Don’t feel like working out? Turn up the tunes and get to it. Are you having trouble focusing? Put on some classical music. Need to shake a bad mood? Find some upbeat music and turn it up! We all know music significantly impacts our mood, stress, energy levels, and more. But, there are plenty of other scientific facts about music you might not know about, today we’ll talk about some of the ones we find more interesting.
— July 20th, 2021
So, here we go! Six facts that will change the way you listen and interact with music:
1. Music can affect how we read facial expressions
A 2009 study found that listening to music changed the way participants judged facial expressions — happy music enhanced the perceived happiness of a face, and listening to sad music gave listeners a gloomier look.
2. You’re more likely to keep mishearing a lyric if you find the incorrect version entertaining
Sometimes we think we know the lyrics to a song, only to discover that we have been singing it all wrong! But, a recent study found that the wittier you find your misheard lyric, the more likely you are to keep hearing it.
3. Hit songs tend to have repetitive choruses
No wonder they are so catchy! Songs that charted in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 between 1958 and 2012 tended to have more word repetition and less complexity than less commercially successful songs.
4. Music can affect your sense of taste!
Believe it or not, music can affect the way you taste food and drinks. A 2016 study even revealed that music could affect how people perceive your favorite chocolate’s creaminess, sweetness, and bitterness.
5. Listening to sad music provokes more complex feelings than just sadness.
Studies reveal that nostalgia is the most frequent emotion evoked by sad music — not sadness.
6. People might be more generous when they listen to “chill-inducing” music.
According to a 2014 study, participants were more likely to give money to others after listening to music they described as “chill-inducing.” Additionally, they were less likely to give money to others after listening to music they disliked.
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This article is a re-post, with minor modifications, of “11 Scientific Facts That Will Change The Way You Listen To Music,” an article published on buzzfeed.com
