Comparing music‐ and food‐evoked autobiographical memories in young and older adults: A diary study

Abstract

Previous research has found that music brings back more vivid and emotional autobiographical memories than various other retrieval cues. However, such studies have often been low in ecological validity and constrained by relatively limited cue selection and predominantly young adult samples. Here, we compared music to food as cues for autobiographical memories in everyday life in young and older adults. In two separate four-day periods, 39 younger (ages 18-34) and 39 older (ages 60-77) adults recorded their music-and food-evoked autobiographical memories in paper diaries. Across both age groups, music triggered more frequent autobiographical memories, a greater proportion of involuntary memories, and memories rated as more personally important in comparison to food cues. Age differences impacted music-and food-evoked memories similarly, with older adults consistently recalling older and less specific memories, which they rated as more positive, vivid, and rehearsed. However, young and older adults did not differ in the number or involuntary nature of their recorded memories. This work represents an important step in understanding the phenomenology of naturally occurring music-evoked autobiographical memories across adulthood and provides new insights into how and why music may be a more effective trigger for personally valued memories than certain other everyday cues.

Music, Memory, and Imagination

“…Both autobiographical memories and fictional imaginings are common, everyday responses to listening to music, even when that music is unfamiliar (Jakubowski & Francini, 2022; Margulis, 2017; Sheldon & Donahue, 2017). In diary studies of both young and older adults, music-evoked autobiographical memories were reported an average of one or two times per day, with the majority of these rated as being spontaneously retrieved (Jakubowski et al, 2023; Jakubowski & Ghosh, 2021). In a survey study, 77% of respondents reported that they had experienced visual imagery in response to music (Küssner & Eerola, 2019).…”

Can environmentally themed music increase consumers' willingness to pay for low-carbon food? A discrete choice experiment method

“…The interaction between the song and the music video also contributes to providing information on environment changes. Although the questionnaire did not include the music video, the function of music-evoked memories (Jakubowski et al, 2023) can still prompt respondents who have seen the music video to recall the challenges people face in dealing with environmental issues, as well as scenes of Jackson calling out to the Earth in a desert setting.…”

Music-evoked autobiographical memories are associated with negative affect in younger and older adults

“…Such music-evoked autobiographical memories have been a rapidly growing research focus in recent years. Music evokes memories that differ from other stimulus cuesfor example, music-evoked autobiographical memories are more episodically detailed than those evoked by pictures of famous persons (Belfi, Bai, et al, 2022;Belfi et al, 2016), contain more motorperceptual details than memories evoked by event cues (Zator & Katz, 2017), are associated with greater episodic re-experiencing than memories evoked by television shows (Jakubowski et al, 2021), and are considered more personally important than those evoked by food cues (Jakubowski et al, 2023). Music can also evoke memories in individuals with probable Alzheimer's disease, and often appears to be a more effective cue with this population than other stimuli (Baird et al, 2018;El Haj, Postal, et al, 2012).…”