Using music to cue autobiographical memories of different lifetime periods

Abstract

Little previous research has examined the link between popular music and autobiographical memory. College-age participants recalled a memory associated with a song from each of five lifetime eras and then described and rated the memories. Participants heard part of the song, read the lyrics, saw a picture of the artist or began describing their memory immediately. Ratings for vividness, specificity, feeling brought back and feeling emotional in connection with the memory were all significantly different across lifetime eras. Differences also existed between sensory conditions in memory description length, feeling brought back and feeling emotional. However, hearing the song did not produce higher ratings than all the other sensory conditions. These findings show that music is a valuable cue to evoke autobiographical memory.