Differential effects of familiarity and emotional expression of musical cues on autobiographical memory properties

Abstract

Features of visual cues, such as their familiarity and emotionality, influence the quantity and qualities of the autobiographical memories they evoke. Despite increasing use in autobiographical memory research, comparatively little is known about how such features of musical cues influence memory properties. In a repeated-measures design, we presented 24 musical cues selected to vary on their familiarity (high/low), emotional valence (positive/negative), and emotional arousal (high/low) to 100 young adults, who recorded details of any autobiographical memories that were evoked. Familiarity of the music primarily impacted memory accessibility, with high familiarity music evoking more memories that were retrieved more quickly. More familiar music also elicited more positive and arousing memories, however these differences were found to be attributed to greater liking of the high familiarity music. The emotional expression of the music impacted the emotionality and evaluation of the memories, with negative valence/low arousal (e.g., “sad”) music evoking the most negative memories, high arousal and positively valenced music evoking more arousing memories, and low arousal music evoking memories rated as more important. These results provide important insights for developing effective paradigms for triggering (particular types of) autobiographical memories via music, and highlight the need to critically consider potential differences in cue familiarity and emotionality in studies comparing musical to non-musical cues. Future research should extend this approach to other cue types (e.g., visual, olfactory, other auditory cues), to probe how familiarity and emotional qualities of cues conjunctively or interactively constrain autobiographical memory recall across different domains.

Music listening evokes story-like visual imagery with both idiosyncratic and shared content

“…It would further be relevant to explore differences in the content of our framework and the proportions of themes and consistency levels should listeners be reporting imagery in response to self-selected music. It is likely that this would lead to more personal imagery, due to the higher proportion of autobiographical memories that can be evoked from familiar music [ 58 ].…”

Episode model: The functional approach to emotional experiences of music

“…However, AIA episodes that involve awe, chills, or being moved are frequently characterised as deeply rewarding (Cotter, Silvia, & Fayn, 2018;Vuoskoski & Eerola, 2017). For exposure, we hypothesise that high exposure is an element of EDR and CB episodes -the former because exposure has been linked to higher relaxation (Tan, Yowler, Super, & Fratianne, 2012) and distraction (Finlay, 2014) -and the latter due to nostalgia and autobiographical memories are strongly associated with increased exposure to specific pieces (Barrett et al, 2010;Jakubowski & Francini, 2023). However, we hypothesise that exposure may have the opposite relationship for AIA experiences, as one frequently engages with music that may be unexpected or unusual due to curiosity (for empirical evidence, see Janata et al, 2018).…”

Music, Memory, and Imagination

“…Similarly, even excerpts of music that are completely unfamiliar seem to elicit broadly similar autobiographical memories; in young adult listeners from the United Kingdom, upbeat music often prompts memories that feature dancing, singing, and social events, whereas sad music often prompts memories that feature solitary settings, such as funerals and breakups ( Jakubowski & Francini, 2022). Familiar music may cue memories that share even more specific characteristics.…”

“…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).…”

“…To take one example, studies on music-evoked autobiographical memories have manipulated the emotional valence and arousal of musical excerpts and revealed emotional congruency effects. People retrieve more positive autobiographical memories in response to more positively valenced music and more energetic memories in response to higher-arousal music (Jakubowski & Francini, 2022; Sheldon & Donahue, 2017). Aesthetic evaluations of music have also been documented to play a role: More liked or enjoyed music evokes both autobiographical memories and fictional stories more readily (Jakubowski & Francini, 2022; Margulis, 2017).…”