Music and the emotions reading answers

This article covers the music and the emotions reading passage from Cambridge 12, test 3/7, passage 3. This IELTS reading topic has a total of 14 questions with three different question types such as summary completion, multiple choice questions and matching sentence headings. Answers for all 14 questions are provided with explanations. 

Answers

Q. 27. dopamine	Q. 31. food	Q. 35. B	Q. 39. E
Q. 28. pleasure	Q. 32. B	Q. 36. D	Q. 40. C
Q. 29. caudate	Q. 33. C	Q. 37. F
Q. 30. anticipatory phase	Q. 34. A	Q. 38. B

Music and the emotions

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Read the passage carefully and answer all the questions ( 27 - 40) given below. To evaluate your answers, refer to the answers with explanations section provided below. 

Passage

A - Why does music make us feel? On the one hand, music is a purely abstract art form, devoid of language or explicit ideas. And yet, even though music says little, it still manages to touch us deeply. When listening to our favorite songs, our body betrays all the symptoms of emotional arousal. The pupils in our eyes dilate, our pulse and blood pressure rise, the electrical conductance of our skin is lowered, and the cerebellum, a brain region associated with bodily movement, becomes strangely active. Blood is even re-directed to the muscles in our legs. In other words, sound stirs us at our biological roots.

B - A recent paper in Nature Neuroscience by a research team in Montreal, Canada, marks an important step in revealing the precise underpinnings of the potent pleasurable stimulus’ that is music. Although the study involves plenty of fancy technology, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and ligand-based positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, the experiment itself was rather straightforward. After screening 217 individuals who responded to advertisements requesting people who experience ‘chills’ to instrumental music, the scientists narrowed down the subject pool to ten. They then asked the subjects to bring in their playlist of favorite songs – virtually every genre was represented, from techno to tango – and played them the music while their brain activity was monitored. Because the scientists were combining methodologies (PET and fMRI), they were able to obtain an impressively exact and detailed portrait of music in the brain. The first thing they discovered is that music triggers the production of dopamine – a chemical with a key role in setting people’s moods – by the neurons (nerve cells) in both the dorsal and ventral regions of the brain. As these two regions have long been linked with the experience of pleasure, this finding isn’t particularly surprising.

C - What is rather more significant is the finding that the dopamine neurons in the caudate – a region of the brain involved in learning stimulus-response associations, and in anticipating food and other ‘reward’ stimuli – were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’ favorite moments in the music. The researchers call this the ‘anticipatory phase’ and argue that the purpose of this activity is to help us predict the arrival of our favorite part. The question, of course, is what all these dopamine neurons are up to. Why are they so active in the period preceding the acoustic climax? After all, we typically associate surges of dopamine with pleasure, with the processing of actual rewards. And yet, this cluster of cells is most active when the ‘chills’ have yet to arrive and when the melodic pattern is still unresolved.

D - One way to answer the question is to look at the music and not the neurons. While music can often seem (at least to the outsider) like a labyrinth of intricate patterns, it turns out that the most important part of every song or symphony is when the patterns break down, when the sound becomes unpredictable. If the music is too obvious, it is annoyingly boring, like an alarm clock. Numerous studies, after all, have demonstrated that dopamine neurons quickly adapt to predictable rewards. If we know what’s going to happen next, then we don’t get excited. This is why composers often introduce a keynote at the beginning of a song, spend most of the rest of the piece in the studious avoidance of the pattern, and then finally repeat it only at the end. The longer we are denied the pattern we expect, the greater the emotional release when the pattern returns, safe and sound.

E - To demonstrate this psychological principle, the musicologist Leonard Meyer, in his classic book Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956), analyzed the 5th movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131. Meyer wanted to show how music is defined by its flirtation with – but not submission to – our expectations of order. Meyer dissected 50 measures (bars) of the masterpiece, showing how Beethoven begins with the clear statement of a rhythmic and harmonic pattern and then, in an ingenious tonal dance, carefully holds off repeating it. What Beethoven does instead suggests variations of the pattern. He wants to preserve an element of uncertainty in his music, making our brains beg for the one chord he refuses to give us. Beethoven saves that chord for the end.

