Welcome!
登入
註冊
美寶首頁
美寶百科
美寶論壇
美寶落格
美寶地圖
首頁
>
生涯 / Life Career
>
興趣
Advanced
興趣
作者:
主旨:
Tags:
Message:
mimizorro Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Science Journal * JULY 3, 2009 > > Magic Flute: Primal Find Sings of Music's Mystery > Ancient Instrument Rekindles Speculation That > Melody, Which Powerfully Affects the Brain, Was a > Prelude to Speech > > The discovery of the world's oldest musical > instrument -- a 35,000-year-old flute made from a > wing bone -- highlights a prehistoric moment when > the mind learned to soar on flights of melody and > rhythm. > > Researchers announced last week in Nature that > they had unearthed the flute from the Ice Age > rubbish of cave bear bones, reindeer horn and > stone tools discarded in a cavern called Hohle > Fels near Ulm, Germany. No one knows the melodies > that were played in this primordial concert hall, > which sheltered the humans who first settled > Europe. The delicate wind instrument, though, > offers evidence of how music pervaded daily life > eons before iTunes, satellite radio and Muzak. > > All told, the researchers have found eight flutes > of the same Ice Age vintage at three different > caves in the region. "It is becoming completely > clear that music was a normal part of life then," > says archaeologist Nicholas Conard at the > University of Tubingen, who led the research team. > "They must have clapped and danced and sang." > > Parrots dance to the beat. Sex-starved mice sing > for love, new research shows. But true music, from > rap to Rachmaninoff, is a unique human invention > that resonates in us all, striking neural chords > of memory, emotion, motor control, timing and > meaning -- and transforming us in ways that > scientists are only beginning to understand. > > "Music is biologically powerful," says > neurobiologist Aniruddh Patel at the Neurosciences > Institute in La Jolla, Calif. "Every culture ever > discovered has music, no matter what else they may > lack." > > By any measure, our brain is a music box. Yet no > one knows why. > > It certainly baffled Charles Darwin. In his > landmark tome, "The Descent of Man," the 19th > century author of evolutionary theory wrote that, > "As neither the enjoyment nor the capacity of > producing musical notes are faculties of the least > use to man in reference to his daily habits of > life, they must be ranked amongst the most > mysterious with which he is endowed." Nonetheless, > Darwin wasn't immune to its allure. He avidly > listened to Mozart, Handel and Beethoven, even > though he was partly tone deaf. > > Some scientists are convinced that music is only > noise, a curious but compelling byproduct of our > innate capacity for speech and our penchant for > pattern recognition. We hear melodies in the wind, > songs in falling water and percussion in the sound > of rain drops. > > "Music is a way of structuring sound," says > psychologist Petr Janata at the University of > California, Davis, who studies the neurobiology of > music. "It really gets to this underlying human > desire to discover patterns in things." > > Others speculate that music evolved from animal > calls to convey emotional urgency before our > forebears learned to communicate through the > spoken word. They detect hints of music's > beginnings in the soothing sing-song syllables of > a mother's lullaby. In this view, harmony and > regulated rhythm may have been inspired by the > sounds of social life, as early humans worked in > unison striking stones to make tools or grinding > seeds for food. > > "I believe that before we evolved language, our > communication was more musical than it is now," > says cognitive archaeologist Steven Mithen at the > University of Reading in England, author of "The > Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, > Language, Mind and Body." Unlike Darwin, Dr. > Mithen is convinced that music was crucial to > human survival. "Using music to express emotion or > build a sense of group belonging would have been > essential to the function of human society, > especially before language evolved prior to modern > humans." > > Indeed, Dr. Conard and his colleagues say that the > ability to create musical instruments reflects a > profound mental awakening that gave these early > humans a crucial edge over the more primitive > Neanderthal people who lived in the same epoch. > "The expansion of modern humans hinged in part on > new ways of storing symbolic information that > seemed to confer an advantage on these people in > competition with Neanderthals," Dr. Conard says. > > To Dr. Patel, music-making was a conscious > innovation, like the invention of writing or the > control of fire. "It is something that we humans > invented that then transformed human life," he > says. "It has a profound impact on how