Neurologists at McGill University are studying how music is hardwired in the human brain, and that the pleasure we get from music is essential in developing our brains.

The brain's chief task, Zatorre concludes, is to keep astonishing itself. And music may do it best.

"Music involves perception, memory, emotion, motor control, all the learning aspects. It brings together a lot of different functions in a very coherent way," says Zatorre, who is also an acomplished organist. "The brain wants patterns to assemble but it also craves diversity, so a very important part of music is surprise. And you can only be surprised if you anticipate - and don't assume a random series of notes."

The description of their research methodology made me think of "Clockwork Orange" however.