I always assumed all things that required effort and coordination between the two halves of the brain would increase the connectivity, specifically over the corpus callosum.
Runners’ brains may be more connected, research shows
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Re: Runners’ brains may be more connected, research shows
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
They controlled for this. "Participants were roughly the same age — 18 to 25 — with comparable body mass index and educational levels."
Not to discredit them, because it's a hard problem, but it isn't a full control: even on a college campus (or looking at alumni) and controlling for weight, running and instrument training would still be proxies for various things about upbringing or current social status, and could account for the effects by selection bias. That said, I think this is introductory work on the topic and definitely justifies further in…
You're right; "control" may be too strong a word. In any case, they did at least consider it. :)
Re: Runners’ brains may be more connected, research shows
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's missing the inertia part I was trying to convey. This is rarely taught. Except for a crescendo flag on the score. But to me it is essential to what music is. Intervals, harmonies seem like side effects (I'm exagerating).
I don’t know if this is wha you mean, but when listening to music, the human brain is constantly making predictions about what will happen next. Jerry Coker explains that the quality of the experience lies in the balance between the familiarity of being right and the surprise of being wrong. Thus, when listening to syncopation, you constantly comparing what your brain hears to a steady 4/4 it ‘expects' to hear. And w…
I've heard this idea too. The inertia is the physical incarnation of the predicted motion. I'm talking about playing the music, not only listening, it makes a difference. Talking about syncopation in terms of overall time signature is only partially valid. You can syncopate by altering an accent place while still on the same time. Think a dead note on drum or bass. It totally alters the feeling. My understanding is that A B C D isn't interpreted the same as A b c D, because there's a variation of energy between these for notes. It's implied in most music. For instance Rock is 4/4, Funk is 4/4 but it's not rock.. where's the difference ? implied change in energy (Rock is almost linear, a smooth wave; funk is superficially linear, close inspection reveals very weak and short changes). Same for jazz, to swing a beat you can't just play at the right time; it has to be the right momentum. Otherwise it will be flat aka no swing. It's hard to describe, the best I could find was in physics, momentum and internal system energy. The inertia is in your wrist and stick, it's always flowing back and forth between cymbals and your fingers. The change of perception of the listener comes from the player understanding of this.
There's a lot of "feels" that you cannot represent without that. But these aren't studied formally, funk, latin, caribean music. Jazz is but I think the people studying jazz don't explain everything because they're talking among themselves and already have internalized all this. So they just write "swing this" above a measure and the cats will deal with it.
oh: and I just thought of something else. The idea of prediction; since I relate everything to physics, often feels similar to a sense of internal balance. I mean your body position, as in not tripping. Syncopated music often feels like falling. Maybe it's synesthesia but considering that all these music were linked to parties and dance I think it's not far fetched that our musical prediction is the same as the one that tries to predict how to balance movements and body.
Re: Runners’ brains may be more connected, research shows
#34I found that learning music unlocked pattern comprehensions that were very mathematical. Multiple layers of abstraction (rhythm or note points, derivatives of these two, overlay, non linear transformations, and the equivalent momentum phenomenons). Running is something that trigger creative mind activity for me. And a form of flow. I wouldn't be surprised if other physical activity would do the same: climbing, even b…
Anecdote: When I was in middle school I failed horribly at my first year of algebra classes and just couldn't seem to get a grip on the concepts (also I would often see "shortcuts" in the problems that would lead to horribly wrong answers). I would score about 50% on every quiz. I could tell my teacher thought I was an idiot.
Around that time I started learning music theory and playing in the school band, and learning jazz on the bass. The next year I was at the top of all of my math classes. My teachers thought I was cheating since I had developed a reputation as a "burnout" by that time (there's nothing more satisfying than getting called in after class to take a test in front of a smug teacher and acing it).
Also, even though I quit playing music about 10 years ago, to this day I can map out a melody in my head (I can immediately tell the interval between any two notes and string them together to play a melody on the first attempt), and I can pick apart mult-part harmonies because I can hear them in my head. I very clearly remember walking home from school one day and realizing that for the first time I could hear more than one note at a time in my head.
Music definitely rewires the brain in amazing ways.
Re: Runners’ brains may be more connected, research shows
#35I found that learning music unlocked pattern comprehensions that were very mathematical. Multiple layers of abstraction (rhythm or note points, derivatives of these two, overlay, non linear transformations, and the equivalent momentum phenomenons). Running is something that trigger creative mind activity for me. And a form of flow. I wouldn't be surprised if other physical activity would do the same: climbing, even b…
Anecdote: When I was in middle school I failed horribly at my first year of algebra classes and just couldn't seem to get a grip on the concepts (also I would often see "shortcuts" in the problems that would lead to horribly wrong answers). I would score about 50% on every quiz. I could tell my teacher thought I was an idiot. Around that time I started learning music theory and playing in the school band, and learnin…
Heh, the day I started to isolate overlapping melodies was a huge gift. Makes me happy to read your story. After formal training, and years of wondering what the hell chord progression were about.. the day I could parse harmony in my head and focus on one line in relation to the others, everything became clear. although I cannot measure what I feel in precise way (I couldn't name the intervals) I can improvise counterpoints for a few seconds intuitively. Which is a god damn pleasure. I even enjoy singing dissonant, just for the sake at aiming where the chords don't, and then keep a dissonant counterpoint. It's not dissonnant to me anymore, it's just a different sonic feeling. After all, 13th 17th and many jazz harmonies felt dissonant to me at first.. this is just an extension.
