Everyone knows that music is an essential component of success for any venture, but could it affect more than we originally thought? From the heart-pounding fear we feel in horror movies to the adrenaline rush from success in games, it’s all apparently tied to what music does to our brains.
Music evokes emotion and distinctly transcends sensory experiences, allowing us to feel the pain of a character losing a loved one in a dramatic film or feel frightened when a zombie attacks you surprisingly in a video game. Malini Mohana of Psych Central explains that, “music can be thought of as a type of perceptual illusion… where the brain imposes structure and order of a sequence of sounds that, in effect, creates an entirely new system of meaning.” Depending on how music is utilized, the tunes and sounds can have a number of effects on us. Something as subtle as background music can even affect brain functions.
Much like lighting and temperature can affect our productivity, ambient music can get your creative juices flowing, which is why you might often find writers working in coffee shops that play soothing music at moderate noise levels. The right level of noise can enhance performance in creative tasks because we resort to abstract processing, something that helps us break down any difficulties or struggles by employing innovative strategies.
But when the music is played too loudly, you become distracted and your thinking is impaired. Waterloo University researchers discovered that participants in their study experienced heightened arousal when they played on slot machines with music compared to the machines without sound effects. The music manipulated them into disguising losses as wins, where they won less than what they originally bet. This is why casino operators capitalize on their games to encourage their patrons to dig deeper into their pockets.
Although many people are aware of the psychological interplay between the aural stimuli and the neuronal responses, it never stopped the sports booking site Betfair from getting their share in the casino action, helping them achieve double-digit growth in the last three quarters. And many other leading online portals are having similar success stories.
No matter how it’s integrated, music is extremely powerful and can change the way we perceive and experience things in our lives, for better or worse.