A Seed Talks Touring Lecture
The Neuroscience
of Music
Why do some songs give us shivers? Why do earworms get stuck? Prof. Lauren Stewart on what music actually does to the brain — and why we’re all musicians, whether we think we are or not.
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Music doesn’t exist in the world
It’s just air molecules hitting an eardrum. Everything else — the chills, the meaning, the earworms — is your brain. An evening on how that magic trick works.
The Chills
When a piece of music gives you shivers, it lights up the same reward circuitry your brain uses for food, sex and drugs. The neural signature of being moved.
The Earworms
Why tunes get stuck in your head — and what the stickiest ones tell us about memory, mood and the brain’s secret resting state.
The Tone Deaf
Congenital amusia: the rare condition where every song sounds the same. An Irish family, a documentary with Oliver Sacks, and what it tells us about musicality.
About the Talk
In physical terms, music is just a collection of vibrating air molecules. Everything else — the chills, the memory, the goosebumps — happens inside your head.
Prof. Lauren Stewart has spent her career asking how. Why do babies process rhythm better than adults? Why does listening to your favourite song light up the same reward circuits as food and sex? Why do we all get Bananarama stuck in our heads at inopportune moments? And why, in some parts of the world, is the very idea that you could be “unmusical” a bewildering western oddity?
This touring lecture draws on Lauren’s research on earworms, chills, congenital amusia, and the scientifically- tested “Happy Song” she co-wrote with Imogen Heap to stop babies crying. It also looks at how music is now being used as a clinical tool — from stroke rehabilitation at the National Hospital for Neurology, to group singing interventions for perinatal mental health in rural West Africa.
By the end, you’ll have a rich new vocabulary for one of the most underused health assets on the planet. And you’ll probably have an earworm.
Followed by a Q&A.
Upcoming Dates
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What to expect
Praise for Seed Talks
Learn why 150,000 people have enjoyed our chilled out lectures.
“Absolutely phenomenal! So incredibly informative at a level that is completely digestible.”
“Incredibly inspiring and resonated with the experiences of many people in the room.”
“A very good night out — I loved it.”
Turn it up
An evening on the science of sound, stuck tunes and shivers down the spine. Tickets on sale now.
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