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ELI5 Why do we have an emotional reaction to music? : r/explainlikeimfive

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Explain Like I'm Five is the best forum and archive on the internet for layperson-friendly explanations. Don't Panic! Here is the short neurobiological answer. Music is processed by the auditory system in the brain, just like verbal information (speaking). The auditory system is connected to the limbic system, the part of the brain responsible for emotion processing. Music can, just like verbal information, activate the entire limbic system and thus stimulate an emotional response if it's suitable for the situation (context processing is also important in stimulating an emotional response). The same goes to other sensory perceptions - vision can also stimulate an emotional response, for example art paintings. Smell is unique in the sense (pun unintended) that smell information travels directly to its cortex in the brain, unlike the other sensory information that first passes through a relay station (the thalamus), and is tightly connected to the hippocampus (responsible for memory fo

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