The entire reason music exists is because of its almost magical ability to push your buttons. An upbeat song gets you going, a sad song makes you cry. But the more science studies music's effect on the human brain, the more bizarre things we discover. For instance, here are 3 ways music can mess with the human brain ...
#1. It Changes Your Ability to Perceive Time.
Hold music -- the stuff you hear on the line when you call everyone from the bank to your local bail bond agency -- didn't fall into America's phone lines by accident. It's designed specifically to reduce the amount of time you think you're waiting, so that you're less likely to hang up in anger. Other places that involve waiting, such as doctors' offices, use a similar trick. Time shrinkage is also the aim of most retail stores, which is why you'll rarely enter a mall, supermarket or clothing store without hearing some sort of music in the background.
How the hell does music do that?
To understand why exactly music makes it seem like less time has passed, think of the human brain as a mountain lion that is eating a bag of money. It doesn't matter what the zookeepers distract it with -- food, shiny objects or just shouting and yelling. All that matters is that they give another zookeeper the chance to sneak up and retrieve the money while the lion is busy deciding which one of them to eat. Similarly, when your brain is steadily distracted, you'll be less likely to notice things around you in detail, and this includes the passage of time. Our brains have limited input capacity, and when something else is using up that capacity, we're less likely to think things like, "I've been standing in line to get Richard Moll's autograph for three goddamn hours" or "Do I really need this Garfield alarm clock?"
#2.It Taps Into Primal Fear
How the hell does music do that?
There are certain sounds that humans will automatically associate with sudden and painful death because they tap into our evolutionary fear of the screams of other animals (and other human beings).Movie directors know this and make good use of it when deciding on the score for a film. That dramatic buildup and subsequent scary reveal is almost always accompanied by really freaky music or somebody screaming his ass off (or both).
But this technique is hardly limited to horror movies. For instance, in his original draft of The Social Network, Andy Sorkin wanted a song called "Love of the Common People" to play over the opening credits scene. Here's what that would have looked like: That poppy calypso music makes you feel that everything is dandy. Sure, Mark Zuckerberg has just been dumped, but it's all OK! He's running through the Harvard campus and is about to invent Facebook and become a billionaire. Yay!
Instead, we got a Trent Reznor-penned tune that sounded like this:
Listen to that lower-level background music throughout. It sounds like random, angry notes played behind a simple piano tune, and those notes are creating discordant sound. Suddenly you're apprehensive, feeling like something really bad is about to happen (we're talking getting sued for $64 million bad). So next time you're getting a little too freaked out by a movie, remember that muting the television is a far better decision than looking away.
#3.It Makes You Stronger
It's no secret that many people prefer to listen to music when they work out. But music doesn't just make physical activity more pleasant -- it actually makes our physical performance measurably better. When listening to music, people are able to hold heavy weights for longer than when they're standing in silence. It gives us an adrenaline boost!
How the hell does music do that?
Similar to the time-perception effect we referenced above, one element is just plain old distraction. Obviously, if your mind is listening to music, it's not thinking about how much your legs hurt or how much longer you've got to run before the treadmill makes that final beeping noise. But there's much more to it than that. First, there's synchronicity. When you match your movements to a steady musical tempo, you spend less time and effort on the inefficient slowing down and speeding up that happens when you're going by your own rhythm. Music also increases the incidence of "flow" states -- states of meditation-like calm in which everything works right for an athlete and that is strongly linked to enhanced performance.
The bottom line!!! ....Music influences the human brain. Take this example: during any of the films of the Rocky franchise, whenever Rocky was training, specific music was used to persuade the audience to have that "I can do it" type feeling,... or during any of Rocky's epic fights, the audience would be able to feel or relate to adrenaline rush, the feeling of near defeat, and the the glory of the BIG Win because of the musical montages. So, this tell us that -- It's all in the music, baby! And, advertisiers understand how to influence everything from the perception of a brand, to reducing perceived hold times, to influencing their buying or purchasing decision.