# Popular Songs Can Cue Specific Memories



## David Baxter PhD (Jan 22, 2009)

Popular Songs Can Cue Specific Memories, Psychology Research Shows
ScienceDaily 
Jan. 21, 2009

Whether the soundtrack of your youth was doo-wop or disco, new wave or Nirvana, psychology research at Kansas State University shows that even just thinking about a particular song can evoke vivid memories of the past.

"We thought that actually hearing the song would bring back the most vivid memories," said Richard Harris, professor of psychology at K-State. "But in our study there wasn't a lot of difference in memory between those who heard the song and those who didn't. What we determined was happening is that you already know the song and you're hearing it in your mind."

Harris and Elizabeth Cady, a 2006 K-State doctoral graduate in psychology, recently published a study of music as a memory cue in the journal Psychology of Music. J. Bret Knappenberger, a 2004 K-State bachelor's graduate in psychology, also was co-author.

Harris said the study fit his other research on the intersection of media and memory. In another project, Harris explored why people like to quote movies. He said the project with Cady was one of the first times his research delved into the medium of music.

"Most people have this idea that music can be a powerful memory cue," Harris said. "You hear a song on the radio and it brings up memories of senior prom or graduation. That's why oldies stations are so popular -- not because the music is good but because it reminds us of specific times in our lives."

The researchers wanted to understand whether memories were cued by actually hearing the song or by thinking about it in other ways. They tested 124 subjects between the ages of 18-20 in spring 2003. A pilot study had the subjects list songs from five stages of life: early childhood, grade school, middle school, high school and college.

In the second part of the study, the subjects were given a short list of the songs that were chosen with the most frequency in the pilot study. The subjects were asked to pick one song from each category that had a strong memory attached to it, write about the memory and rate how vivid it was.

Harris said that he and Cady were surprised at how many participants reported strong memories associated with the same song. For the grade-school era, 26 percent of participants had strong memories associated with Vanilla Ice's song "_ce Ice Baby_. For middle school, 36 percent reported strong memories associated with Coolio's _Gangsta's Paradise_.

A control group was given only the names of the songs, while test groups either heard short clips of the songs, read the lyrics or saw art from the album or a photo of the artist. Harris said the vividness of memories didn't vary much from one group to another, leading the researchers to determine that the subjects we're "hearing" the song by being reminded of it in one way or another.

"Music is a very emotional stimulus," he said. "It's autobiographical in that we remember events from a long time ago with strong emotion. These pop songs were played many times, so there's a lot of repeat presentation."

Although many of the songs, like _Gangsta's Paradise_, for instance, place the memories at a particular point in time, Harris said some of the responses reflected music that is popular during a certain stage of life -- the _Happy Birthday_ song in childhood, for instance. Even though _Eye of the Tiger_ was released in 1982, before the subjects were born, 24 percent reported that it provoked a strong memory of high school sporting events.

Harris said that music can be a powerful memory cue because it's multimodal. That is, it combines words and instrumentation, for which we generally use different sides of our brains.

"Music is a rich stimulus," Harris said. "If we can't remember the words, we remember the music. I can remember advertising jingles from my childhood, but I don't remember the slogans without the music. Music may be something that our brains are primed to understand and enjoy in the same way we're primed to understand language, although language is much more fundamental."


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## Sparrow (Jan 22, 2009)

Interesting.

Cues, triggers, and memories... good ones OR bad ones.
Sort of reminds me of our sense of smell too, but that would be called aromatherapy.

:budgie:


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## Retired (Jan 22, 2009)

The first few bars of the guitar solo on Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" put me back to a very specific place and time in my youth where I can picture the color of the room, the people there when I was given my very first 78 record..and it was that song...on my birthday!

I still consider that song at the top of my list for evoking a pleasant memory.

Do you have a song like that?  What memory does it bring back?


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## Charity (Jan 22, 2009)

This is SO unbelivably true for me!!! I've even wondered aloud at times whether or not a song's most important purpose is simply to make us remember the _previous_ times we've heard it...
Every song I know has a very specific tie to a particular time period, place, person, etc. Maybe I just happen to really pay attention to the phenomenon, but it's always been a big deal for me. Every song has its own special place in my heart.


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## Mari (Jan 22, 2009)

> Every song has its own special place in my heart.



