Brief review of Music and Embodied Cognition

Abstract

Music, a part of human existence, has great potential for exciting memories, creating emotions (Boltz, 2018; Koelsch, 2014; Levitin, Grahn, & London, 2018; Mahendran et al., 2017) and reactions (CaparrosGonzalez, De La TorreLuque, DiazPiedra, Vico, & BuelaCasal, 2018; Hillier, Kopec, Poto, Tivarus, & Beversdorf, 2015; Semenza, 2018). Studies show that listening to music is associated with decreased regulation in the hypothalamicpituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis, as well as a reduction in cortisol concentration pathways in both experiments and clinical contexts (Kreutz et al., 2012), promotes changes in the autonomic nervous system such as decreased heart rate and blood pressure (Hodges, 2011), and interferes with cortisol levels (Chlan et al, 2013, Han et al., 2010; Chanda & Levitin, 2013; Linnemann et al., 2015). Music also has a great influence on cognitive processes, since any musical activity involves practically all cognitive functions (Zatore, 2005). These listed cognitive functions are: attention, perception, language, memory, and intellectual reasoning (Damasceno, 2012).