Characterisation of music-evoked autobiographical memories.
Abstract
Despite music's prominence in Western society and its importance to individuals in their daily lives, very little is known about the memories and emotions that are often evoked when hearing a piece of music from one's past. We examined the content of music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) using a novel approach for selecting stimuli from a large corpus of popular music, in both laboratory and online settings. A set of questionnaires probed the cognitive and affective properties of the evoked memories. On average, 30% of the song presentations evoked autobiographical memories, and the majority of songs also evoked various emotions, primarily positive, that were felt strongly. The third most common emotion was nostalgia. Analyses of written memory reports found both general and specific levels of autobiographical knowledge to be represented, and several social and situational contexts for memory formation were common across many memories. The findings indicate that excerpts of popular music serve as potent stimuli for studying the structure of autobiographical memories.
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Overall, these results are consistent with the frequency, durability, strength and rich content of autobiographical memories associated with music.
“Overall, these results are consistent with the frequency, durability, strength and rich content of autobiographical memories associated with music (e.g., Gabrielsson, 2001, 2011; Janata et al., 2007; Belfi et al., 2015).”
From Listening Niches across a Century of Popular Music (2017) · cites this paper as Janata et al., 2007
This complements the finding that 30% of the time listeners in Janata et al. (2007) study had somewhat or strongly autobiographical memories associated with 1500 randomly selected popular songs.
“This complements the finding that 30% of the time listeners in Janata et al. (2007) study had somewhat or strongly autobiographical memories associated with 1500 randomly selected popular songs.”
From Listening Niches across a Century of Popular Music (2017) · cites this paper as Janata et al., 2007
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- Authors
- Janata, P., Tomic, S. T., & Rakowski, S. K.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Janata, Petr
- ORCID
- Janata, Petr
- Venue
- Memory
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2007-11
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 845-860
- ISSN
- 0965-8211 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-0686
- OpenAlex
- W2022722749
- Cited by
- 406
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 2.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Memory (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- autobiographical memory, nostalgia, emotions, popular music, song excerpts, memory content, autobiographical knowledge
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Affect, Emotions, Female, Humans, Life Change Events, Male, Music, Mental Recall, Recognition, Psychology
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