I was trying to think of one single song I could mention and then I recalled something that I had long forgotten. I actually had a song written for me and I do not even have a copy of it. I think it is called 'Mari in the Morning' but I guess it was eclipsed by Glen Campbell's song which is similar and just as nice. :red: Mari


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## Sparrow (Jan 22, 2009)

I suppose music being a universal language, memories can be boundless as well. Now I'm thinking of musical therapy...!

Mari: I can't get "Angel in the Morning" out of my head now:hair:

:budgie:


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## Atlantean (Jan 25, 2009)

You know, that is so true. I cant tell you how much I associate music with events and periods of my life, I think Im worse than the average person though, because music is an absolute passion of mine.


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## Jazzey (Jan 25, 2009)

The first song to which I danced with a boy (I was 13 years old) - to this day, I can still smell his cologne (or his Dad's?  )

YouTube - Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven (Studio Version)


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## Halo (Jan 25, 2009)

Jazzey,

That was a good song....although long   I remember dancing to it as well and always wanting to make sure that it was someone I liked because of the length and normally it was always the last song of the night


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## Jazzey (Jan 25, 2009)

Not the easiest song to slow-dance to though!  It's a good thing that teenagers are naturally awkward to begin with - "noone notices"


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## David Baxter PhD (Jan 26, 2009)

That's one of the all time best arranged rock songs ever. But I've had clients who were teens in the 80s say they hated it because it was played as the last dance for every school dance.


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## NicNak (Jan 26, 2009)

One that brings back bitter sweet memories for me is YouTube - Skid Row - I Remember You

This band was big around here when I was 15-17 years old 

I was young for Stairway to Heaven, although I do like that song too.


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## David Baxter PhD (Jan 26, 2009)

NicNak said:


> I was young for Stairway to Heaven, although I do like that song too.



I was only about 3 but I was very precocious. I wrote my first song at age 1 (or maybe it was 10) and I had my first paper route ate age 7 (that part is true, as is the age 10 part).

I did all the work and Mozart got all the credit. :rant:


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## NicNak (Jan 26, 2009)

David Baxter said:


> I was only about 3 but I was very precocious. I wrote my first song at age 1 (or maybe it was 10) and I had my first paper route ate age 7 (that part is true, as is the age 10 part).
> 
> I did all the work and Mozart got all the credit. :rant:



Dr Baxter, you must be very old if you did all the work for Mozart :blush:


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## David Baxter PhD (Jan 26, 2009)

You obviously haven't heard about the time travel machine I invented when I was 2.


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## NicNak (Jan 26, 2009)

David Baxter said:


> You obviously haven't heard about the time travel machine I invented when I was 2.



:blush:  So you knew Einstein too....you knew a lot of influential people Dr Baxter :teehee:


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## Daniel (Jan 26, 2009)

Someone had to babysit Einstein


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## David Baxter PhD (Jan 26, 2009)

I've been everywhere, man, I've been everywhere...

I get around... round, round, round, round, round...


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## NicNak (Jan 26, 2009)

David Baxter said:


> I've been every where, man, I've been everywhere...
> 
> I get around... round, round, round, round, round...



That is why Dr Baxter is Dr SmartyPants.   Hope they didn't influence you personally with their :crazy: side.  :teehee:


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## David Baxter PhD (Jan 26, 2009)

The Beachboys were an awesome band, way ahead of their time.


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## NicNak (Jan 26, 2009)

David Baxter said:


> The Beachboys were an awesome band, way ahead of their time.





YouTube - The Beach Boys - Don't Worry Baby

One of my most favorites 


Maybe Daniel is a surfer!  :teehee:


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## David Baxter PhD (Jan 26, 2009)

:agree: + In My Room, You're So Good to Me, Good Vibrations... too many others to count.


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## NicNak (Jan 26, 2009)

Oh wow, you just reminded me of that song "your so good to me"  I like that one lots too!


I almost felt like I missed out on an era that was increadable.

Mommas and the Poppas I am listening to right now.  Jefferson Airplane, Hendrix.

I was born in '75 but my Aunt and Uncle were a fair bit younger than my parents, so they got me into all that music.

My parents influenced me with Elvis, Roy Orbison and Frankie Vallie and the Four Seaons.

Most say I missed my calling as a Record Executive. :blush:


I think this is one of the best covers of "And then I kissed her, or And then he kissed me"

YouTube - Kiss - Then She Kissed Me

My older brother was into this band.


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