The cognitive and emotional content of music-evoked autobiographical memories in older adults

Music can play a significant role in mitigating cognitive deficits in aging adults. When music is long known and has an emotional significance (i.e., autobiographical music ), it can trigger memories of past experiences (i.e., Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories, MEAMs). In this study, we examined the cognitive and emotional content of MEAMs when older adults listened to autobiographical music. To better understand the unique features of MEAMs, we also compared them with responses to non-autobiographical music. Participants ( N = 18; Mean age = 67.7) were asked to listen to (a) a selection of self-selected autobiographical musical pieces and (b) excerpts of researcher-selected songs. Furthermore, participants completed two surveys on their cognitive and emotional responses to music and took part in follow-up interviews. Results indicated that MEAMs elicited positive emotions, which were strongly felt, and triggered memories of life periods with references to themes such as growing up, love relationships and relationships with family, leisure and working times, and stress releasing. Responses to non-autobiographical music triggered different types of cognitive responses, including assimilating new music sounds, and mainly featured references to negative emotional states. MEAMs should be further investigated as a non-pharmacological treatment for age-related cognitive decline and for clinically diagnosed memory disorders.