Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Contextual Information And Memory For Unfamiliar Tunes In Older And Younger Adults, Samantha A. Deffler, Andrea R. Halpern Jan 2011

Contextual Information And Memory For Unfamiliar Tunes In Older And Younger Adults, Samantha A. Deffler, Andrea R. Halpern

Faculty Journal Articles

We examined age differences in the effectiveness of multiple repetitions and providing associative facts on tune memory. For both tune and fact recognition, three presentations were beneficial. Age was irrelevant in fact recognition, but older adults were less successful than younger in tune recognition. The associative fact did not affect young adults' performance. Among older people, the neutral association harmed performance; the emotional fact mitigated performance back to baseline. Young adults seemed to rely solely on procedural memory, or repetition, to learn tunes. Older adults benefitted by using emotional associative information to counteract memory burdens imposed by neutral associative information.


The Persistence Of Musical Memories: A Descriptive Study Of Earworms, Andrea R. Halpern, James C. Bartlett Jan 2011

The Persistence Of Musical Memories: A Descriptive Study Of Earworms, Andrea R. Halpern, James C. Bartlett

Faculty Journal Articles

We describe some characteristics of persistent musical and verbal retrieval episodes, commonly known as "earworms." In Study 1, participants first filled out a survey summarizing their earworm experiences retrospectively. This was followed by a diary study to document each experience as it happened. Study 2 was an extension of the diary study with a larger sample and a focus on triggering events. Consistent with popular belief, these persistent musical memories were common across people and occurred frequently for most respondents, and were often linked to recent exposure to preferred music. Contrary to popular belief, the large majority of such experiences …