Question

Songs help memories

The power of music

Most people can remember important news stories clearly, whether it was the murder of President Kennedy in the US or 9/11.But now psychologists Martin Conway and Catriona Morrison, from the University of Leeds in the UK, are investigating how music can create “autobiographical memories” of the main events in our lives. The study is online. People have to choose a song by the Beatles and describe the memories that they have when they listen to it.

Reminiscence bump

Morrison explained that they looked at different age groups and their memories. We often remember more from when we are teenagers and this is called “the reminiscence bump”. This is the time in your life when you form your idea of who you are. For older people who have memories related to the Beatles’ music, most of those memories are from when they were teenagers. But younger people also had clear personal memories from their past.

She loves you

This study was different from other memory studies, because people remembered events from their past with lots more details. Morrison explained: “It was like people had travelled back to the past, and they had very clear memories of things that had happened. When they heard a song like She Loves You by the Beatles, they could remember one night in autumn 1963.They remembered what they were wearing, what the weather was like and what their friend said to them. You get a lot more information than if you just say, ‘tell me about a night you remember’. ”

The study has found that music could be used with people who have problems remembering the past. “You could use music to help improve people’s ability to remember,” said Morrison. “In the future, we would like to do more experiments to see how useful music is in helping people to remember the past, and compare it to other things that might also help.”

1.Professor Conway and Dr. Morrison’s research aims to _____________.

A. see how music can help people remember the past

B. study old songs’ influence on people’s behavior

C. find out what influences people’s memories of the past

D. find ways to help people with memory difficulties

2.The example of She Loves You is used to show that ___________.

A. love songs can help people to have clearer memories

B. songs tell stories that are similar to our experiences

C. music can take people back to their teenage years

D. people can remember more details with the help of music

3.Morrison’s team’s future research is probably on ___________.

A. why some people have memory problems

B. what methods can best help people bring back memories

C. how music can help people in their studies or work

D. how to help older people remember more details about the past

Answer 1