F - According to Meyer, it is the suspenseful tension of music, arising out of our unfulfilled expectations, that is the source of the music’s feeling. While earlier theories of music focused on the way a sound can refer to the real world of images and experiences – its ‘connotative’ meaning – Meyer argued that the emotions we find in music come from the unfolding events of the music itself. This ‘embodied meaning’ arises from the patterns the symphony invokes and then ignores. It is this uncertainty that triggers the surge of dopamine in the caudate, as we struggle to figure out what will happen next. We can predict some of the notes, but we can’t predict them all, and that is what keeps us listening, waiting expectantly for our reward, for the pattern to be completed.

Questions 

Question (27 - 31)

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your solutions for Q (27 - 31) on your answer sheet.

The Montreal Study

Participants, who were recruited for the study through advertisements, had their brain activity monitored while listening to their favorite music. It was noted that the music stimulated the brain’s neurons to release a substance called 27 ____________ in two of the parts of the brain which are associated with feeling 28 ______________. Researchers also observed that the neurons in the area of the brain called the 29 ______________. were particularly active just before the participants’ favorite moments in the music - the period known as the 30 ____________.  Activity in this part of the brain is associated with the expectation of ‘reward’ stimuli such as 31 _______________. 

Questions (32 - 36)

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write your solutions for Q (32 - 36) on your answer sheet.

32. What point does the writer emphasize in the first paragraph?

1. how dramatically our reactions to music can vary
2. how intense our physical responses to music can be
3. how little we know about the way that music affects us
4. how much music can tell us about how our brains operate

33. What view of the Montreal study does the writer express in the second paragraph?

1. Its aims were innovative.
2. The approach was too simplistic.
3. It produced some remarkably precise data.
4. The technology used was unnecessarily complex.
    

34. What does the writer find interesting about the results of the Montreal study?

1. the timing of participants’ neural responses to the music
2. the impact of the music on participants’ emotional state
3. the section of participants’ brains which was activated by the music
4. the type of music which had the strongest effect on participants’ brains

 35. Why does the writer refer to Meyer’s work on music and emotion?

1. to propose an original theory about the subject
2. to offer support for the findings of the Montreal study
3. to recommend the need for further research into the subject
4. to present a view which opposes that of the Montreal researchers

36. According to Leonard Meyer, what causes the listener’s emotional response to music?

1. the way that the music evokes poignant memories in the listener
2. the association of certain musical chords with certain feelings
3. the listener’s sympathy with the composer’s intentions
4. the internal structure of the musical composition

Questions (37 - 40)

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.

Write the correct letter, A-F, for the questions (37-40) on your answer sheet.

37. The Montreal researchers discovered that

38. Many studies have demonstrated that

39. Meyer’s analysis of Beethoven’s music shows that

40. Earlier theories of music suggested that

1. our response to music depends on our initial emotional state.
2. neuron activity decreases if outcomes become predictable.
3. emotive music can bring to mind actual pictures and events.
4. experiences on our past can influence our emotional reaction to music.
5. emotive music delays giving listeners what they expect to hear.
6. neuron activity increases prior to key points in a musical piece.

Music and the Emotions Reading Answers with Explanations

Examine the below given explanations and evaluate your answers.

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

27. Answer: dopamine

Statement - You can see that the writer speaks this statement in the last few line of the second paragraph. “The first thing they discovered is that music triggers the production of dopamine – a chemical with a key role in setting people’s moods – by the neurons (nerve cells) in both the dorsal and ventral regions of the brain”.

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph B, from last line 4 or 5 

Explanation - As mentioned in Paragraph B, music triggers the release of dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter responsible for regulating mood. Neurons located in both the dorsal and ventral regions of the brain are responsible for the secretion of dopamine.

28. Answer: pleasure

Statement -  As these two regions have long been linked with the experience of pleasure, this finding isn’t particularly surprising.

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph B, last 2 lines 

Explanation - Paragraph B states that both the dorsal and ventral regions have been associated with the experience of pleasure.

