The Neuroscience of Music: The impact of sound on the brain

Discover how the brain builds sound into music, and why it can move us to tears, action, or a shiver down the spine. Followed by Q&A.

We take our ability to hear, understand and be moved by music for granted – yet it's an extraordinarily complex achievement. From vibrations reaching the eardrum, the brain constructs patterns of pitch, rhythm, timbre and structure, weaving them together with memory and expectation to produce powerful emotional and physiological responses.

In this workshop, Prof Lauren Stewart explores how much of music's emotional power may come down to prediction. Our brain is constantly anticipating what happens next, while music plays with those expectations – confirming or breaking them to create tension, surprise and pleasure.

She’ll also look at how listening to music activates the brain's motor networks, and creates vivid imagery and physiological responses like shivers down the spine. Finally, we'll see how learning an instrument can actually rewire your brain over time.