Crowdscience

CrowdScience investigates the link between music and emotion to try and understand why certain songs can have such a profound impact on our mood. From breakup songs to upbeat holiday hits, many of us have made playlists that reflect how we feel, whether that’s down in the dumps or high as a kite. This week CrowdScience investigates the link between music and emotion to try and understand why certain songs can have such a profound impact on our mood. Presenter Anand Jagatia is surprised to learn that newborn babies are more likely to fall asleep when listening to fast tempo happy tunes than soothing sad lullabies, which may be because they’re attuned to multiple auditory stimuli after months in the womb. But later in life we actually seek out sad songs to make us feel better. The so-called ‘sadness paradox’ has been studied for many centuries. But what is it about melancholy music that might be good for us? Some scientists believe more empathetic people enjoy listening to these types of tune because