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How Music Truly Affects Us
from Part Three - What Happens in the Brain when Music Evokes Emotions?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2025
This chapter takes a look at the intricate relationship between music and our emotions, focusing on how music modulates activity within the four major emotion systems in the brain: the vitalization system, the pleasure, pain, and craving system, the happiness system, and the subconscious. It explores how music can stimulate our ’courage centre’, a core component of the vitalization system, motivating us during physical exercise and promoting relaxation. It also examines the profound impact of music on the pleasure, pain, and craving system, discussing how music can evoke pleasure, alleviate pain, and even address cravings. Furthermore, the chapter investigates the happiness system, highlighting how music can foster social bonding, tap into our ’soul’ (hippocampus), and promote both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. It also examines the subconscious, revealing how music can influence our thoughts, beliefs, and emotional responses, offering strategies to counteract negative thought patterns and foster inner peace. By understanding how music interacts with these four emotion systems, readers can harness its power to regulate emotions, promote positive moods, and enhance personal growth.
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