Why people love listening to new music

A new study has identified the specific brain activity that makes new music rewarding and predicts the decision to purchase music. The study was conducted at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro, McGill University. Participants in the study listened to 60 previously unheard music excerpts while undergoing functional resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning, providing bids of how much they were willing to spend for each item in an auction paradigm. "When people listen to a piece of music they have never heard before, activity in one brain region can reliably and consistently predict whether they will like or buy it, this is the nucleus accumbens which is involved in forming expectations that may be rewarding," said lead investigator Dr. Valorie Salimpoor, who conducted the research in Dr. Robert Zatorre's lab at The Neuro and is now at Baycrest Health Sciences' Rotman Research Institute. "What makes music so emotionally powerful is the creation of expectations. Activity in the nucleus accumbens is an indicator that expectations were met or surpassed, and in our study we found that the more activity we see in this brain area while people are listening to music, the more money they are willing to spend," Salimpoor stated. The second important finding is that the nucleus accumbens doesn't work alone, but interacts with the auditory cortex, an area of the brain that stores information about the sounds and music we have been exposed to. The more a given piece was rewarding, the greater the cross-talk between these regions. Similar interactions were also seen between the nucleus accumbens and other brain areas, involved in high-level sequencing, complex pattern recognition and areas involved in assigning emotional and reward value to stimuli. In other words, the brain assigns value to music through the interaction of ancient dopaminergic reward circuitry, involved in reinforcing behaviours that are absolutely necessary for our survival such as eating and sex, with some of the most evolved regions of the brain, involved in advanced cognitive processes that are unique to humans. "The brain activity in each participant was the same when they were listening to music that they ended up purchasing, although the pieces they chose to buy were all different," added Dr. Salimpoor. "These results help us to see why people like different music - each person has their own uniquely shaped auditory cortex, which is formed based on all the sounds and music heard throughout our lives. Also, the sound templates we store are likely to have previous emotional associations," the researcher added. The study was published in the journal Science.

