Stephanie G. Mathis Dancing can greatly increase muscle tone, strength and flexibility, mental health and coordination. It’s also a lot of fun. It may also positively impact brain performance if you dance to the right music.
The University of Tsukuba, Japan, discovered that universal human activity can boost “executive function.” The study was published in Scientific Reports. It revealed that music with a groove, also known as groove music, can significantly improve executive function, and associated brain activity, in people familiar with it.
Music and Cognition
Research has shown that exercise can have a positive effect on cognition. Previous studies have found that even moderate exercise can improve executive function, prefrontal cortex, memory function, and the hippocampus.
Music, like physical exercise, can elicit feelings of pleasure.
“Music has been shown in the brain to release dopamine (the pleasure hormone),” states Anna Boyd. She is a licensed counselor with Mindpath Health who specializes in music therapy and art therapy.
Boyd also states that dopamine can be a facilitator of human behavior. She says that dopamine helps individuals to be motivated to seek out basic needs such as food and water. Imagine what an increase in dopamine could do to individuals suffering from depression. They might have difficulty getting out of bed and eating consistent meals.
Boyd says that music can be used to increase levels dopamine in your brain. This can help in the healing of depression symptoms.
The Study: A Closer View
Hideaki Soya, the study’s principal author, explained that music has three main elements that influence our mind and body: harmony, rhythm and melody.
Soya says, “We concentrated on rhythm, specifically groovy, which goes well alongside exercise.” This suggests that rhythm could increase the benefits of exercise for mental health and cognitive well-being.
Scientists created a groove track with Garage Band digital music creation software. It has a beat of 120 bpm, which is “appropriate tempo to induce groove with drum beats”.
The 58 participants in the study completed a color-word matching task before and after listening. The researchers also performed brain imaging upon them.
Participants also completed a survey on their subjective experiences listening to this kind of music to find out if any results were similar to their personal taste in music.
Enhancing Executive Function
Executive function refers to a set cognitive skills that are required for self-controlling and managing behavior, such as memory, planning, memory, following instructions, and multitasking.
These skills are essential in many areas of life such as focus, planning, time management, emotion regulation, managing emotions and paying attention.
There are many strategies that can be used to improve executive functioning. These include creating checklists, breaking down large tasks into smaller steps and using a schedule to help keep you organized and achieve your goals.
Boyd says promising research is starting to show how our brain responds to music. This process requires more research.