individual > humans experience the world, by connecting us > through space and time to other minds." > > There is no denying its power to change our mood > -- or our brain structure. > > Among expert musicians, some brain areas can be up > to 5% larger than in those with little or no > musical training, research shows. Nerve tissue > linking the right and left hemispheres of our > brain is up to 15% larger among those who studied > music since early childhood. Moreover, the > auditory cortex of an expert musician can contain > up to 130% more gray matter of neurons and > synapses than someone who has never practiced on > an instrument. > > When we listen to music, our brain responds > directly to harmony, brain scanning studies show. > Listening to the classical scales and key > progressions of Western music actually rewires the > synapses of the human cortex, Dr. Janata and his > colleagues discovered. > > Music orchestrates our inner life, by activating a > place in our medial prefrontal cortex region that > supports our most personal autobiographical > memories. There, our favorite music cues our > thoughts of ourselves, the UC Davis researchers > reported earlier this year. "The moment we hear a > song that is familiar to us, it ramps up the > amount of activity in that region," Dr. Janata > says. > > Every time a zebra finch hears a new song of its > species, the melody triggers a cascade of > biological changes in its brain, causing thousands > of genes to switch on and off in sequence, > developmental cell biologist David Clayton at the > University of Illinois reported last month in the > Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences. > > So far, however, there is no evidence that music > has any place in the human genome. "It is tempting > to say that music is in our genes," says Dr. > Patel. "But it may be universal because all over > the world it has tremendous emotional power." > > Music does move us in mysterious ways. It quickens > our pulse, pressing us to stamp our feet, sway or > clap our hands in time. Our sense of syncopation, > though, is a musical quality that we do share with > other species. > > Earlier this year, Dr. Patel and his colleagues at > the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla reported > that a parrot can keep time to music, readily > high-stepping to a variable beat in the > discotheque of its bird brain. The subject of > their study -- a sulphur-crested cockatoo named > Snowball -- kept pace with the tempo in a way that > dogs, cats and chimpanzees cannot. A video of the > cockatoo moving to the beat of The Backstreet Boys > has been viewed almost three million times on > YouTube. > > For the flutists of the cave, music-making was no > fluke. When archaeologists made a replica of one > small Ice Age flute fashioned from a swan's wing > bone, they discovered they could play four basic > notes and three overtones, with a range comparable > to some modern flutes. > > Across a thousand generations or more, they heard > the scale of our beginnings. > > Listen to a recording of the replica Ice Age flute > at WSJ.com/Currents. Plus, Robert Lee Hotz shares > recommended reading and responds to reader > comments. Email him at sciencejournal@wsj.com > > > Recommended Reading > > Archaeologists reported on the oldest known > musical instrument in "New flutes document the > earliest musical tradition in southwestern > Germany" published in Nature. > > Psychologists at the University of California at > Davis document how familiar music stirs synapses > connected to personal memories in "The Neural > Architecture of Music-Evoked Autobiographical > Memories" published in the journal Cerebral > Cortex. Music also strikes neural chords of > meaning in the brain, just like sentences, the > scientists discuss in 'When Music Tells a Story' > in Nature Neuroscience. > > Researchers at the Neurosciences Institute found > that a parrot can follow a variable tempo in > "Experimental Evidence for Synchronization to a > Musical Beat in a Nonhuman Animal" published in > Current Biology. > > University of Reading archaeologist Steven Mithen > explores the evolutionary origins of music in "The > Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, > Language, Mind and Body." > > Neuroscientist Aniruddh D. Patel offers a > comprehensive study of the relationship between > music and language from the standpoint of > cognitive neuroscience in Music, Language, and the > Brain. > > Oliver Sacks writes about music and unusual brain > disorders in Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the > Brain. > > Record producer and cognitive neuroscientist > Daniel Levitan writes about why music affects us > so strongly in This Is Your Brain on Music: The > Science of a Human Obsession. > > > > > 这家伙的乐感比大多数的人都好