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RE: Note

Posted by wazoo on January 6, 2017 at 04:32:41:
...probably through what's called the "dopamine reward pathway"
Probably? That's common to all addiction and I confess to being a music junkie. On the other hand, I disagree with Pinker, who refers to music as 'auditory cheesecake'. Bone flutes and other simple devices with which to make music are among the oldest artifacts in our museums. Tone singing could well predate proper language. Language and music may share neuro-networks, but I don't think we can deduce from that, as Pinker does, that music is just our brain's applying those networks to entertain itself. It's even beneficial to learn to play an instrument and read music. Doing so drives morphological changes in those networks which enhance our linguistic skills.
Music is certainly a drug, of sorts, but it is much more. The sweeping emotional power of music is incredible. It relaxes me and brings me joy and certain music makes me cry. In all cultures, music is a companion to the three Fs - we use it to woo, to travel and to motivate us in battle. It's important. It drives us. It can even give cadence to the gait of a Parkinson's patient (further supporting the connection to dopamine). It can draw memories from individuals with senile dementia. It is life.
If you aren't familiar with Rachel Flowers, I think you should check out some youtube videos of her playing. She has been blind since birth, essentially. That leaves nearly a third of her cortex without the task it would normally perform, but the brain's plasticity puts that computing power to other uses. She has an auditory and musical super-brain. Once she was exposed to music (early in her life, fortunately) it began remodeling her brain. Wouldn't you love to image her brain while she is playing, or just imagining herself playing, an instrument?