Week 2 Krumhansl Cascading reminiscence bumps in popular music
●The study reported here is the first to show that music transmitted from generation to generation
shapes autobiographical memories, preferences and emotional responses, a phenomenon we call
cascading reminiscence bumps.
●Previous research has found that the music encountered during one’s late adolescence and early
adulthood has the greatest impact on individuals throughout their lives. Studies of older adults show
that music from their youth is recognized more often, more facts are known about it, and that it
evokes more specific autobiographical memories and strong emotions than music from later in life.
This general phenomenon is referred to as the reminiscence bump.
●Cultural transmission refers to the passing on of knowledge, skills, abilities to communicate, and social
norms in a social context rather than biologically.
●Older adults recalled more autobiographical memories from a certain period of life, usually between
10 and 30 years of age, than just before or after that period, which created a bump in the overall
number of memories they recalled across the life span
●The effect is quite consistent across gender, education, and culture.
●Different explanations have been proposed for the reminiscence bump in older adults. One is that
during their late adolescence and early adulthood, they had many first-time experiences that were vivid,
emotional and important milestones. These memories may have been encoded more strongly than
memories from other times in their lives. Another explanation is that prototypical life events first come
to mind when probed. Additionally, the effect may result from hormonal and other neurobiological
changes.
●In sum, music-evoked autobiographical memories are especially interesting from several points of
view. First, music is a very powerful cue for retrieving autobiographical memories, and such memories
are associated with strong emotions and nostalgic feelings.
●A consistent reminiscence bump appears in late adolescence and early adulthood in many memories.
●Recent studies show neural responses to music-evoked autobiographical memories and effects of
individual differences in personality and mood. And perhaps most notable, personal associations
between music and important, specific, and highly emotional events are considered one of the basic
processes that establishes musical emotions.
●The present study was designed to investigate whether the pattern of music- evoked autobiographical
memories and preferences- may have changed given the rapid evolution of popular music styles, and
music’s prevalence, over the last few decades.
Discussion
●This study probed college-aged listeners’ responses to music from 1955 to 2009. For music popular
after participants were born, we found the typical rapid increase in the number of personal memories
associated with that music. Over time, these memories were more from contexts in which participants
were listening alone and with other people, and less from listening with parents. Recent music evoked
feelings of nostalgia less often than older music did.
●What was striking in their study, was that these same response measures showed two distinct bumps
for the music from 1960 to 1969 and from 1980 to 1984, music that was popular before our participants
were born.
●The bump for music popular form 1980 to 1984 might be explained in terms of intergenerational
influences.
●The study reported here is the first to show that music transmitted from generation to generation
shapes autobiographical memories, preferences and emotional responses, a phenomenon we call
cascading reminiscence bumps.
●Previous research has found that the music encountered during one’s late adolescence and early
adulthood has the greatest impact on individuals throughout their lives. Studies of older adults show
that music from their youth is recognized more often, more facts are known about it, and that it
evokes more specific autobiographical memories and strong emotions than music from later in life.
This general phenomenon is referred to as the reminiscence bump.
●Cultural transmission refers to the passing on of knowledge, skills, abilities to communicate, and social
norms in a social context rather than biologically.
●Older adults recalled more autobiographical memories from a certain period of life, usually between
10 and 30 years of age, than just before or after that period, which created a bump in the overall
number of memories they recalled across the life span
●The effect is quite consistent across gender, education, and culture.
●Different explanations have been proposed for the reminiscence bump in older adults. One is that
during their late adolescence and early adulthood, they had many first-time experiences that were vivid,
emotional and important milestones. These memories may have been encoded more strongly than
memories from other times in their lives. Another explanation is that prototypical life events first come
to mind when probed. Additionally, the effect may result from hormonal and other neurobiological
changes.
●In sum, music-evoked autobiographical memories are especially interesting from several points of
view. First, music is a very powerful cue for retrieving autobiographical memories, and such memories
are associated with strong emotions and nostalgic feelings.
●A consistent reminiscence bump appears in late adolescence and early adulthood in many memories.
●Recent studies show neural responses to music-evoked autobiographical memories and effects of
individual differences in personality and mood. And perhaps most notable, personal associations
between music and important, specific, and highly emotional events are considered one of the basic
processes that establishes musical emotions.
●The present study was designed to investigate whether the pattern of music- evoked autobiographical
memories and preferences- may have changed given the rapid evolution of popular music styles, and
music’s prevalence, over the last few decades.
Discussion
●This study probed college-aged listeners’ responses to music from 1955 to 2009. For music popular
after participants were born, we found the typical rapid increase in the number of personal memories
associated with that music. Over time, these memories were more from contexts in which participants
were listening alone and with other people, and less from listening with parents. Recent music evoked
feelings of nostalgia less often than older music did.
●What was striking in their study, was that these same response measures showed two distinct bumps
for the music from 1960 to 1969 and from 1980 to 1984, music that was popular before our participants
were born.
●The bump for music popular form 1980 to 1984 might be explained in terms of intergenerational
influences.
