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Physiological Responses To Music, Shauna Cox

The Downtown Review

There are numerous ways that people react physically to music, whether it be by choice (like dancing, swaying, etc.) or something that the body carries out on its own, with no intentional or conscious command. These automatic responses from the body could be as basic as heart-rate or respiration, or as complex as biochemical reactions involving hormones and neurotransmitters. In this essay, I will be focusing on those automatic responses.