A melody through life. How humans wander.

Abstract

Recollection or remembering events while listening to music is mediated by not only the personal relevance of that music, but also by different aspects, such as concentration on the music, influences of the environment and the momentary state of the human mind. To further clarify this phenomenon this paper addresses the question “How does personally relevant music induce certain individual memories and what other factors are of importance?” By means of an interview followed by an analysis of that interview it could be demonstrated that the process of remembering cannot take place under certain circumstances, e.g. in the presence of inhibiting stressors. If there is no concentration and the listener is otherwise preoccupied, true remembrance will be inhibited. It is also possible that the situation in which a trigger is present does not allow the recollection of autobiographical events. However, this inhibiting process is also necessary since a lack of inhibition would result in constant remembering and human minds would not be able to wander at all. It was also shown that the experience of music becomes a cultural experience and that there is an association of music with extramusical events.