Why do even the most adventurous music lovers retire time and time again to the music they've heard as teenagers? Cognitive neuropsychologist dr. Catherine Loveday explains the psychology that connects us to the music of our past and reveals details of an exciting experiment.

Reminiscences

On my 40th birthday I decided I wanted something from my friends that couldn't be bought. I asked everyone to write down their ten favorite songs along with a comment on why they chose this. I wanted this to give me a unique and very personal insight into the people who were most important to me, something that would give me a deep sense of who those people were and why I had invited them to my party in later years. But once a scientist, always a scientist. I couldn't resist noticing a pattern in the songs people chose. Even my most eclectic friends seemed to be interested in songs from their teens. It seemed that they were all affected by a well-established psychological phenomenon, reminiscence. We recognize melodies from this era rather than music we encounter at another point in our lives, and also include them more often in our playlist. This powerful and robust effect occurs not only for music, but also for movies, books and even footballers. And it lasts for life: people in the '80s and '90s will continue to show better memory and a stronger preference for things they first experienced between the ages of 10 and 30.

Reminiscence effect

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