Music and Memory

Abstract

Music is encoded and stored in different memory systems. These memory systems overlap with “classical” non-musical memory systems to a large extent. However, there are also some specific features that are associated with music memory. This chapter describes the memory processes and their neural underpinnings which are involved during music listening and remembering of music. One specific feature of music memory is that music encoding, storing, and retrieval are associated with neurophysiological activations controlled by a widely distributed network, indicating that lots of information is activated by the musical content. This distributed network activation could be the key to understanding the often reported and suggested beneficial influences of music on non-music memory information.