A new study published reveals why humans tend to prefer music from their teenage years. Findings suggest that songs from our young years are entangled with positive memories and experiences from that time.
We tend to be extremely nostalgic towards the music we grew up on and listened to while we were young. From Queen to Abba to Spice Girls and My Chemical Romance, depending on when you grew up, you're probably listening to these songs up until now.
But why? Do we truly believe that songs from the past are better or does it have something to do with our memories from our teenage years? Here's what science says.
Science Explains Why
In a study published in the Sage Journals Music & Science, scientists suggest an intriguing answer.
Music appears to be closely intertwined with emotion and memory. This would explain why shows where celebrities share the soundtracks of their lives are popular. Music is particularly linked with positive emotional memories with social themes, says a study, which also makes it relevant for helping improve life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research in general psychology shows that autobiographical memories (life experiences) from notable time periods are better remembered than others.
In one study, the phenomenon 'reminiscence bump' says that people tend to disproportionately recall memories from when they were 10-30 years old. According to researchers, things we learn during early adulthood and teenage years are remembered best.
Several theoretical explanations concerning the phenomenon are offered. One theory is that during this period, we experience more novel and self-defining experiences that may be encoded deeper in the brain and easier to retrieve. Another, hormonal and biological changes may help boost the effectiveness of our memories during our youth.
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The Findings
Researchers investigated the presence of the "musical reminiscence bump" in a group of 470 adults between 18-82 years old.
The goals were to investigate how the age of a person when a song was popular would affect three related distinct concepts: how much they liked the song, the degree of how the song was associated with life experiences, and how familiar the song was.
Participants were shown titles and artists of 111 pop songs that were once featured in charts over a 65-year period and provided ratings of the three concepts of interests.
Findings showed that music that charted during one's adolescence was rated as more failure and was also linked with more autobiographical memories. Music related reminiscence bump peaks at roughly age14. Popular songs when participants were this age overall evoked the most memories.
Adult participants roughly 40+ years old liked more songs from their teenage years than other songs. But younger adults aged 18-40 did not exhibit the same trend. In some cases gave lower liking ratings to music from their teenage years that music released before they were born.
The findings suggest that songs from our teenage years can become closely entangled with important memories from our past even if we personally do not value the music. This may be due to the accompanied various memorable settings in this period such as gatherings of friends, school dances, and graduations.
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