Cascading reminiscence bumps in popular music.
Abstract
Autobiographical memories are disproportionately recalled for events in late adolescence and early adulthood, a phenomenon called the reminiscence bump. Previous studies on music have found autobiographical memories and life-long preferences for music from this period. In the present study, we probed young adults’ personal memories associated with top hits over 5-and-a-half decades, as well as the context of their memories and their recognition of, preference for, quality judgments of, and emotional reactions to that music. All these measures showed the typical increase for music released during the two decades of their lives. Unexpectedly, we found that the same measures peaked for the music of participants’ parents’ generation. This finding points to the impact of music in childhood and suggests that these results reflect the prevalence of music in the home environment. An earlier peak occurred for 1960s music, which may be explained by its quality or by its transmission through two generations. We refer to this pattern of musical cultural transmission over generations as cascading reminiscence bumps.
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In Krumhansl and Zupnick (2013), the same measures peaked for the music of their parents' late adolescence and early adulthood, music of the 1980s (the cascading reminiscence bump).
“However, we found an unexpected effect in as much as the same measures peaked for the music of their parents’ late adolescence and early adulthood, music of the 1980s.”
From Listening Niches across a Century of Popular Music (2017) · cites this paper as Krumhansl and Zupnick, 2013
In Krumhansl and Zupnick (2013), all measures showed the typical increase for music released over the two decades of their lives, with the highest ratings for the music of the most recent half decade.
“All these measures showed the typical increase for music released over the two decades of their lives, with the highest ratings for the music of the most recent half decade.”
From Listening Niches across a Century of Popular Music (2017) · cites this paper as Krumhansl and Zupnick, 2013
Participants in Krumhansl and Zupnick (2013) were listening to the music of the 1980s with their parents, but were not listening to it currently.
“We knew from their reports that they were listening to the music of the 1980s with their parents, but were not listening to it currently.”
From Listening Niches across a Century of Popular Music (2017) · cites this paper as Krumhansl and Zupnick, 2013
Those born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s listened to some of the older music with both their parents and their friends, especially music of the 1940s and 1960s and, for the youngest two birth cohorts, the music of the 1980s, replicating Krumhansl and Zupnick (2013).
“In contrast, those born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s listened to some of the older music with both their parents and their friends, especially music of the 1940s and 1960s and, for the youngest two birth cohorts, the music of the 1980s, replicating Krumhansl and Zupnick (2013).”
From Listening Niches across a Century of Popular Music (2017) · cites this paper as Krumhansl and Zupnick, 2013
Cites
Music-evoked nostalgia: Affect, memory, and personality
Barrett, F. S., Grimm, K. J., Robins, R. W., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., & Janata, P. (2010) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0019006 · Cited by 547 · see citing works
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Listening Niches across a Century of Popular Music
Krumhansl, C. L. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00431 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Krumhansl, C. L., & Zupnick, J. A.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-09-04
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 2057-2068
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2109661383
- Cited by
- 131
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 9.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- reminiscence bump, autobiographical memory, popular music, music preference, intergenerational cultural transmission, emotional response to music, 1960s music, young adults
- MeSH terms
- Age Factors, Consumer Behavior, Emotions, Female, Humans, Judgment, Male, Music, Recognition, Psychology, Young Adult, Memory, Episodic
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