Comparing music‐ and food‐evoked autobiographical memories in young and older adults: A diary study

Previous research has found that music brings back more vivid and emotional autobiographical memories than various other retrieval cues. However, such studies have often been low in ecological validity and constrained by relatively limited cue selection and predominantly young adult samples. Here, w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The British journal of psychology 2023-08, Vol.114 (3), p.580-604
Main Authors: Jakubowski, Kelly, Belfi, Amy M., Kvavilashvili, Lia, Ely, Abbigail, Gill, Mark, Herbert, Gemma
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age differences
Aged
ageing
Autobiographical memory
Cues
Diaries
diary methods
Emotions - physiology
Everyday life
Food
Humans
Involuntary
involuntary memory
Memories
Memory, Episodic
Mental Recall
Music
Music - psychology
music‐evoked autobiographical memory
Older people
Phenomenology
Retrieval
retrieval cues
Young Adult
Young adults
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Previous research has found that music brings back more vivid and emotional autobiographical memories than various other retrieval cues. However, such studies have often been low in ecological validity and constrained by relatively limited cue selection and predominantly young adult samples. Here, we compared music to food as cues for autobiographical memories in everyday life in young and older adults. In two separate four‐day periods, 39 younger (ages 18–34) and 39 older (ages 60–77) adults recorded their music‐ and food‐evoked autobiographical memories in paper diaries. Across both age groups, music triggered more frequent autobiographical memories, a greater proportion of involuntary memories, and memories rated as more personally important in comparison to food cues. Age differences impacted music‐ and food‐evoked memories similarly, with older adults consistently recalling older and less specific memories, which they rated as more positive, vivid, and rehearsed. However, young and older adults did not differ in the number or involuntary nature of their recorded memories. This work represents an important step in understanding the phenomenology of naturally occurring music‐evoked autobiographical memories across adulthood and provides new insights into how and why music may be a more effective trigger for personally valued memories than certain other everyday cues.
ISSN:0007-1269
2044-8295
2044-8295
DOI:10.1111/bjop.12639