New Study Shows that Brain Processes Music Much Like Spoken Language

March 4, 2014 

Denise Chow, Brain Processes Music Like Language, New Study Shows, Huffington Post, Feb. 24, 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/24/brain-processes-music-like-language_n_4831975.html

"When jazz musicians let their creativity flow and start to improvise melodies, they use parts of their brains typically associated with spoken language — specifically, regions that help people interpret syntax or the structure of sentences, according to a new study.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine in Baltimore tracked brain activity as two jazz musicians played pieces from memory and then engaged in back-and-forth improvisation, creating something akin to a spontaneous musical conversation. They found that areas of the brain associated with syntax and language were very active as the musicians were improvising.