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"Musical memory"
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A Cross-Sectional Study of Reminiscence Bumps for Music-Related Memories in Adulthood
Music is often intimately linked to identity, as evidenced by the high value many people place on musical activities and the way in which music can become seemingly effortlessly coupled to important memories from throughout one’s lifespan. Previous research has revealed a consistent reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory—the disproportionate recall of memories from between ages 10 to 30 years in comparison with other lifetime periods—which also appears to extend to music-related memories. The present study represents one of the largest explorations of the musical reminiscence bump across adulthood to date. Participants (N = 470; ages 18 to 82 years) were shown the titles and artists of 111 popular songs that had featured in the charts between 1950 and 2015 and rated the degree to which they had autobiographical memories associated with each song, as well as the degree to which they were familiar with and liked the song. We found a reminiscence bump in adolescence (peaking around age 14) for both ratings of the autobiographical salience of songs featured in the charts during that period and the familiarity of these songs. Liking ratings showed more divergent results depending on a participant’s current age, including evidence for a cascading reminiscence bump, in which liking ratings from young adults increased for music from their parents’ adolescent years. We also revealed new evidence that music-related autobiographical memories appear to invoke similar retrieval processes to the common methodology of eliciting autobiographical memories via word cues. We contextualize these results in relation to general theoretical accounts of the reminiscence bump, and age-related differences in the bump are discussed in relation to various sociocultural and technological changes in music listening habits.
Journal Article
Effects of Sleep Extension on Musical Performance Skills
Musicians rely heavily on core skills like rhythmic stability, sightreading, and musical memory for optimal performance. However, the specific impact of sleep on musical skills remains relatively understudied, despite prior research showing that sleep benefits broader cognitive and motor skills. This suggests that sleep could also facilitate musicians’ skill acquisition and proficiency. To address this gap in knowledge, the current study examined the effects of a sleep extension intervention on musical abilities and psychological flexibility in musicians. Fifty participants were divided into control and intervention groups, and their sleep was tracked using wearable technology. Rhythmic stability, sightreading, memory, psychological flexibility, and sleepiness were assessed at baseline, after 1 day, and after 7 days. The intervention group received 60 to 90 min of additional nightly sleep above their baseline measurements. From baseline to the final assessment, statistically significant improvements were found in the intervention group compared to the control group for rhythmic stability (4.50%, p < 0.001), sightreading (7.12%, p < 0.002), and musical memory (38.24%, p < 0.036). Additionally, psychological flexibility scores significantly increased in the intervention group (Mdiff = 3.16, p < 0.001) while remaining stable in the control group, with a significant between-group difference (Mdiff = 3.40, p < 0.001). These findings highlight sleep’s facilitative role in the improvement of musical motor skills, cognitive function, memory, and psychological resources that may enhance musicians’ resilience and adaptability in performance contexts. The results suggest that sleep extension may optimize musicians’ abilities and success, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing sleep in the lives of musicians. This study underscores the pressing need for further investigation into the sleep patterns of musicians, with an emphasis on empirical evidence that could ultimately inform best practices for sleep management within this specialized field.
Journal Article
Why do Songs get “Stuck in our Heads”? Towards a Theory for Explaining Earworms
This paper offers a critical reflection on the paucity of theories for the phenomenon of “earworms,” also known as involuntary musical imagery (INMI), and poses some as-yet unanswered questions relating to the unique nature of the phenomenon, the optimal conditions for earworm induction, as well the underlying mechanisms that may drive the behavior. While numerous earworm studies have focused on analyzing the symptoms of the phenomenon, few studies have attempted to focus on investigating the underlying cause. In addition, common explanations are typically tied to proximal rather than distal causes (e.g., recent exposure). In particular, the question of “why music” (as opposed to other time-based auditory stimuli such as language/poetry), or, perhaps “what about music” is raised, and some conjectures and starting places for future studies are offered. Possible theoretical avenues and testable hypotheses are suggested, based on synthesizing informal observations and existing empirical research across multiple disciplines.
Journal Article
A Survey into Piano Teachers’ Perceptions of Music Memorization in One-to-one Piano Lessons: A Preliminary Study
Despite more than a century of research on music memorization and practicing strategies, there is a lack of comprehensive evidence on how instrumental music teachers teach memorization to children and adolescents in one-to-one lessons. The present qualitative study investigated the diversity of ways in which music memorization is taught in one-to-one piano lessons. Piano teachers (N = 37) completed an online survey collecting qualitative responses regarding music memorization. Participants were asked to give a brief description of music memorization, how they memorize as performers and how they teach music memorization to their students, amongst other questions. Results indicate that music memorization is perceived by most teachers as a skill that develops through practice rather than a natural talent. Reported strategies for teaching memorization fell into four categories: aural, visual, kinesthetic, and analytical, which align with previous theoretical conceptualizations of musical memorization. Recurring mentions of muscle memory practice and music theory knowledge suggest that kinesthetic and analytical methods are qualitatively dominant in the way teachers 1) define music memorization, 2) memorize as performers, and 3) teach music memorization. This suggests that aural and visual memorization methods might be less explored by piano teachers of children and adolescents and future research could be conducted in this area.
