Music Evoked Autobiographical Memory

This study discusses the implications of music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs). It aims to see if music can evoke more vivid memories than other cues. Researchers tested whether there was a difference between the popular music and pictures of famous people in evoking autobiographical memories. They also wanted to see if sex differences played a role in memory. Thirty participants were involved, 15 men and 15 women, between the ages of 30-72 years old. Music was picked from the top 20 hit songs from 1950-2013 and randomly selected for each participant based on the years when they were 15 to 30 years old. This age range was selected because it corresponds with the reminiscence bump, a period of time in which an individual’s retrieval

Researchers found a significant main effect of sex but they did not see a significant interaction of sex and condition. Overall, the study found that faces evoked more memories than music did but music evoked more overall vivid memories than faces did. Faces may evoke more familiarity and be more prevalent in everyday life than a song and therefore may trigger more memories, however, music may evoke a stronger emotional tie to a memory and cause a sturdy connection in the mind and provoke a more vivid memory that can more easily be re-experienced. These results correlate with other research that suggests listening to music elicits highly pleasurable emotions, physiological responses, and brain regions that are linked with rewarding stimuli. The faces conditions evoked more external details than the music condition did, this could suggest that faces are more likely to refer to general events or lifetime periods than music which elicits a more emotional connection. The research also found that women reported more autobiographical memories than did men, irrespective to the conditions, these findings correspond which other research that shows that memories and encoding between men and women are very

I talk about the benefits of music on Alzheimer’s disease. Although my paper discusses the negative effects of music on memory, music could potentially help the elderly that suffer with memory loss. I discuss particularly that in the concluding paragraph of my paper. I only tested college students on whether music affected memory, but the results could be different with older adults. While doing research last year I found a few articles that discussed that music could be tied to helping Alzheimer’s patient’s memories in certain ways. This article specifically discusses how music can trigger emotion and memories. I already have one source in my paper that touches on the fact that music can help produce more self-defining memories. The study I am looking at here can enhance this information and I can build upon it. This study specifically talks about popular music being linked to MEAMs, which directly links to my study because I used popular music as the condition for my study. A quote from the article mentions “They found that individuals with Alzheimer’s disease recalled more episodic details during music listening, indicating that these memories were more vivid.” (Belfi, Karlan, & Tranel 2015). This quote can directly tie to a paragraph in my discussion that talks about further research on Alzheimer patients. This type of memory retrieval could help Alzheimer patients remember faces they have forgotten, places they have been,