Speech, music and the human brain
The Kaposvár University has a senior education programme, where experts give presentations about various scientific topics that anyone can visit.
Yesterday (9. October) it was psychologist Valéria Csépe, also a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, who told the audience about how the human brain works. At the beginning we got to know how people understand speech: how we ‘filter’ one person’s speech from background noises, and how our brain distinguishes among sounds. We also saw some ‘evidence’ to the fact that the same parts of the brain are responsible for both the making and the understanding of speech. The second half of the ‘lesson’ was all about music: brain activity during making and hearing music and emotions triggered by music. The presenter also showed ‘brain maps’ that prove the effectiveness of the Kodály method, which is used to teach music in many countries around the world. At the end of the presentation the psychologist answered some questions from the audience about learning, speech and, of course, the differences between the male and female brain. Although some parts of this ‘lesson’ weren’t really enjoyable for me, I believe I’ve heard some quite interesting facts regarding our brain and this presentation helped me better understand our most important organ.
Richárd Palkó Kaposvár 2