, Dr. Gil Weinberg, director of the technological music section at Georgia Tech University, talked about several directions of research that examine possibilities to expand the musical experience through the construction of new musical interfaces. One of the directions is the use of the Internet to enable the experience of musical creation in which each participant can influence the joint musical product, which is a fusion between the ideas of all participants. The platform for research is realized through the development of robots Playing: These robots aim to combine aspects of creativity, emotion and aesthetic judgment that allow the robot to play with a human. The robot drummer "Hayley" developed under this framework can listen to the player playing in front of him in real time, analyze his drumming patterns and respond with his own improvisation This also encourages the human players to explore new ways of interacting with their robotic partner In the Weiss Auditorium, Edmond Y. Safra Givat Ram Campus.

Research student Donna Abaksis from the Hebrew University, who conducted the research in Prof. Shlomo Bentin's laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Roni Granot, will talk about brain responses to the rhythmic organization of sequences of sounds. By recording the brain's electrical activity and the magnetic fields created by this activity, it is possible to study how the brain organizes the sounds into groups or patterns. In fact, even when all the sounds are equal in their physical properties (pitch, intensity, duration and tone) we tend to create in our minds groups with stressed and unstressed sounds - usually in groups of two (as in the march music) or three (as in the waltz dance). first in a group of 2 or 3) are better processed than sounds in an unstressed position.