I'm determined to only spend 10 minutes on this.

I've revamped my music playlist and it is this list that has been supporting me through the uphill battle of a certain examination we call Tripos, which makes me wonder really about the effects music exerts in our lives, what with the widely acclaimed Mozart effect, and something I stumbled upon more recently, the Beethoven effect.

To be honest, I don't really understand how music taps into our health; a possibility of establishing synchrony with brainwaves subsequently altering our attention span and ability to concentrate, somewhat similar to how the thalamus and ascending arousal neurotransmitter systems regulate our sleep-wake cycle. If that is true, this is bound to have physiological effects, perhaps observed changes in our breathing and heart rates considering their connections with the autonomic nervous system. But this really is too fuzzy for my liking. Nevertheless, there isn't much to lose by believing in this, bearing in mind the potential placebo effect like how complementary medicine most certainly produces its results.

Having said that, it is also heavily dependent on your choice of music, which then again relies on the different social groups, early exposure and upbringing. Some people find relief in suicidal music, and some in techno. Unfortunately, I fail to understand where they are coming from as I never shared their interest in music of those genres.

And then we come to the popular belief (with fairly solid scientific ground) that Mozart makes your children smart or more intelligent (really, semantics). Putting aside the flaws in assessing one's IQ, and assuming we all subscribe to the Stanford-Binet IQ test, surely researchers have to consider the other existing factors contributing to the results they are obtaining.

Temporarily enhanced spatial-temporal reasoning. hmmm. Perhaps certain pre-existing neurons fire in response to specific frequencies played, and perhaps this corresponds to the region responsible for this momentary spike. Mozart's pieces , if I remember correctly often revolve around a certain frequency range, I wonder if this would explain why a wide range of his pieces, and only his compositions would have triggered the observed response.

I suspect these enhancements may be an artifact-maybe generated from enjoyment arousal. Somewhat like a spillover effect of enjoying your environment? I shouldn't even attempt to challenge this really. Oliver Sacks discovered the association between music and Parkinson's, quoting several examples and citing that even mental rehearsal of a particular piece by patients who are music-enthusiasts creates a temporary effect of being 'released' from Parkinson's. I find that rather interesting, and possibly exploitable. Enhanced performance in the presence of something you enjoy. Projections to the substantia nigra from regions such as the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (?, I really am not too sure about this), and efferent connections to the thalamus. And if that's true, what will happen if we play music patients do not appreciate, or children do not enjoy? Will similar results still surface?

An interesting study on epileptics I once read mentioned that besides Mozart's K.448 and Piano Concerto No. 23, only Yanni's Standing in Motion had a similar effect of reduced seizures. Rhythm, tempo and predicatability are possibly the shared factors. I wonder at times if these effects will be produced if Asian contemporary music was used. One has to admit that these are not sufficiently researched upon, and we may be far from realising its potential.

Mozart has certainly received a lot of attention. Beethoven is however easily forgotten, probably because of his temperamental, dramatic style. I am rather ignorant with regards to this effect, but I'm certain it has to do with vibroacoustics, and this will probably come in handy in disabled individuals ie channeling music therapy even to those who are deaf. The proposition that the subtle vibration exuded from Beethoven's composition (especially the celebrated 5th Symphony) can be delivered into and throughout the body, affecting the cells (TOO vague, I know). Disruption of unhealthy cells through resonance? No clue.

Alright, so I spent 20 minutes, and produced trash. That's what I do. It's time to hit the sack and pray I wake up in time to fetch my sawo from the airport. Meanwhile, enjoy the music and my apologies for the K-pop dominance in this updated series.