Music evokes autobiographical memories through activation of the brain's limbic system
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The provided peer-reviewed literature notes that music can evoke memories and nostalgia in individuals, but does not establish that this occurs through activation of the limbic system.
Nostalgia is a mixed emotion that is often evoked by music. Nostalgic music may induce temporary improvements in autobiographical memory in individuals with cognitive decline. However, the neural mechanism underlying music-evoked nostalgia and its associated memory improvements is unclear. With the ultimate goal of understanding how nostalgia-evoking music may help retrieve autobiographical memories in individuals with cognitive impairment, we first sought to understand the neural underpinnings of these processes in healthy younger and older adults. Methodological constraints, including the lack of personally tailored and experimentally controlled stimuli, have impeded our understanding of this mechanism. Here, we utilized an innovative machine-learning-based method to construct three categories of songs, all matched for musical features: (1) personalized nostalgic, (2) familiar non-nostalgic, and (3) unfamiliar non-nostalgic. In 57 participants (29 aged 18-35; 28 aged 60 and older), we investigated the functional neural correlates of music-evoked nostalgia using fMRI. Four main findings emerged: (1) Listening to nostalgic music, more than familiar non-nostalgic or unfamiliar music, was associated with bilateral activity in the default mode network, salience network, reward network, medial temporal lobe, and supplementary motor regions, (2) Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) models indicated that listening to nostalgic music involved increased functional connectivity of self-referential (posteromedial cortex) and affect-related regions (insula), (3) Older adults had stronger BOLD signals than younger adults in nostalgia-related regions during nostalgic listening, (4) While the BOLD response to nostalgic music in younger adults was associated with trait-level factors of nostalgia proneness and cognitive ability, the response in older adults was related to affective responses to the music. Overall, our findings serve as a foundation for understanding the neural bas
When listening to music, nostalgia is a top‐reported emotion (Jakubowski and Ghosh 2019 ), making music an ideal stimulus from which to study this emotion. While a vast literature has documented the psychological underpinnings of nostalgia and, to a lesser degree, music‐evoked nostalgia, we lack a basic understanding of how nostalgia is processed in the brain. 1.1 Music‐Evoked Autobiographical Memory and Familiarity in the Brain While few studies have investigated the neural correlates of music‐evoked nostalgia, there is a growing body of adjacent research outlining the neural basis of musical‐evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMS; Janata et al. 2007 ).
Between age groups, familiarity was associated with greater activity in medial limbic regions for younger adults and in lateral parietal, temporal, and superior midline regions in older adults (i.e., anterior cingulate (ACC) and PCC) (Ford et al. 2016 ). Healthy older adults listening to well‐liked familiar music exhibited activation in auditory (STG, MTG) and default mode regions (MPFC, PCC, inferior parietal lobule [IPL]), with self‐selected music also activating parahippocampal regions (Quinci et al. 2022 ).
Yet, variations in task‐related activation between age groups are inconsistent and warrant further study. 1.2 Nostalgia in the Brain While the aforementioned studies provide critical information on the neural regions involved in listening to preferred, familiar, or memory‐evoking music, few studies have examined the neural correlates of specifically nostalgic music that is both affect‐laden and memory‐evoking. Yang and colleagues (Yang et al.
Similarly, our method of identifying both familiar and unfamiliar non‐nostalgic songs to create musically matched stimuli triplets was also successful. These songs were adequately matched on acoustic and musical features that may otherwise contribute to neural activation patterns and allowed us to systematically separate the effect of nostalgia from the effect of musical style preference or familiarity. We invite researchers to take advantage of this method for future work on music‐evoked emotion and autobiographical memories, utilizing our freely available online matching tool (soundslikethis.us).
First, observed activation in self‐referential regions of the brain (precuneus, PCC, MPFC) connects to nostalgia's inherent nature as a self‐salient and self‐reflective emotion (Sedikides et al. 2016 ; Sedikides, Wildschut, Gaertner, et al. 2008 ). Second, observed activation in regions implicated in autobiographical processing (parahippocampal gyrus, temporal pole, PCC, MPFC, angular gyrus) reflect nostalgia's role
Overall, the present findings support a neural model of nostalgia that implicates circuitry for self‐referential processing and autobiographical memory (both of which encompass the majority of the default mode network), emotion regulation, and reward. In addition to these hypothesized regions, we observed activation in regions of the brain previously observed in general music‐evoked emotion, including sensory and motor regions (Koelsch 2020 ). The observed activation in occipital regions (lateral occipital cortex, intracalcarine cortex) additionally aligns with past work on music‐evoked emotions (Belden et al. 2023 ; Sachs et al. 2020 ; Trost et al.
These shifts might lead to consistently increased neural recruitment during tasks that involve self‐referential and autobiographical memory, like nostalgic music listening. Future work could probe these explanations by examining qualitative differences in music‐evoked memories (i.e., episodic details, gist‐level details, autobiographical integration, or references to the self) between age groups and relating these findings to neural activation in response to nostalgic music. If neural responses are predicted more by differences in self‐referential or high‐level narrative elements, rather than by a reduction in episodic details, the second interpretation may be supported.
