The Soundtrack to Forever: Why a Few Notes Can Unlock a Lifetime of Memory

The power of a "music-evoked autobiographical memory" is scientifically documented; it is an involuntary, spontaneous flood of recollection that is more consistently positive than memories triggered by other emotional cues. Songs often accompany major life milestones—graduations, first dates, weddings—and because music captures our attention and is often re-engaged with across our lifetime, it is encoded in the brain with a distinctive life event. This makes the familiar melody an incredibly effective and enduring key to unlock a past self, often with a richness of sensory and emotional detail that a photograph or a verbal description cannot match.