Unforgettable film music: the role of emotion in episodic long-term memory for music.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Specific pieces of music can elicit strong emotions in listeners and, possibly in connection with these emotions, can be remembered even years later. However, episodic memory for emotional music compared with less emotional music has not yet been examined. We investigated whether emotional music is remembered better than less emotional music. Also, we examined the influence of musical structure on memory performance.

Results

Recognition of 40 musical excerpts was investigated as a function of arousal, valence, and emotional intensity ratings of the music. In the first session the participants judged valence and arousal of the musical pieces. One week later, participants listened to the 40 old and 40 new musical excerpts randomly interspersed and were asked to make

SUBMITTER: Eschrich S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2430709 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature