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Forget-Me-Not
Running head: MUSIC ENHANCES MEMORY
Forget-Me-Not: How Music Enhances Memory
Group E: Kathryn Huddle, Sarah Mancz,
Joshua Minko, Cristina Piazza, & Robert Welling
MiamiUniversity
How can you enhance your memory to remember things better? This is a question many people seek the answer to in our culture today.As our groupcontemplated a way to bridge together the course materials and the messages conveyed in Daniel Levitin’s book, we decided to explore the connections between memory and music, and whether music can actually improve your memory. This topic would also allow us to not only investigate more thoroughly the topics linking music to memory, but also cultural settings in determining the ways different societies show how music can improve memory. The conclusions we determined from our individual research are presented in this paper beginning with the physical aspects of how memory works and how repetition is useful to memory, and then moving on to the links between music and memory, where those links are found in our society, and ending with how music and memory are coupled in different cultures with a steel band tradition.
Human memory is distinguished as a processing system that is comprised of three characterizing elements. Most typically, research will recognize these three stages of memory, illustrated through a processing model. Memory models are inclusive to the depiction of memory as entailing the flow of information between three interrelated stores (Parkin, 1993, pp 10). Research has established unresolved suggestions surrounding the association between music and memory. Daniel Levitin has resolved the missing link by identifying many components of music fused within certain parts of these conceptual models of memory.
Alan Parkin terms the memory model as the “Multistore model of memory” (Parkin, 1993, pp 10). Stephen Davis and Joseph Palladino identify “The stages-of-memory model” as a representation of memory information processing. A working definition of memory, according to Ian Neath, is “the ability to use or revive information that was previously encoded or processed (Neath, 1998, pp 4). Neath refers to the memory model as the “Simple network” (Neath, 1998, pp 27). What all of these models have in common is that they differentiate between the stages of memory.
Sensory memory, the first stage of information processing, is temporarily stored input taken in via the senses (Davis & Palladino, 2007, pp 291).One of its functions includes the processing of input. Here, new information enters sensory memory, which retains information about the pattern of sensory stimulation (Parkin, 1993, pp 10). Audition is the sensory stimuli most exercised. A short clip of music can be picked up through the sensory store and quickly remind you of things you have previously heard, which activate memory traces of emotional times in our lives (Levitin, 2006, pp 188).
Sensory store passes into short term store, or short term memory, which represents the locus of mental activity and control processes which determine the contents of short term memory (Parkin, 1993, pp 10). Here, sensory details are held in consciousness for a short period of time (Davis & Palladino, 2007, pp 291). Select information from sensory memory is attended to and sent to short term memory. Short term memory is limited in capacity and duration unless it is processed through repetition, rehearsal or association (Loftus, 1976, pp 9). Rehearsal of input in short term store leads to transfer of information to permanent storage, or long term memory (Davis & Palladino, 2007, pp 293). Long term memory is the memory system that is vast in capacity, virtually unlimited in duration and is permanently available (Loftus, 1976, pp 9). Organization of information assists in aiding
long term memory. Chunking refers to separating information into groups, rather than remembering individual pieces of information (Levitin, 2006, pp 213).
Encoding is an important factor in memory functioning because any memory system must store information in terms of a form of code (Parkin, 1993, pp 10). Pitches of songs are encoded in neurons, which create long term memory (Levitin, 2006, pp 147). Each division of the human brain has a certain function. The temporal lobe has a significant association to long term memory (Levitin, 2006, pp 83). Existing within this lobe is the hippocampus, which contributes to your ability to follow along with music you know or are familiar with (Levitin, 2006, pp 84).
Music has long been known to affect the human body, when you tap your foot to a piece of music, or when your blood starts racing during an intense song. The scientific study of music and its effects on the brain is just as significant, though perhaps not as visible to us in everyday life. This science is called neuromusicology.
When we hear a sound, it passes through the auditory nerve in the ear and travels to the temporal lobe of the brain to be processed (Davis & Palladino, 2006, pp 103). The location of the brain that is activated by the processing of music is also activated when the same music is imagined or remembered (Weinberger, 2004, par. 15). In this way music is shown to activate the brain the same way a memory does, but it is important to consider these locations in more detail.
As the brain categorizes the information it receives, it does so likewise with music. The different elements of a piece of music are broken down and processed differently. The cells of the brain react differently to different frequencies of music, with certain cells reacting best to certain frequencies. While both hemispheres of the brain are involved with a reaction to music, the left hemisphere seems to correlate to discerning rhythm, the right, harmony and timbre (Weinberger, 2004, par. 10-11).
