Why do people prefer music they heard when they were young?
Why do people prefer music they heard when they were young?
Today we are going to talk about miscellaneous things about music, not animation!
People tend to prefer music they listened to when they were young, and some people feel that their teenage years were filled with better music when they listened to more recent songs. A study focusing on the “relationship between music and memory” has been published to investigate why people prefer music from when they were younger.
A Cross-Sectional Study of Reminiscence Bumps for Music-Related Memories in Adulthood
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2059204320965058
Why we’re obsessed with music from our youth
https://theconversation.com/why-were-obsessed-with-music-from-our-youth-154864
Many people recall their school days when they listen to popular songs, and many people realize that music is closely related to memory. TV and radio programs in which “celebrities perform memorable songs along with episodes from the past” are broadcast in many countries, and music therapy in which nostalgic music is played to dementia patients is also widely practiced.
People do not remember their past memories uniformly, and past research in the field of psychology has shown that people remember “autobiographical memories” of their own experiences around the ages of 10 to 30 more strongly than during other periods. Theoretical explanations for remembering autobiographical memories better at a younger age include that people often have novel and self-defining experiences during this period, and that it is influenced by changes in hormone production in the body.
To study the link between music and memory, the research team conducted a survey of 470 subjects aged 18-82. The survey asked the subjects to respond to 111 pop songs and artist names that appeared on the hit charts over a 65-year period from 1950-2015, asking them to indicate the association between autobiographical memory and the songs, the degree to which they were familiar with the songs, and their likes and dislikes of the songs.
After analyzing the responses, the researchers found that music that hit when the subjects were adolescents was not only rated as more familiar, but was also associated with more autobiographical memories. This trend was found overall, regardless of the age of the subjects, and in particular, music that hit when the subjects were around 14 years old evoked the most autobiographical memories.
On the other hand, when looking at “song likes and dislikes,” while those over 40 showed a preference for songs that were popular during adolescence, those aged 18-40 did not show the same tendency, with some subjects preferring songs that were popular before they were born over songs that were popular during their adolescent years.
This suggests the possibility that songs popular during adolescence are closely intertwined with autobiographical memories, even if one does not like the song. The research team believes that because adolescents have many memorable memories of student life, interaction with friends, and graduation, they may be more likely to associate songs they heard during that period with their memories.
The study also found that some songs are beloved across generations. Pop songs popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, such as “Hotel California” by the Eagles, “Survival of Love” by Gloria Gaynor, and “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, were favorites of many people regardless of age.