Beatles music helps recall memory

London, Sept 08: ‘Beatles’ music appears to be one of the most powerful triggers of memories, as people can still recall where they were and what they were doing when they first heard the Fab Four’s music, according to a new study.In the study by the University of Leeds, involving more than 3,000 people of all ages from 69 different countries, the research team studied the links between memory and music.

Most responses were from the people between the ages of 55 and 65, who would have been in their teens during the Beatles era in the 1960s. The song that generated most memories - from first kiss to funerals to hot summer nights was ‘She Loves You’, followed by ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘Imagine’ and ‘In My life’. However, for Americans, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ evoked more memories. “We are so impressed with how vividly people could recall memories sometimes from more than 40 years ago, especially when many eloquent and vivid memories appear to have been little recalled in decades,” the Telegraph quoted Dr Catriona Morrison from the Institute of Psychological Sciences, as saying. “This shows the power of music in shaping and reliving sometimes long-neglected memories. We were very keen to examine the levels of emotionality in the uploaded memories. “We had anticipated that women might have more emotional memories but this has not been substantiated by the data. This again emphasises the universality of the Beatles as a force in people’s lives,” she added. The researchers suggest that Beatles music is more than just a mere “auditory cheesecake”. “We argue that music is more than auditory cheesecake. It’s a means by which people can account for themselves both as an individual and as part of society,” say the researchers. Professor Martin Conway, also from Institute of Psychological Sciences said: “Music taps you into the history of your times. We have built up evidence that music jogs your memory.” He added that it was possible that happy memories of the Beatles could be used therapeutically to help people suffering from depression. ANI