The right hemisphere of the brain appears essential for emotional development in language and also important in using spatial abilities. A study done in 1998 found that lessons in song bells done with three and four year olds improved their spatial-temporal scores on tests (Habermeyer, 2002, sec. 3). The elements harmony and timbre require a person to recognize similarities and differences among different sounds, and this need for a broader perception of sounds correlates nicely to harmony and timbre’s place in the brain. The left hemisphere is where language and speech processing takes place, and in a manner more analytic and logical (Davis & Palladino, 2006, p79). This is interesting to consider because rhythm is based on the logical repetition and patterning of sounds. As rhythm appears to function in mnemonics, it also appears to do so in music. It is that repetitive nature, that rehearsal in the brain, which is used in remembering various words and concepts.
Another interesting aspect of music’s affect on the brain is the relationship of it to language formation. The processing of the two is found in related areas of the brain, for example “a region in the frontal lobe enables proper construction of the syntax of both music and language” (Weinberger, 2004, par. 6). Music is able to affect our emotions in the same ways as a beautiful poem or story might; it transfers information to character and time and evokes our memories.
When it comes to memory, it has been shown that music engages both sides of the brain. Because of the importance of communication between the two hemispheres in
learning, this could perhaps be a sign that music could enhance learning. A study done on Alzheimer’s patients found that they did better on memory tests after listening to Mozart (2006, par. 1). The validity of this type of study has been called into question because of various repeated attempts that do not achieve similar results. One may ask if it is other factors that cause the increased activity, and how we truly know that increased activity is an indicator of more learning potential.
When I was younger, I remember once seeing an episode of the TV show “Arthur” that had to do with memory. In this particular episode, Arthur’s class is holding a spelling bee and Arthur is frantically studying at home the night before the event. The first word that he begins to study is “aardvark.” He quickly begins to practice singing the letters in a certain cadence and rhythm. The next day, Arthur recalls the order of the letters in the word when asked to do so very quickly. What is most interesting is that I have not seen this episode since I was in fourth or fifth grade but I immediately was able to remember just how Arthur sang the letters when I thought of it. It is now almost nine years later and I still am able to bring to mind the one time I heard Arthur sing these letters and exactly how he sang them.
What is this connection with music and memory? How does putting letters or words to music help one retain information so well? Luckily, there are a large amount of studies that have been done regarding these two questions. In Daniel Levitin’s This Is Your Brain on Music, he discusses how the areas for hearing and memory are both located in the temporal lobe of the brain (Levitin, 2006, pp 83). Already we are seeing a connection in just the proximity of these two functions within the brain. Levitin goes on to say that when people are given the task to remember or listen to lyrics, two specific areas, Broca’s and Wernicke’s, are being used (Levitin, 2006, pp 84). These areas, both located in the left temporal region, deal with the interpretation and production of speech. The human voice just happens to be one of the most basic instruments for producing sound and music. When people recognize a voice or hear someone speaking, these areas in the left side of the brain are activated (Davis &Palladino, 2007, pp 63–73). Now, as stated before, these sections of the brain used for hearing just happen to be very close to those used for memory. This leads to another question, can an area in the brain designated for one function have any influence on another area of the brain designated for a separate function?
A study done at the University of China,Hong Kong examined just this question. Psychologists at the university examined ninety school children. Some of these children had a background in music and were currently practicing music while others had no musical background. All of the students were read lists of words and then asked to remember as many words as possible ten minutes later (Chan, 2003). They were again tested thirty minutes after to see how many words they could still remember. The test results showed that the students with a background in music were able to retain many more words from the original listing than the other students. Another interesting point was that the amount of words the children remember was proportional to the amount of time they had been playing and practicing music. The longer the experience the child had with music, the more words they remembered (Chan, 2003).
This study led many psychologists to believe that there must be some sort of biological connection with memory and music. Dr. Agnes Chan, one of heads of the
experiment, believes that exercising one area of the brain can go on to influence related areas. Stimulation of the left temporal lobe caused by hearing music also stimulates nearby areas associated with memory. In terms of this experiment, the planum temporale was being activated. This area controls all memory that has to do with retaining verbal information (Lavelle, 2003). When the children heard the words being read during the examination, the music students’ planum temporale was able to retain more than the rest of the students.
Dr. Chan also believes that using music as a way to increase one’s verbal memory could also influence the way memory loss is treated. If stimulation of two areas of the brain simultaneously leads to increased retention and memory then why not begin to use music as a type of therapy for those with any type of large memory loss (Chan, 2003)?