I believe that this "explains" more about music than 10 years of music theory classes.
ps: That's why I'm often thinking we should teach math to kids with actual activities. Involving your sense is to me critical to internalization of concepts. Later on you can drop the notation.
pps: indeed that's the kind of brain rewire I never expected. It opens your mind to other sensations too; and also, even pushing it, it change my view of European geometric explanation of everything. If people, cultures didn't have written music but understood music as you describe .. who has the knowledge here ?
Re: Runners’ brains may be more connected, research shows
#36I found that learning music unlocked pattern comprehensions that were very mathematical. Multiple layers of abstraction (rhythm or note points, derivatives of these two, overlay, non linear transformations, and the equivalent momentum phenomenons). Running is something that trigger creative mind activity for me. And a form of flow. I wouldn't be surprised if other physical activity would do the same: climbing, even b…
The mediaeval university curriculum was based on two foundations, the trivium and the quadrivium (collectively "the seven liberal arts"). The trivium: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Or in computing terms: input (parsing), processing, and output. The quadrivium: maths, geometry, music, and astronomy. "What's the connection?" you ask? Numbers. Numbers in space. Numbers in time. Numbers in space and time.
Interesting. After some reading, apparently this interpretation of the trivium is standard, though this interpretation of the quadrivium not entirely. My immediate thought was that of course there would be crossover. For example, rhetoric includes elements of time (tempo/rhythm are poetic). Maths, geometry and astronomy are largely about processing, and so on. More interestingly, they considered the whole lot preparatory work for studying philosophy.
Might a modern pentivium add numbers in n-dimensional space (matrices / calculus), or a sextivium explorations and representations of infinity? Or would these fall under the subsequent study of philosophy? How about parallel/concurrent systems? It certainly seems to me as a layman that large swathes of research mathematics and theoretical physics are approaching subject areas traditionally ascribed to philosophy. I wonder what the latin word for GPU would be.
Re: Runners’ brains may be more connected, research shows
#37So, what kind of musical instrument can you play while running?
Maracas, some bells, and probably finger cymbals.
You could probably get a triangle or tambourine going, but it would be a bit awkward - especially the triangle.
Most breath-based instruments are out, due to the high speed, but you might be able to do interesting things with a Kazoo, or if you have real talent, a Harmonica.
So long as you were at a jog instead of a run, you could probably fashion an extra-sturdy harness for a small xylophone set and play it.
Edit for an afterthought: You might be able to get into certain string instruments as well. I'd start with something like a ukulele due to the small size and occasional low cost.
Re: Runners’ brains may be more connected, research shows
#38I found that learning music unlocked pattern comprehensions that were very mathematical. Multiple layers of abstraction (rhythm or note points, derivatives of these two, overlay, non linear transformations, and the equivalent momentum phenomenons). Running is something that trigger creative mind activity for me. And a form of flow. I wouldn't be surprised if other physical activity would do the same: climbing, even b…
Would learning drumming help unlock these patterns? I signed up for lessons yesterday :)
Piano's another good one if you're looking for something more melodic. Although I think drumming is where it's at if you'd find value in the social aspects of music (it's harder to play piano in a band). Now that I think about it, drumming and piano have a couple of things in common, even though they're vastly different instruments.
Both require 'synchronising' the left and right sides of your body (and also, presumably, the left and right hemispheres of your brain). Although, occasionally, they require 'un-synchronising': for example when the beat is syncopated. As a pianist, it's such a strange feeling when a syncopated piece 'clicks': it almost feels like your left & right hands (and brain hemispheres) are operating completely independent of each other; almost like it's two separate people playing two separate pieces at the same time.
Also, both are arguably percussion instruments :)
Re: Runners’ brains may be more connected, research shows
#39Here's a question. I have no desire to learn an instrument, so is it still possible to learn enough music theory to reap the mental benefits?
As far as running goes, my knees don't allow for it.
Re: Runners’ brains may be more connected, research shows
#40I found that learning music unlocked pattern comprehensions that were very mathematical. Multiple layers of abstraction (rhythm or note points, derivatives of these two, overlay, non linear transformations, and the equivalent momentum phenomenons). Running is something that trigger creative mind activity for me. And a form of flow. I wouldn't be surprised if other physical activity would do the same: climbing, even b…
I started running a couple months ago, I do my best thinking now while running out in nature (running in the city is not as good, too many interruptions). I've set my day up so I can go straight to the computer after I run without changing out of my running clothes or doing a bunch of transitional tasks, because that time is cognitively valuable. I'm full of ideas and want to get them down before they fade. Running takes up about 2 hours of my day, but running for 2 hours and working for 4 feels more productive than just working for 6 hours. I'm doing better work.
I was once obsessed with climbing for almost a decade. When climbing I was 100% focused on climbing, my mind wasn't really free to wander and think of other things. Even when I was done climbing, I would still be thinking about climbing. Climbing problems were always the biggest problems in my life, they had a way of eclipsing everything else, which is what it means to get the 'climbing bug'.