Research Updates
Here at Bigger Better Brains we believe that through educating yourself, you can then educate and affect positive change in your community.
With all of the research in the field of neuromusical science, our BBB Research section serves as a content hub for you. We regularly share findings and break down the latest research to educate and inspire discussion. We hope you enjoy this page on our website and share BBB news with your colleagues, parents and students.
Challenge your brain with different music!
This study looks at how our brains engaged with familiar and unfamiliar music. Turns out our brains sustains engagement with music that is unfamiliar.
Listening to music we prefer gets us more connected to ourselves
Why do we prefer different types of music? Why isn’t there just one type of music that everyone likes? The answer may be that we only get connected with our true selves, the part of our brain that is full of our thoughts, through music that we choose for ourselves.
How listening to music can have psychological benefits during lockdown
This article gives us an excellent summary of the ways that music listening can have physiological benefits, and it is a great reminder of the ways we can use music to improve our wellbeing.
Listening to music while exercising activates specific brain region
Have you been listening to music as you get your daily exercise in during COVID-19? Have you found yourself changing your music choices during this troubling time, maybe to lighten your mood or help you focus more on your exercise and less on these uncertain times?
Listening to self-selected happy music can provide mood-repair and a sense of connection
Researchers have wondered if “listening to comforting music, as a response to a social loss experience, provides a sense of empathic company as indicated by reduced loneliness and heightened empathy.”
Music synchronises our brain!
There is a theory called the theory of familiarity in music. It is, as described at the end of this article, the idea of an inverted U.
What is working memory and how might music learning help?
This article is a great explanation of working memory and the different ways it is affected by disorders such as dyslexia, auditory processing disorder and ADHD.
Background music – good or bad for productivity?
As always it is all about context and what you trying the measure. This study found that background music for musicians leads to greater productivity, than non-musicians.
Could clapping along with the music at a school concert be a form of advocacy?
In this new documentary film from the LiveLab at McMaster University in Canada, PhD researcher Dana Swarbrick created an experiment to explore how audience participation changes the impact of a concert experience.
Why music makes us feel
Researchers have looked very closely at this phenomenon to understand if it is certain characteristics of music that elicit an emotional response, if it is a totally individual experience, or if it is a bit of both.
Which sounds should we play for productivity – music or nature?
Have you ever noticed when you are driving with music playing, or your children are chatting in the back as you drive to a new place, you quickly turn the music down or ask the kids to be quiet?
Singing during pregnancy enhances baby’s brain
The question “Does singing and listening to music during pregnancy help my baby’s brain?” and the answer are both complex and evolving.