28.06.15
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Cognitive scientist Dr. Tom Fritz has developed a novel technique to examine music’s effect of euphoria on the brain, specifically how music reduces our perception of pain and effort – something he calls “musical ecstasy”. Ahead of his talk at Berghain this month, Fritz expands on his ‘Jymmin’ technique and its possible repercussions in therapy.

Neuroscientifically informed music therapy is on the verge of a breakthrough. A key feature in how this can be achieved is by studying novel forms of music technology that allow for a newly acquired embodiment of musical actions during music making.

We’re currently establishing a new technology that merges musically expressive performance with physical exercise. ‘Jymmin’ – a cross between ‘Jammin’ and ‘Gym’ – takes us back to our origins when music making and physical work were often intertwined. Note that music and exertion have been traditionally strongly linked, even in Western societies, in so-called ‘work songs’. We aim at rediscovering the socio-culturally forgotten effects of positive interaction between music and exertion to the benefit of modern society. We have recreated this experience in an exercise system which can be performed individually or in groups, where the sport-induced arousal becomes part of a euphoria experience, enhancing mood and reducing perceived exertion.

Benefits of musical feedback training, in comparison to conventional motor learning, are likely to be a consequence of musical expression. This draws partly on motor processes that we also use for communication, which are not exclusively under deliberate control, but to substantial degree involve emotional motor control.

The Jymmin approach has been the key to a quite novel field of research that has in previous times quite exclusively been ethnomusicological. We are now able to evoke very intense experiences of musical euphoria or trance in a laboratory setting, by combining music making with exercise. In accordance to an often medical context where musically-evoked ecstasy is and was used in indigenous societies, the effects we have so far observed are astonishing.

Results showed that musical agency significantly decreased perceived exertion during workout, indicating that musical agency may actually facilitate physically strenuous activities. This indicates that the positive effect of music on perceived exertion cannot always be explained by an effect of diversion from body experience (because performers concentrate on their body experience to create and control melodies and rhythms). Furthermore this finding suggests that the down-modulating effect of Jymmin on perceived exertion may be a previously unacknowledged driving force for the development of music in humans – making music makes strenuous physical activities less exhausting.

"In drug abuse patients with a criminal background, the induced musical euphoria was perceived as a possible alternative to intoxication"

We also found that the effects seem to release endorphins much more efficiently than previously observed in sports activities, for example when running a marathon. Within only 10 minutes, we observed a significant increase in mood during Jymmin in comparison to conventional machine exercise workout. This effect lasted for longer than half an hour, suggesting that it indeed was hormonally mediated. We also observed further evidence for increased endorphin release as the pain sensitivity during workout with Jymmin goes down, which is notably very substantial to all types of rehabilitation, where the patients would like to avoid pain during sports exercise. The strong psychological effects of Jymmin also extend to a down-regulation of anxiety in patients with high anxiety levels, giving rise to a range of possible recreational and clinical applications.

We observed a number of other psychological effects. This modern musical trance induction technique increases the participant’s perception of their internal locus of control, so that they feel that they have greater agency in their life. It has also been shown to have an intoxicating effect, without increasing a craving for substance use. In drug abuse patients with a criminal background, the induced musical euphoria was perceived as a possible alternative to intoxication, while their social parameters, for example how much they liked the other patients, were positively affected.

Additionally we found further physiological effects, for example the muscles during workout being more effective. Recent findings also show that the musical euphoria stimulated the immune system within 10 minutes, with the white cell count increased in short-term, indicating a mobilisation of the immune system.

The mood enhancing effects of Jymmin are planned to be applied in anti-depression therapies, and the effects, for example the anxiety reducing element, are highly relevant for both patients in various therapies, and also their partners and relatives. This also helps to strengthen the social bond with friends and family that is crucial to both patients and relatives, to all of us really. We also plan to provide a composing platform where people who love to make electronic music can participate as composers. In conclusion, we believe Jymmin will become a music culture of its own.