After establishing a relationship between memory and music it now becomes important to uncover certain areas in our society in which this correlation is utilized and exploited. As Levitin states, “common neural mechanisms help to explain how it is that songs get stuck in our heads” (Levitin, 2006, pp 151). By employing music in lesson plans, teachers are able to relate to these mechanisms and have information get “stuck” in the student’s brain. In early education, music is routinely used to help children retain broad information. According to Marian Whitmer in her journal titledUsingMusic to Teach American History, “music is laden with feelings, and because of that, people will typically remember the activities it accompanies (2005). She explains that the use of music establishes creativity and helps alleviate some of the boring aspects of the material, making it more interesting to the subordinate. Whether it is singing the ABC’s or “head, shoulders, knees, and toes,” using music to teach has become a commonality in grade schools across the world.
The question then becomes, why is it that as our brain develops and we move onto institutions of higher education music no longer plays as vital a role in the learning and retaining of information? One possible explanation that could solve this issue is that of the varying techniques used to facilitate memory. As Davis and Paladino explain in their text, techniques such as forming acronyms or acrostics are also popular forms for facilitating memory (Davis & Paladino, 2006, pp 316). However, these devices are a bit more complicated and difficult to master then using music. Therefore it is our belief that as one develops, he or she moves away from the elementary technique of music and begins to divulge in a more sophisticated method. At the same time, as one matures, the responsibility shifts from the teacher to the student. No longer is the teacher responsible for a student memorizing the information, their requirement forms more around teaching and explaining the material. Rather the student becomes accountable for retaining the information. With this existing, music is no longer as important in the classroom.
However, music is not only limited to the classroom and learning the alphabet. It has also been used in common societal places such as churches and the military. Found on their website, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints explains that “Music can increase children’s understanding of gospel principles” (2007). It places the material into a form that is common to them and allows for a more productive structure of learning. Music can also be found in the military. Many can make the association between soldiers and the chants heard while marching. This forms a sense of unity among the individuals while teaching discipline. The use of chanting and music provides structure and unison to themarching and allows for an easier grasp of the task. It helps facilitate one’s memory of the technique and form.
When studying the effects of music on the human memory in our own society, it is also interesting to examine the ways other cultures link music and repetition to achieve a better memory as well as perpetuate their unique cultural traditions. Steel band music originated on the island of Trinidad after an abundance of oil drums were left on the island by the Americans after World War II. “After the end of the war the supply of oil drums then continued from the island’s own industry of petroleum based products. As this was a very inexpensive way of making music, the first real interest came from the poorer population of the island” (Floyd, 1998, pp 128). Although the initial interest in steel band music was from a poor group, this unique style of music quickly became immensely popular so that even today many “bands compete for a place in the famous festival held in Trinidad and Tobago every year” (Floyd, 1998, pp128). During the Trinidad Carnival, steel bands compete in the infamous Panorama competition. Preparation for this pre-Lenten competition begins after Christmas with bands practicing “four or five hours each day near carnival time” (Mason, 1998, pp 60). At this rate and coupled with each pannists’ fierce desire to win the competition every year, the pannists come close to Daniel Levitin’s “ten-thousand-hours theory”necessary to become an expert in a certain area. In addition, “the average pannist is reckoned to spend around 180 hours over a six-week period up to carnival practicing nightly in the panyard, first learning the chosen tune for Panorama, then endlessly refining and improving it” (Mason, 1998, pp 68). This kind of rehearsal seems reasonable for a music professional to undergo before such a prestigious performance, but the most interesting aspect of all this is that, remaining true to the tradition, most of the members of the Panorama steel bands are just normal people who have an interest in that type of music—and none of them learn the songs by written sheet music!
Contrary to how extremely professional the Panorama steel bands may sound, the only professional characteristics about them include their music arranger and their demanding rehearsal methods. “Most pan beaters…do everything by ear and have no formal music training; there will be no music sheets here” (Mason, 1998, pp 68). Since everything is done by ear and without music, the role of the arranger is to have his band memorize the ten minute piece in sequences or chunksthrough sheer repetition. The tune is taught to band “line by line, almost always without written music. Later [the arranger] shifts some of the work to…the section leaders, who are usually the fastest learners and can memorize patterns. The leaders pass on their knowledge to the rest, helping to bring their section into line” (Mason, 1998, pp 73). This is an incredible task, but because the pannists are memorizing sequences of music in chunks that may repeat or revert back to a main theme, they are able to retain what they learn with much more ease than by simply using sheer repetition. Daniel Levitin refers to this method as “chunking” which is “the process of tying together units of information into groups, and remembering the group as a whole rather than the individual pieces” (Levitin, 2006, pp 213). This method greatly aids memorization because it forms a hierarchical organization of the sequences or chunks.