29. Answer: caudate

Statement - What is rather more significant is the finding that the dopamine neurons in the caudate – a region of the brain involved in learning stimulus-response associations,...

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph C, line 1

Explanation - As per Paragraph C, the presence of neurons was also observed in the caudate region of the brain that is responsible for learning stimulus-response associations.

30. Answer: anticipatory phase

Statement - … – were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’ favourite moments in the music. 

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph C, line 3

Explanation - As given in Paragraph C, the researchers termed this period as the “anticipatory phase.” It aids in predicting the arrival of our favourite part.

31. Answer: food

Statement - … and in anticipating food and other ‘reward’ stimuli – were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’ favourite moments in the music.

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph C, line 2

Explanation - Paragraph C states that approximately 15 seconds before the preferred musical segments of the participants, they had the strongest responses towards food and other ‘reward’ stimuli.

32. Answer: B (how intense our physical responses to music can be)

Statement - And yet, even though music says little, it still manages to touch us deeply. When listening to our favourite songs, our body betrays all the symptoms of emotional arousal. The pupils in our eyes dilate, our pulse and blood pressure rise,... sound stirs us at our biological roots.

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph A, line 2

Explanation - According to Paragraph A, music can move us and extract physical responses without even having to express much verbally. 

33. Answer: C (It produced some remarkably precise data)

Statement - A recent paper in Nature Neuroscience by a research team in Montreal, Canada, marks an important step in revealing the precise underpinnings of the potent pleasurable stimulus’ that is music. 

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph B, line 2

Explanation - Paragraph B mentions that a research team from Montreal, Canada published a paper in the journal Neuroscience stating that music is considered to be an important component in counteracting the effects of “the intense pleasurable stimulus”. 

34. Answer: A (the timing of participants’ neural responses to the music)

Statement - What is rather more significant is the finding that the dopamine neurons in the caudate…– were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’ favorite moments in the music.

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph C & line 1

Explanation - As given in Paragraph C, the writer finds the timing of participants’ neural response to music the most interesting about the results of the Montreal study.

35. Answer: B (to offer support for the findings of the Montreal study)

Statement - To demonstrate this psychological principle, the musicologist Leonard Meyer, in his classic book Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956), analyzed the 5th movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131.

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph 4, 5.

Explanation - The writer mentions the book ‘Emotion and meaning in music’ by the musicologist Leonard Meyer to support the psychological principle observed by the Montreal study.

36. Answer: D (the internal structure of the musical composition) 

Statement - Meyer argued that the emotions we find in music come from the unfolding events of the music itself. This ‘embodied meaning’ arises from the patterns the symphony invokes and then ignores.

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph F, line 4

Explanation - As noted in Paragraph F, Meyer believed that the emotional responses triggered by music are caused by the unfolding events of the music itself.

37. Answer: F (neuron activity increases prior to key points in a musical piece)

Statement - … were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’ favorite moments in the music.

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph C, line 3

Explanation - As per Paragraph C, the Montreal researchers discovered that dopamine neurons become the most active 15 seconds before the participants’ favourite music sections. 

38. Answer: F (neuron activity increases prior to key points in a musical piece)

Statement - Numerous studies, after all, have demonstrated that dopamine neurons quickly adapt to predictable rewards. If we know what’s going to happen next, then we don’t get excited.

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph D, line 5

Explanation - As given in Paragraph D, many studies have proven that dopamine neurons react to expected rewards.

39. Answer: E (emotive music delays giving listeners what they expect to hear)

Explanations - how Beethoven begins with the clear statement of a rhythmic and harmonic pattern and then, in an ingenious tonal dance, carefully holds off repeating it. Beethoven saves that chord for the end.

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph E, lines 5

Explanation - In paragraph E, it is mentioned that Beethoven's music holds off what the listener wants to hear the most until the end.

40. Answer: C (emotive music can bring to mind actual pictures and events)

Statement - While earlier theories of music focused on the way a sound can refer to the real world of images and experiences… 

Keyword location in the passage - Paragraph F, line 2

Explanation - As per Paragraph F, it is stated that prior ideas of music focused on how music brought actual pictures and events to the minds of listeners. 

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