Dr. Daisy Fancourt
speaker
445 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2026
last heard 3 Aug
Dr. Daisy Fancourt’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
Sometimes you go in and you are able to take that calm straight away.
But exactly as you say, other times you need to go in.
You've got to match yourself first.
You might even find it cathartic actually having that music that is quite high octane initially to kind of process those emotions or that stress.
And then you can gradually bring yourself down to the state you want to be in.
Well, it's interesting you mentioned that because there are quite a few evolutionary theories around why we even have arts, why we have music.
Actually, one of the main theories around music and singing in particular is that it evolved as a way of helping us to bond with other people, that actually before we had speech, you know, we started off grooming one another, but when we grew into bigger group sizes, we needed another way that was a bit more efficient and singing became that way of having that bonding process.
And we mentioned some other neurotransmitters.
There are some studies suggesting that we actually have increases in neurotransmitters like oxytocin that are involved in bonding when we sing with people.
And we actually do see that if we sing with people and make music with them, we actually bond with them faster than if we chat to them or exercise with them.
So there's something really powerful about the sense of belonging that we can get together.
so we can listen to music on our own, but we could also think, can I be singing?
Can I be in a choir, for example, singing along with other people that will be giving me that full body relaxation, not just listening to the music, but actually breathing in time with it, making it myself and having that group social support from that music experience.
well it is inherently communicative arts and actually when we look at pictures one of the reasons we respond so emotionally to them is we're noticing the same features we would notice in the real world around us so in a picture if you've got like jagged edges or you've got dark colors that's still a threat just like it might be in the real world as well so that's why we respond so strongly to art because it is something that we have to be
assessing our brains are looking at from that threat perspective or that opportunity perspective but it's also that we get to we get to really emphasize the emotions through art when we're looking at pictures or when we're watching films as well like we're really getting into very deep places where we can not only think about our own emotions but we can vicariously experience what other people are communicating with us
which is a really powerful thing for our brains.
It's helping us regulate and understand ourselves, but also helping us put ourselves in other people's shoes and imagine things from their points of view.
Definitely.
I talk about it in the book.
This is something where when we are reading stories and narrative, we're not just thinking about the characters.
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