Music in Human Life Flashcards

These flashcards cover the definitions, historical examples, and neuroanatomical concepts discussed in the lecture regarding the nature of music and its relationship to the human brain.

Sounds of the Junk Yard

A 1964 album by Michael Siegel released on Folkways Records that uses curated industrial noises as audio content.

Williams Mix

A 1952 musical work by John Cage composed entirely of pre-recorded sounds organized into a collage.

Dynamic Motion

A 1916 piano composition by Henry Cowell intended to imitate the sounds of the New York City subway.

An American in Paris

A 1928 orchestral composition by Gershwin that integrates real-world car horns into the orchestral score.

4’33”

A composition premiered on August 29, 1952, by pianist David Tudor, where the lack of intentional instrumental sound highlights the incidental sounds perceived by the audience.

Geissenklösterle cave

The location in Germany where an ivory bone flute, the oldest known musical instrument at approximately $43,000$ years old, was discovered.

Mirror test

A scientific method used to measure self-consciousness by determining if an animal recognizes its own reflection as itself.

Satin bowerbird

A species of bird used as an example of aesthetic preference due to its behavior of decorating courtship stages with specific blue objects.

Koko the gorilla

A primate who demonstrated complex communication by understanding over $2,000$ spoken words and using more than $1,000$ signs.

Cerebral cortex

The outermost layer of the human brain which contains more neurons in humans than in other animal species.

Broca’s area

A region in the frontal lobe of the forebrain responsible for the physical production of speech.

Wernicke’s area

A brain region located at the junction of the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes responsible for the comprehension of language.

fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)

Technology used to observe that the brain's language processing centers are activated by music even when no text is present.

Syntax

The orderly arrangement of sounds in a system, which is a predictable pattern found in both language and music.

Cerebrum

The wrinkled part of the brain divided into two hemispheres that handles higher functions like reasoning, emotion, and sensory input.

Corpus callosum

A bundle of fibers that connects the left and right hemispheres of the cerebrum, allowing them to communicate.

Cerebellum

The part of the brain located under the cerebrum that coordinates muscle movements and processes balance.

Brainstem

The most evolutionarily primal area of the brain responsible for autonomic functions like heart rate and breathing.

Frontal lobe

The brain lobe responsible for personality, behavior, emotions, judgment, speech, and self-awareness.

Parietal lobe

The brain lobe that processes senses such as touch, pain, and temperature and interprets signals from various sensory inputs.

Temporal lobe

The brain lobe responsible for hearing, memory, sequencing, and language understanding via Wernicke’s area.

Occipital lobe

The brain lobe that interprets visual stimuli, including color, light, and movement.

Auditory cortex

The part of the temporal lobe where sound waves translated into electrical impulses are first converted into neuronal representations.

Limbic system

The system within the brain where emotions and feelings are processed, which is activated by music.