Journal Article
The role of teaching solfeggio considering memory mechanisms in developing musical memory and hearing of music school students
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of certain mnemonic techniques in memorizing a melodic fragment by music school students. In the study group, in the process of memorizing a given melody, students used, in addition to sound, visual, psychomotor, and logical memory. In this study, 108 third-grade students from Nanchang Postal Road Primary School participated: 54 in the study group and 54 in the control group, respectively. After listening to a piece of music three times, the children played it with their voices with appropriate accompaniment. The evaluation was carried out according to the following criteria: integral continuous performance, the number of errors associated with inaccurate hitting of the tone, and the number of errors in the structure of the melody. During the study, it was observed that incorporating mnemonic techniques, which involve engaging different forms of memory alongside auditory memory, enhances the memorization of melodies. This approach can be used in the preparation of training programs for music school students, as it contributes to the formation of musical memory and hearing.
Journal Article
Musical memories in newborns: A resting‐state functional connectivity study
Music is known to induce emotions and activate associated memories, including musical memories. In adults, it is well known that music activates both working memory and limbic networks. We have recently discovered that as early as during the newborn period, familiar music is processed differently from unfamiliar music. The present study evaluates music listening effects at the brain level in newborns, by exploring the impact of familiar or first‐time music listening on the subsequent resting‐state functional connectivity in the brain. Using a connectome‐based framework, we describe resting‐state functional connectivity (RS‐FC) modulation after music listening in three groups of newborn infants, in preterm infants exposed to music during their neonatal‐intensive‐care‐unit (NICU) stay, in control preterm, and full‐term infants. We observed modulation of the RS‐FC between brain regions known to be implicated in music and emotions processing, immediately following music listening in all newborn infants. In the music exposed group, we found increased RS‐FC between brain regions known to be implicated in familiar and emotionally arousing music and multisensory processing, and therefore implying memory retrieval and associative memory. We demonstrate a positive correlation between the occurrence of the prior music exposure and increased RS‐FC in brain regions implicated in multisensory and emotional processing, indicating strong engagement of musical memories; and a negative correlation with the Default Mode Network, indicating disengagement due to the aforementioned cognitive processing. Our results describe the modulatory effect of music listening on brain RS‐FC that can be linked to brain correlates of musical memory engrams in preterm infants. Using a connectome‐based framework, we describe resting‐state functional connectivity (RS‐FC) modulation after music listening in three groups of newborn infants, in preterm infants exposed to music during their neonatal‐intensive‐care‐unit (NICU) stay, in control preterm, and full‐term infants. Our results describe the modulatory effect of music listening on brain RS‐FC that can be linked to brain correlates of musical memory engrams in preterm infants.
Journal Article
Savant skills in autism: psychometric approaches and parental reports
Most investigations of savant skills in autism are based on individual case reports. The present study investigated rates and types of savant skills in 137 individuals with autism (mean age 24 years). Intellectual ability ranged from severe intellectual impairment to superior functioning. Savant skills were judged from parental reports and specified as 'an outstanding skill/knowledge clearly above participant's general level of ability and above the population norm'. A comparable definition of exceptional cognitive skills was applied to Wechsler test scores-requiring a subtest score at least 1 standard deviation above general population norms and 2 standard deviations above the participant's own mean subtest score. Thirty-nine participants (28.5%) met criteria for either a savant skill or an exceptional cognitive skill: 15 for an outstanding cognitive skill (most commonly block design); 16 for a savant skill based on parental report (mostly mathematical/calculating abilities); 8 met criteria for both a cognitive and parental rated savant skill. One-third of males showed some form of outstanding ability compared with 19 per cent of females. No individual with a non-verbal IQ below 50 met criteria for a savant skill and, contrary to some earlier hypotheses, there was no indication that individuals with higher rates of stereotyped behaviours/interests were more likely to demonstrate savant skills.
Journal Article
Aggregate context effects in music processing
Control of stimulus confounds is an ever-present, and ever-important, aspect of experimental design. Typically, researchers concern themselves with such control on a local level, ensuring that individual stimuli contain only the properties they intend for them to represent. Significantly less attention, however, is paid to stimulus properties in the aggregate, aspects that, although not present in individual stimuli, can nevertheless become emergent properties of the stimulus set when viewed in total. This paper describes two examples of such effects. The first (Case Study 1) focuses on emergent properties of pairs of to-be-performed tones on a piano keyboard, and the second (Case Study 2) focuses on emergent properties of short, atonal melodies in a perception/memory task. In both cases these sets of stimuli induced identifiable tonal influences despite being explicitly created to be devoid of musical tonality. These results highlight the importance of monitoring aggregate stimulus properties in one’s research, and are discussed with reference to their implications for interpreting psychological findings quite generally.
Journal Article
Learning, Understanding, Remembering: The Collective Experiences of Musical Memory of Twelve Professional Classical Guitarists
The intention of this basic qualitative study was to investigate the ways in which professional guitarists describe their musical memory, in an attempt to develop a conceptual understanding of musical memory from a guitarist's point of view, including the guitarist's experience and understanding of musical memory. Research into the experiences of professional classical guitarists is limited, and there is not necessarily agreement on which method is best for developing musical memory. While the process of musical memory has been investigated in other groups of instruments, similarities and differences between instrumental approaches are not properly understood. Data were collected through live online interviews conducted with 12 professional concert guitarists, purposely selected for their impressive musical memory. The findings revealed that the caliber of recall and remembering for the purpose of performing without sheet music is highly dependent on the quality of the learning processes involved and also on the extent of truly understanding the music. A conceptual model was identified in which five main themes emerged: pre-learning; active learning; understanding; performance: preparation, alterations, and learning; and remembering. The conceptual model describes a continuous, circular process that applies to the learning process both pre- and post-performance.
Journal Article