ZME Science reports:

The human brain operates as a tireless prediction machine. It watches a dropped glass and anticipates the shatter. It listens to a conversation and guesses the final word of a sentence. And, as it turns out, it listens to a melody and inherently knows exactly what chord should fall next.

If there’s something in the world most people tend to agree is that they love music. But to feel the music, our minds must decode a hidden framework.

“Music in general, especially when we’re listening attentively, seems to help modulate our emotions,” said Riesa Cassano-Coleman, a graduate student in Elise Piazza’s lab at the University of Rochester, in an interview with the Observer. “During a film, if you hear scary music, it makes it scary. If you take away the music, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s not that bad.’”

Do you need formal instruction to understand the deep harmonic architecture of a song? Some experts argued that music theory acts as a necessary key to unlock these patterns. Others suggested our brains pick up the rules organically, much like we learn our native language.

Now, a new study in Psychological Science provides a definitive answer. Researchers discovered that almost everyone naturally absorbs the complex, underlying rules of music simply by living their lives. You do not need to read sheet music. You do not need years of piano lessons. Just by listening, your brain masters the tonal context that gives music its meaning. [Continue reading…]