Why One Song Can Unlock Twenty Years of Memory
In short: Why a familiar song can carry us back to a period of our lives, what memory, brain and body studies associate with that experience, and where the evidence is still uncertain.
A 2:04 short film in the series “Rabbit Hole: Memory, Preference and the Brain”, narrated by intellect_voice_01.
Sources used in this film: Springer Nature / Psychonomic Society (Memory & Cognition journal), “Popular music and movies as autobiographical memory cues - Memory & Cognition”; Frontiers / PubMed Central (US National Library of Medicine), review article 'Revisiting the musical reminiscence bump', “Revisiting the musical reminiscence bump: insights from neurocognitive and social brain development in adolescence”; Cerebral Cortex (Oxford University Press); paper by Petr Janata, University of California, Davis, hosted on a UC Davis faculty site, “bhp008 2579..2594”; University of California, Davis (UC Davis News), “Study Finds Brain Hub That Links Music, Memory and Emotion | UC Davis”; Academia.edu (hosted copy of the paper 'Confidence, Not Consistency, Characterizes Flashbulb Memories'), “Confidence, Not Consistency, Characterizes Flashbulb Memories”; Springer Nature (Springer reference work entry, 'Flashbulb Memory'), “Flashbulb Memory”; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (National Academy of Sciences), archived on PubMed Central (US National Library of Medicine); Blood & Zatorre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill …, “Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion - PMC”; Nature Neuroscience (Nature Portfolio / Springer Nature), “Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music”; PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science); article by Safiyyah Nawaz and Diana Omigie, 2025, “Qualities of music-evoked autobiographical memories are associated with auditory features of the memory-evoking music”; Springer Nature (Memory & Cognition, Psychonomic Society journal), “Evidence of temporal and emotional alignment between song cues and their evoked autobiographical memories - Memory & Cognition”.
Sources used in this film
- Springer Nature / Psychonomic Society (Memory & Cognition journal) — Popular music and movies as autobiographical memory cues - Memory & Cognition · View →
- Frontiers / PubMed Central (US National Library of Medicine), review article 'Revisiting the musical reminiscence bump' — Revisiting the musical reminiscence bump: insights from neurocognitive and social brain development in adolescence · View →
- Cerebral Cortex (Oxford University Press); paper by Petr Janata, University of California, Davis, hosted on a UC Davis faculty site — bhp008 2579..2594 · View →
- University of California, Davis (UC Davis News) — Study Finds Brain Hub That Links Music, Memory and Emotion | UC Davis · View →
- Academia.edu (hosted copy of the paper 'Confidence, Not Consistency, Characterizes Flashbulb Memories') — Confidence, Not Consistency, Characterizes Flashbulb Memories · View →
- Springer Nature (Springer reference work entry, 'Flashbulb Memory') — Flashbulb Memory · View →
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (National Academy of Sciences), archived on PubMed Central (US National Library of Medicine); Blood & Zatorre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill … — Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion - PMC · View →
- Nature Neuroscience (Nature Portfolio / Springer Nature) — Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music · View →
- PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science); article by Safiyyah Nawaz and Diana Omigie, 2025 — Qualities of music-evoked autobiographical memories are associated with auditory features of the memory-evoking music · View →
- Springer Nature (Memory & Cognition, Psychonomic Society journal) — Evidence of temporal and emotional alignment between song cues and their evoked autobiographical memories - Memory & Cognition · View →
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Springer Nature / Psychonomic Society (Memory & Cognition journal): Popular music and movies as autobiographical memory cues - Memory & Cognition
- Also: Frontiers / PubMed Central (US National Library of Medicine), review article 'Revisiting the musical reminiscence bump': Revisiting the musical reminiscence bump: insights from neurocognitive and social brain development in adolescence
- Also: Cerebral Cortex (Oxford University Press); paper by Petr Janata, University of California, Davis, hosted on a UC Davis f: bhp008 2579..2594
- Also: University of California, Davis (UC Davis News): Study Finds Brain Hub That Links Music, Memory and Emotion | UC Davis
- Also: Academia.edu (hosted copy of the paper 'Confidence, Not Consistency, Characterizes Flashbulb Memories'): Confidence, Not Consistency, Characterizes Flashbulb Memories
- Also: Springer Nature (Springer reference work entry, 'Flashbulb Memory'): Flashbulb Memory
- Also: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (National Academy of Sciences), archived on PubMed Central (US National : Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion - PMC
- Also: Nature Neuroscience (Nature Portfolio / Springer Nature): Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music
- Also: PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science); article by Safiyyah Nawaz and Diana Omigie, 2025: Qualities of music-evoked autobiographical memories are associated with auditory features of the memory-evoking music
- Also: Springer Nature (Memory & Cognition, Psychonomic Society journal): Evidence of temporal and emotional alignment between song cues and their evoked autobiographical memories - Memory & Cognition
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