How Do We Recognize Songs Instantly? New Study Reveals How Humans Predict Musical Sequences

Researchers from Aarhus University and the University of Oxford have collaborated to uncover how our brain reacts to and recognizes music. Their study reveals that listening to music triggers a complex chain reaction of events in the brain, a discovery that could potentially be used in the future to help screen for dementia.

Have you ever recognized a song from just a brief snippet or caught onto a chorus’s rhythm after a few notes? Recent research from the Center for Music in the Brain at Aarhus University and the Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing at the University of Oxford have revealed how our brains process and anticipate musical sequences.