The Science of Why You Fall in Love With Music

Inquiring Minds

Science, Society & Culture, Neuroscience, Female Host, Interview, Social Sciences, Critical Thinking

4.4 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2022

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week we talk to cognitive neuroscientist and multi-platinum record producer Susan Rogers about her new book This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You. In this episode: The science behind how we perceive and process music and how it can affect our emotions and sense of self; how our brains develop the ability to process sound and how formal music training can help us become "auditory athletes," or people who can analyze sound on a deeper level; the concept of the "default mode network," a group of brain structures that are active when we are “in our own heads,” and how our favorite records can light up this network and create a private, emotional connection with us; and Rogers talks about her time as Prince’s full-time recording engineer during which she worked on albums like Purple Rain. (!)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You and Betty and the nancy's and bills and Joes and Janes will find in the study of science a richer, more rewarding life.
0:11.0	Welcome to Inquiring Minds. I'm Indra Viscontas. This is a podcast that explores the space where science and society collide.
0:18.7	We want to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it matters.
0:22.8	It's more than why we see.
0:31.4	It's not every day that you get to talk to one of the world's most successful record producers. And it's even
0:40.2	rarer that the person we're going to talk to today. Also, in her mid-40s, shifted and went and got a
0:47.9	PhD in cognitive neuroscience. You can probably already imagine why I am so excited to talk to Susan Rogers today.
0:56.3	Now, you might wonder what a record producer would bring to a PhD in neuroscience.
1:01.8	But in order to find out, you just have to read her book.
1:04.4	This is what it sounds like, what the music you love says about you.
1:08.9	Because, of course, she spent her career listening and figuring
1:13.5	out which tracks, which aspects of sound are going to make the next hit. And then she went and
1:19.6	studied psychoacoustics and learned exactly how the brain turns a sound wave into the sublime
1:25.6	experience of music. I can't imagine a better person to walk us through the music that we love,
1:32.5	why it matters, and the science behind this almost universal human obsession.
1:39.7	Susan Rogers is now a professor at Berkeley College of Music,
1:43.1	as well as a multi-platinum record producer.
1:50.5	Susan Rogers, I am so thrilled to welcome you to Inquiring Minds.
1:55.0	Thank you very much for having me on this podcast. I'm really looking forward to our conversation.
2:00.3	I love the topic, and there's lots to say about it. I'm really looking forward to our conversation. I love the topic and there's lots
2:02.2	to say about it. I want to jump right into one part of your book that when I read, it set off so many
2:09.6	light bulbs in my head, you know, metaphorically speaking and really just got me hooked. So tell us
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Inquiring Minds, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Inquiring Minds and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.