Recent findings indicate that Music Therapy (MT) and Music-Based Interventions (MBIs) may reduce craving symptoms in people with Substance Use Disorders (SUD). However, MT/MBIs can lead SUD clients to recall memories associated with their drug history and the corresponding strong emotions (addiction memories). Craving is a central component of SUD, possibly linked to relapse and triggered by several factors such as the recall of memories associated with the drug experience. Therefore, to address the topic of what elements can account for an improvement in craving symptoms after MT/MBIs, we conducted a narrative review that (1) describes the brain correlates of emotionally salient autobiographical memories evoked by music, (2) outlines neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies suggesting how the experience of craving may encompass the recall of emotionally filled moments, and (3) points out the role of perineuronal nets (PNNs) in addiction memory neuroplasticity. We highlight how autobiographical memory retrieval, music-evoked autobiographical memories, and craving share similar neural activations with PNNs which represent a causal element in the processing of addiction memory. We finally conclude by considering how the neuroplastic characteristics of addiction memory might represent the ground to update and/or recalibrate, within the therapy, the emotional content related to the recall.
We highlight how autobiographical memory retrieval, music-evoked autobiographical memories, and craving share similar neural activations with PNNs which represent a causal element in the processing of addiction memory. We finally conclude by considering how the neuroplastic characteristics of addiction memory might represent the ground to update and/or recalibrate, within the therapy, the emotional content related to the recall.
In accordance with previously published work, these will be referred to as Music-Based Interventions (MBIs) [ 21 , 22 ]. Although recent findings of a Cochrane review [ 23 ] indicate that MT and MBIs reduce craving symptoms in SUD clients, there is still a lack of information about possible neural mechanisms of this therapeutic change [ 23 ]. Therefore, building upon the evidence showing a noticeable overlap in the activations of brain structures devoted to craving, autobiographical memory retrieval, and music-evoked autobiographical memories, the aim of this narrative review is to answer the following question: What factors can explain the reduction in craving symptoms after MT and MBIs?
Or to be more specific: Can the neuroplasticity of addiction memory represent viable access for MT and MBIs to reduce craving in SUD participants? To address this question, we conceived a three-folded purpose developed into three different sections. The first objective ( Section 2 ) is to describe brain correlates of how music can cue autobiographical memories and evoke emotions.
Music’s Ability to Elicit Emotions and Evoke Memories: A Look at the Brain Correlates In the last two decades, MT and MBIs have been increasingly recognized as useful options for the treatment of several complex conditions, such as stroke, schizophrenia, dementia, autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, depression, and Parkinson’s disease [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ], and neuroscientific investigations concerning aspects of MT and MBIs are becoming more and more frequent [ 34 ].
Notwithstanding, in the event that the client feels a music-induced craving, the therapist should ensure that the client is supported within the safety of the session [ 16 , 45 ] through recalibration and retraining of emotional responses to music with the aim to avoid relapse [ 16 ]. Finally, the question that arises and that has not been addressed by existing scientific reviews is: what elements might explain craving-related therapeutic change associated with MT/MBIs for SUD? 2.3. Music Is
Neural Correlates of Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories Neuroimaging fMRI technology has been used to probe the functional brain activations of music-induced autobiographical memories (MEAMs) [ 82 , 83 , 84 ]. MEAMs are arrays of memories elicited by music and displaying common features. They are most likely involuntarily recalled from within the reminiscence bump period [ 85 ] which is an increased number of memories older people recall from 10 to 30 years of age [ 80 ].
Indeed, those findings denote a considerable overlap between the localization of the neural correlates of craving and the neural activations involved in processing autobiographical memories and MEAMs ( Table 1 ). Table 1 Evidence for the overlap between brain structures involved in the feeling of craving, autobiographical memory retrieval, and MEAMs. Brain Region BA Domain Involved Main Findings dlPFC 46 AM ↑ activation during AM recollection [ 66 ] 46 MEAM ↑ activation during familiar and popular music triggering AM [ 82 , 84 ] 46 Craving ↑ activation during the presentation of drug-related cues [ 101 ] N.A.
Conclusions Neuroimaging studies of drug cravings showed changes in areas of the brain that are critical to the reconsolidation process of autobiographical memories suggesting that the recall of emotionally filled moments may underlie the experience of craving. Here, we show a remarkable overlap between these regions of the brain and the areas involved in MEAMs that are generally characterized by emotional content ( Table 1 ). Those similar activations are summed up in the following paragraph.
In the present article, starting from the observation of remarkable similarities in the activity of brain regions involved in autobiographical memory retrieval, MEAMs, and the feeling of craving, we propose the neuroplastic feature of the reconsolidation process of addiction memories—demonstrated through the measurement of PNNs in the dlPFC and amygdala—as an explanatory viable angle to update and recalibrate the emotional content related to the recall of addiction memories.
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