Sad and Happy

This had to be cut from my Speech, and I'm rather sad about it. Right now I am listening to a playlist on Imeem that I really like. So heres the part I had to cut.



Sadness and Happiness. Sadness and happiness have shown activity in almost every part of the brain. In several studies on Sadness conducted by Dr. Peter J. Freed and J. John Mann, over 70 sections of the brain were shown to be active. Although this may seam a bit chaotic it makes sense. The parts of the brain that showed activity were the regions that control conflict, pain, social isolation, memory, reward, attention, body sensations, decision making, and emotional displays, all of which contribute to feeling sad.


Happiness has been a much harder area for researchers to study. One aspect that they have been able to uncover however is how we react to music. Music has the power to lift our souls and make us sing. But why? In Dr. Daniel Levitin’s book “This Is Your Brain on Music,” he notes that music simultaneously enlists many parts of the brain. We listen and react to sounds and rhythms. We interpret and reason. Music pulls on memories for emotion and experience. If the music is working for you it’s probably triggering the reward system. And as Dr. Daniel said him self in the article “Sing, Brain, Sing,” “Your brain is constantly trying to figure out what the next note is going to be. You know after a certain cord sequence what the next possibilities are. Your brain has compiled a map of which ones are most likely and least likely. If the song keeps hitting the most likely notes, you get bored, and if it’s always the least likely ones, you’ll get irritated. A really good song needs to have the right ratio.” That is the reason you, and your best friend like slightly different music. For example, I like soft rock, and country, where as my best friend likes techno and classical music.