Imagine that you can just play any music that occurs in your mind by simply thinking, be it A. R. Rahman or Bach, a folk song or a lullaby you heard in your childhood and that too without any practice on your part on any instrument whatsoever…!
Making music by thinking may appear to be bizarre, but for the scientists working in the University of Glasgow, Centre for Music Technology, it is not the case. Making music accessible to a broader population, particularly, to those with special needs has been the goal of this team of researchers. Besides, they also hope for a greater understanding of the music mind nexus. Who knows, this research could also throw light on the development of thought controlled systems, which will take science and technology to newer heights in the 22nd century.
According to Rosenboom (1990), the human brain produces a complex, multidimensional, pulsating, electromagnetic field resulting from the electrochemical behaviour of masses of neurons acting in small-to-very large groups. The giant strides made in neuro-imaging techniques in recent years has brought to the front the electroencephalogram (EEG), which enables us to measure the mixed frequency electrical signal produced in the brain through the electrodes placed on the scalp.
However, still we have a long way to tread before we are able to detect the musical thoughts occurring in our brain! Grey areas within neurophysiology and cognitive science, and limitations of the present technology may be hopefully overcome in the coming decades.
For Rosenboom (1990), EEG’s can be categorised into four main components: a random-seeming background which is rather little-known to the researchers, a long-term coherent waves (the well-known alpha, beta, theta and delta rhythms, ranging from approximately 1 to 30 Hz), short-term transient waves, and complex ongoing waves.
It is clear now that the long-term coherent waves are associated with certain states of consciousness and this author is of the view that the traditional concepts of consciousness of the Indian philosophers like vaikhari, madhyama, pashyanti and para seem to ideally fit into these four categories.
The short-term transient waves are known as the event related potentials (EPRs), reflecting the ‘singular experience’ associated with an external stimulus. ERPs are derived by averaging many EEG recordings, where the person is subjected to the same stimulus again and again. The reason for averaging is to remove noise caused by other uncorrelated brainwave activities. It is interesting to note that ERP has contributed significantly in developing the theory of music recognition.
Another measure of brainwaves is the magnetoencephalogram (MEG), which uses superconducting sensors. This instrument can measure the fluctuation, and topographic distribution of the magnetic fields associated with the discharge of neural action potential and electrochemical activity within the brain.
MEG has certain advantages over EEG as signals associated with highly spatial-localised activity are readily detected and sensing equipment does not require direct contact with the head. However, as the sensor technology is too sophisticated and complex it remains out of reach for many researchers.
In addition to MEG, brain wave activities are now measured by other technologies such as magnetic resonance Imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) which provide a mapping of the activation of individual cortical areas and can contribute to our understanding of the spatial temporal activity of the brain under certain circumstances.
From the above it appears that the EEG technology is currently favourable for exploring and engineering methods relating to the musical impact.
Currently, the Glasgow researchers are engaged in extracting information about musical thoughts from brain waves. It will not be too long before we understand the ramification of musical experience on our moods and behaviour.
The article appeared in Bhavan’s Journal, February 15, 2007 issue in Pages 88 to 90.
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, July 7, 2021