Annette Funicello

Annette Funicello starred with Frankie Avalon in a series of "Beach Party" movies in the 1960s. She moved from Mouseketeer ears to a "Beach Party" bikini to fame with a new generation for selling peanut butter and gently poking fun at her own image. And in the end, she faced the biggest test of her life, a decades-long battle with multiple sclerosis, with strength and courage, hoping her own experience could help others. Actress, singer and former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello died Monday at age 70, The Walt Disney Company confirmed in a statement. Funicello "died peacefully from complications due to multiple sclerosis, a disease she battled for over 25 years," the company said. The actress passed away Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif. "Annette was and always will be a cherished member of the Disney family, synonymous with the word Mouseketeer, and a true Disney legend," said Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger in a statement. "She will forever hold a place in our hearts as one of Walt Disney's brightest stars, delighting an entire generation of baby boomers with her jubilant personality and endless talent. "Annette was well known for being as beautiful inside as she was on the outside, and she faced her physical challenges with dignity, bravery and grace," Iger went on to say. "All of us at Disney join with family, friends and fans around the world in celebrating her extraordinary life." "We are so sorry to lose Mother," said Funicello's children, Gina, Jacky and Jason Gilardi. "She is no longer suffering anymore and is now dancing in heaven. We love and will miss her terribly." "I'm just devastated," Funicello's friend and frequent co-star, Frankie Avalon, who starred with her in a half-dozen "Beach Party" movies in the 1960s, told TMZ. "I loved this gal. We worked together, we were friends, we were family." Singer Paul Anka once dated Funicello and wrote some of her hits. "She was a lovely lady," he told TMZ. "She was a great star. It's a very, very sad ending." Born in Utica, N.Y., Funicello moved to California at age 4 and was discovered by Walt Disney himself when she was just 13. She was cast in "The Mickey Mouse Club," which debuted in 1955, and quickly became the most popular Mouseketeer. She would move on to careers in both singing and acting, often combining the two, as when she sang and acted in the "Beach Party" movie series with teen idol Avalon. Her attire in those films was a topic of discussion, as it was widely reported that Disney asked Funicello to cover her navel even while in swimwear, and she wrote in her autobiography that she did so. But photos and websites point out that her navel was indeed exposed in three of the "Beach Party" films. Funicello had a series of pop hits in the 1950s and 1960s, including "Tall Paul" and "Pineapple Princess." Liner notes on one of her albums fondly dubbed her "Queen of the Beach." She became one of the most enduring pop-culture images of that decade, starring in comic books and a series of Disney-approved Nancy Drew-style mystery books. In 1979, Funicello starred in a series of popular commercials for Skippy peanut butter. She poked fun at the commercials in the 1987 movie "Back to the Beach," which reunited her with Avalon and parodied their beach-party era. It was while working on "Back to the Beach" that Funicello first noticed signs of multiple sclerosis. She was officially diagnosed in 1992, and established the Annette Funicello Fund for Neurological Diseases in 1993. Funicello was always open about the disease, saying "I think you only have two choices in this kind of situation. Either you give in to it or you fight it. I intend to fight." Fight she did, but even the perkiest of Mouseketeers could not fight off the ravages of multiple sclerosis. Funicello's later years saw her confined to a wheelchair, unable to speak, her hands and arms permanently curled. Her second husband, horse breeder Glen Holt, gave a lengthy interview to "W5," a Canadian news magazine television series, in which he discussed Funicello's condition. In the program, Holt is seen caring for Funicello, whom he fondly calls "Annie," brushing her hair, moving her from bed to wheelchair and taking her to the doctor and for wheelchair rides in the sun. "I talk to her," he said. "She understands me in her own type of way." Holt said that Funicello's fame made her prey to a "parade of charlatans" with false cures, but that the couple did find some hope in a procedure that opened up the actress' blocked jugular veins. After the procedure, Holt said he could perceive slight changes in his wife's condition -- she became able to swallow on her own, blink on command, and appeared to be trying to respond to his questions. He noted that Funicello would have wanted her experience to help others, saying she told him that "if we did find something that would help me, maybe we could help many, many other people."

Swift clueless about future

Singer Taylor Swift says she is quite clueless about where her life is heading. "I have no idea if I'm going to get married or be single forever or have a family or just be on my own. You know, paint in a cottage by the ocean by myself," Wonderland magazine quoted Swift as saying. "I just have no idea and I'm kind of into that. You can make a board for all the goals you want in your life with the pictures on it, and that's great, daydreaming is wonderful, but you can never plan your future," she added. The 23-year-old has struck gold with her famous numbers like "Love story", "You belong with me" and "We are never getting back together".

