Melody and Memory: How music can induce an emotional response that helps memory formation

Imagine you are driving and get stuck in traffic. You start to feel annoyance with the people around you, regardless of the fact that they have no control of the situation any more than you do. To calm yourself, you turn on the radio and hear a song you can’t recall the name of, but sing along to the words anyways. The words come to you easily, despite not knowing the exact details of the song. This is a form of implicit memory. You can’t recall the exact details, but you can sing the song or at least hum the melody.

            In recent years, the study of implicit memory has come to the forefront, specifically in regards to memory disorders. One form of evidence that implicit memory plays a frequent role in an individual’s recognition memory utilizes the emotional response of the individual. In an article on memory and music, it was theorized that music can act as a therapy for people suffering from dementia. Dementia is a form of memory disorder that varies from individual to individual. It is suggested that music can help memory retrieval and cognition. Implicit memory can be triggered from an emotional tie to a specific song or melody that can trigger a specific memory, which is explicit memory recognition, or can elicit an emotional response. This emotional response is reminiscent of a memory, and it becomes an implicit memory.

            It is also suggested that music can help cognitive functioning as well as memory before and during a memory decline that is onset from dementia. Learning to play an instrument is a good way to help memory formation. This is because learning to play an instrument is a way of acquiring a skill or habit that will form implicit memories since habits and skills do not require conscious awareness.

            The use of music in recognition memory, specifically implicit memory, is a way of emotionally arousing an individual in order to trigger a memory response without conscious awareness. Dr. Ryals of Northwestern University studied the behavioral aspect of implicit memory by using trigger words. These specific words elicit an emotional response that arouses the participant. This triggers implicit memory in a free recall test that uses both emotional and neutral words. His behavioral study examines this idea of variable retrieval, which can also be described as a “tip-of-the-tongue” state. The results of the study suggest that implicit memories, which are also variable retrieval memories, can be triggered when an individual is emotionally aroused.

            Both Dr. Ryal’s study and the article on music and memory suggest similar ideas of implicit memory recognition. Emotional responses and arousals can be used to help individuals who have, or are predisposed to have, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. By forming more implicit memories, individuals will be able to retain those happy memories and feelings.

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References

Ryals, A.J., Voss, J.L. The outer limits of implicit memory. (2015). The Wiley Handbook on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory. 1. 44-59.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/tapping-into-the-connections-between-music-and-the-brain/7288328