Why Do We Remember a Song but Forget Much More Important Things?

Perhaps you forgot about your wedding anniversary or the birthday of a friend. If, on the other hand, a song from 15 years ago by Metallica is played on the radio, you will be able to recall the lyrics correctly, and it can even make you so excited that you immediately search for ticket sites where you can buy their concert tickets!

The same thing might happen in our academic endeavors. Even if we are unable to recall the lesson we diligently studied the day before, we are certain that the music we heard a couple of times a few months ago is still fresh in our minds. It’s a mystery why some songs remain ingrained in our minds for so long. Everything, on the other hand, points to three distinct ways in which our brain functions.

Emotional memory

Memory is always composed of two parts: a cognitive component and an emotional component.

The cognitive one refers to the process of recording and storing the information that we keep, whereas the emotional one relates to the feelings that accompany the memory that we have retained.

Specific brain structures, such as the temporal lobe and the hippocampus, are involved in the cognitive memory filing process. In contrast, other brain structures, such as the amygdaloid nucleus and the limbic system, are involved in emotional memory. It is these brain structures that ‘decide’ whether the material to be memorized has a positive or negative emotional meaning.

Emotional content has been shown to increase memory retention and lengthen recall time. This is especially true when learning is accompanied by feelings of joy or happiness. If an event has a negative emotional impact or if it is difficult to remember an unpleasant experience, there may be an exception. This may help to explain why some events are more difficult to recall than others.

Repeated exposure to a song

In addition, the repeated exposure we receive to a song in stores, bars, on the radio, and on television plays a significant role in our ability to recall the melody of that song. A melody can be memorized more easily if it is exposed repeatedly, which is important for memory consolidation. The repeated exposure of a tune can aid in the memorization of a melody.

Nevertheless, it is essential that we are motivated by the stimulus we wish to memorize (the music) because otherwise, the likelihood of establishing new brain circuits is reduced. The way that song is assimilated into our brains allows us to recall it for years after we have listened to it everywhere and at all times till we are completely exhausted.

Engrams, which are consolidated neurological circuits holding the memorized material and preserved in the brain, serve to store everything that we learn and retain in our minds throughout time. Because of this, consolidation of memory is accompanied by the development of more consistent and long-lasting brain circuits.

In many ways, memory is analogous to a road: the more efficiently we memorize something, the more likely it is that we will build and consolidate a more consolidated ‘neural road’ within our brain, whereas if we memorize something inefficiently, the brain circuits or ‘roads’ that allow us to retain the memorized material are neither built nor consolidated.

Semantic memory

Several studies have found that babies’ brains have the ability to respond to melodies long before they are able to communicate with others through words.

In this scenario, music, in a way, contributes to the formation of our first social tie, which is with our parents. In the future, this will be reproduced in our other social links and, of course, in our musical relationships. While listening to music, the pleasure region of our brain is active, resulting in the production of dopamine, which is essentially a neurotransmitter that makes us feel good about ourselves.

How does music have an effect on memory?

For reasons we don’t fully understand, music is one of the few tools therapists have at their disposal to combat the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia in the elderly.

In 2020, a video went viral of an elderly woman sitting in a chair, who appears to start dancing after listening to the ballet composition “Swan Lake” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. She performed the ballet steps with her hands nearly as if she were performing in front of a filled theatre, and this can only be explained by the intensity of the music she was performing to.

The Bottom Line

Who does not identify a melody with a memorable incident from their youth or with a specific phase of their life? It happens to everyone to associate a song with a previously experienced event. Music has the ability to both build and recall memories in the human brain, which makes it a powerful tool for memory retrieval.

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