Indian drums and music resound in distant Belize

The sounds of Indian drums and music resounded in Belize during a cultural festival held earlier this month to commemorate the arrival of Indians in the Central American country more than 150 years ago. Indians were taken to Belize in the mid-19th century to work on the sugarcane and banana plantations and in the logging industry. Belize, formerly known as British Honduras, is the only English-speaking country in Central America. It borders Mexico and Guatemala on two sides with the Caribbean Sea on its eastern side. Its Maya ruins, exotic wild life, unspoilt beaches and marine life and barrier reef are major tourist attractions. Belize is a multicultural society with more than half a dozen different cultures and languages being spoken by its 330,000 population. The descendents of Indian migrants assimilated in the local society through intermarriages and lost their Indian languages. Now the only signs that indicate their Indian ancestry are Indian sounding surnames, ethnic traits like long black hair and dark eyes and some Indian traditions that they have retained. Indians were taken to the Caribbean islands as indentured workers in the mid-19th and 20th centuries. Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname have large communities of people of Indian descent. Other Caribbean island nations like Jamaica, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines have small Indian communities. It is said that the first group of Indians to be brought to Belize were former Indian soldiers, who were transported for life (exiled) after they rose against the British during the First War of Independence in 1857. Another group of voluntary Indian workers were brought to Belize in 1872 to work on the plantations after their indenture contracts had ended in Jamaica. There are about 7,000 Belizeans who are descendents of the early Indian migrants; they form four percent of the population of Belize. Most of them live in the Toledo, Cozaral and Belize districts. There is also a small community of Indian businessmen and their families, who arrived in Belize in the past three decades. They are traders and merchants and run shops in the cities. They are mainly Sindhis who came through chain migration, most of them calling their family and relatives to join them in Belize. In the past few years there have been efforts by Belizeans of Indian descent to reclaim their Indian identity. There has been a revival of interest in India and Indian culture and this revival got an impetus with the establishment of the Corozal Organisation of East Indian Cultural Heritage in 2009. An annual cultural festival was started two years ago that has sought to showcase Indian culture and traditions in Belize. "Our Indian ancestors had adapted to a different land and despite all the struggles they managed to pass on to us a legacy of a taste of India. Certainly Belize has reaped the rich flavour that the East Indians added to the building of the Belizean nation," Sylvia Gilharry Perez, president, Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin of Belize, told IANS in an email interview. The themes of the two cultural festivals were 'Entrusting our cultural history to our descendents' and 'Infusing our past into the future'. The distance from India has meant that Trinidad and Tobago, across the Caribbean Sea has been the place to get help in "regaining lost Indian cultural forms". Some groups have gone from Belize to participate in festivals and other events in Trinidad to perform Indian dances from Belize such as the "masala" dance. A prominent exponent of Indian classical dance, Shanade Ganese from Trinidad performed at the cultural festival and also taught traditional dance to a group of young girls. A museum display at the cultural festival explained facets of Indian culture and the story of the Indian arrival in Belize.

Music massage naps key to sound sleep

Stressing the need to sleep for moderate durations, a Chinese study has urged people to avoid overuse of networking devices and turn to soothing music, massage, and naps for a better sleep. The Chinese people sleep on an average of eight hours and 50 minutes everyday, but nearly half feel sluggish when awake, found the study prepared to observe Chinese people's sleeping habits and released Tuesday. The report is based on a survey conducted in November and December through random household visits in 20 cities, 20 towns and 20 villages. It found some 55 percent of the respondents admitting to their work pressure affecting their sleep patterns, making them resort to various methods to improve their sleep quality. While observing modern-day media or mode of communication's influence over sleep, the survey found 67.1 percent of people chat on mobile phones or computers before going to sleep, and 43.2 percent of those going to bed after midnight do so due to online gaming and messaging. The survey noticed a trend in which people in south and west China tend to sleep better than those in the north and east. It found bachelors are sleeping better than the married, said Qin Xiaoming, vice head of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, which sponsored the report. It also found that the men sleep better than women, and people in rural regions have better sleep quality than their urban counterparts, according to the survey results.

Michaela mcclain - cold hearts (Official video)

http://youtu.be/QWBhWtUxmXQ

I started writing songs because I had no friends says Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift has admitted that she turned to music for comfort because she had no friends at school. The country star found global stardom thanks to her pretty face and talent for singing and songwriting. But during her younger years Taylor found solace in venting her emotions into her creativity because nobody wanted to talk to her. In an in-depth interview with In Style magazine, Taylor admitted that her classmates left her isolated because they thought she was "weird and different," the Sun reported. "I first started writing songs because I didn't really have anyone else to talk to. As sad as that sounds, I was going through this really hard time at school where I didn't have any friends. Songwriting for me just started out as therapy," she said. The 23-year-old singer also broached the subject of how she still uses her lyrics to vent her emotions - including about ex-boyfriends. Taylor also confessed that her biggest fear in life is becoming self-obsessed and ending up alone. "What I worry about is that I never want to end up kind of a self-centred, vain human being. My fears circle around me making the wrong choices and messing this up for myself. I don't wanna end up being awful and intolerable," she added.