As you navigate through the chaos of life, balancing meetings, errands, and endless notifications, forgetfulness often becomes a regular visitor. But what if the key to boosting your memory was as simple as hitting play on your favourite song? Sounds like a dream, right? Well, a new study suggests that music indeed has an effect on your memory.
A new study led by researchers from Rice University and the University of California looked into what features of music could improve memory in humans. The findings are published in the JNeurosci paper.
Therapeutic effects of music
Music has been shown to improve memory and mood, and has even been used as a treatment strategy for diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia. It offers numerous benefits for both the mind and body. Music can reduce stress, lower anxiety levels, and even help manage symptoms of depression by stimulating the release of feel-good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. It has been used in clinical settings for pain management, improving sleep quality, and enhancing emotional expression, especially in individuals with trauma, autism, or dementia. Though the impact of music was proven, how it boosts memory was unclear.
Effect of music on memory
The researchers were keen to explore the features of music that improved memory. In order to find this, the researchers showed the participants of the study some images of everyday scenes. They were asked to listen to different pieces of music after seeing these images. The researchers played music and manipulated its features. They adjusted some features, such as whether songs were happy or sad, or familiar.
The findings
Interestingly, the researchers found that the general emotional tone of the song or its familiarity had little to no impact on how well participants remembered the images. However, it was the intensity of each individual’s emotional response to the music that made the difference.
What does that mean
The study suggests a fascinating distinction in how emotional responses affect memory. Participants who felt strong emotional reactions to the music were more likely to remember the gist of the previously seen images. On the other hand, those who had moderate emotional responses ended up remembering more specific details of the images.
“The more emotional that people became from the music, the more they remembered the gist of a previous event. But people who had more moderate emotional responses to music remembered more details of previous events,” Clark, one of the researchers, said, in a statement.
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The findings indicate that music’s effect on memory is not one-size-fits-all. The researchers said that their work points to the specificity with which music boosts aspects of memory. They added that musical interventions, especially when used for improving memory in patients, may need to be personalized since music does not uniformly enhance memory.
A new study led by researchers from Rice University and the University of California looked into what features of music could improve memory in humans. The findings are published in the JNeurosci paper.
Therapeutic effects of music
Music has been shown to improve memory and mood, and has even been used as a treatment strategy for diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia. It offers numerous benefits for both the mind and body. Music can reduce stress, lower anxiety levels, and even help manage symptoms of depression by stimulating the release of feel-good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. It has been used in clinical settings for pain management, improving sleep quality, and enhancing emotional expression, especially in individuals with trauma, autism, or dementia. Though the impact of music was proven, how it boosts memory was unclear.
Effect of music on memory
The researchers were keen to explore the features of music that improved memory. In order to find this, the researchers showed the participants of the study some images of everyday scenes. They were asked to listen to different pieces of music after seeing these images. The researchers played music and manipulated its features. They adjusted some features, such as whether songs were happy or sad, or familiar.
The findings
Interestingly, the researchers found that the general emotional tone of the song or its familiarity had little to no impact on how well participants remembered the images. However, it was the intensity of each individual’s emotional response to the music that made the difference.
What does that mean
The study suggests a fascinating distinction in how emotional responses affect memory. Participants who felt strong emotional reactions to the music were more likely to remember the gist of the previously seen images. On the other hand, those who had moderate emotional responses ended up remembering more specific details of the images.
“The more emotional that people became from the music, the more they remembered the gist of a previous event. But people who had more moderate emotional responses to music remembered more details of previous events,” Clark, one of the researchers, said, in a statement.
Video
The findings indicate that music’s effect on memory is not one-size-fits-all. The researchers said that their work points to the specificity with which music boosts aspects of memory. They added that musical interventions, especially when used for improving memory in patients, may need to be personalized since music does not uniformly enhance memory.
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