Memory Retrieval and Music Associations (featuring Disney music!)

After a few days in Walt Disney World this week, I have heard dozens - if not hundreds - of songs played around the parks that I can remember listening to from my childhood. After just a few notes of "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story, and the repetitive - and at times, maddening - "It's a Small World," I can immediately recognize these favorite songs, and I'm brought back to my memories of the rides these songs came from. And I'm sure all of us can recognize the classic tune of  "Yo, Ho! (A Pirate's Life For Me)" from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Ride...

"Here, doggie, doggie!"

...These songs immediately trigger childhood memories when I hear them. But why do we recognize these songs so quickly, and why can we never forget them? Music association. A part of our brain called the hippocampus allows us to remember events years after they have happened. All of the visual, olfactory, and auditory elements from an event come together to form an "episode" of an event in our minds, and we are able to remember these elements years later. For example, hearing music from an event could bring us right back to the "scene" of that event. It's always nostalgic to listen to old songs and remember past-times, but music association is also another very helpful part of music therapy.

Music association has turned out to work great for patients suffering from memory-loss conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's. According to the Alzheimer's Association, "many Alzheimer's patients can remember and sing songs even in advanced stages, long after they've stopped recognizing names and faces." It is true that hearing a song long after a circumstance can even bring back a memory of it. The Alzheimer's Foundation of America outlines different ways music can help Alzheimer's and dementia patients, and how a music therapist would go about treating a patient in their different stages of disease. Music therapy has helped many patients find lost memories through music association.

Like the first few notes of "When You Wish Upon a Star" immediately evoke memories of Pinocchio and general Disney magic, music from the pasts of memory-loss patients can help them retrieve some of those memories that they might not have found had it not been for music therapy. Music association is just one part of music therapy, but it does a great part in helping patients suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia.