Ask A Scientist© Biology Archive

Question:  I am wondering whether or not music has an effect on short-term
memory, and if so, why?
Missy McClellan
9th Grade  Blountstown High School, Florida
 
Jana Hill (teacher's logon)


Answer:  I don't know, but I'd guess so.  Memory is strongly affected by simultaneous 
activity in other parts of the brain. You remember words you've
spoken better than words you've only read or heard.  You remember items
better if they're part of a picture you've seen or imagined. You recall
where you left your keys by "retracing your steps," duplicating your
physical activities, in reality or in imagination, of the time.  It's also
true that rhythm appears to assist remembering otherwise unconnected data;
mnemonics to recall lists work better if they have rhythm and/or rhyme (and
even better if they are vulgar).  Oral tradition is often rhythmic or
musical.  Advertising uses "jingles."  Important rules and folk wisdom are
often rhythmic or alliterative: "red sky at night, sailor's delight...",
"red, right, returning," "a stitch in time saves nine," etc.   So it seems
likely that music helps memory. For it to work in this way, one piece of
music seems to need to be specifically and repeatedly associated with only
one piece of data. This rules out listening to the radio while doing your
homework, but it would be interesting to set your French vocabulary list to
music.  When I was in college I sang the first transition-metal row of the
periodic table to the "ABC" song (like Tom Lehrer's "Elements") to remember
it, and I did.  I still do 13 years later.  As to why it works, I can only
guess that our minds appear to recall associatively ("I was doing this, and
then she said that, and that's when the dog...") and the more associations
you can make with a piece of data the better it sticks. Secondarily, rhythm
appears to speak to a very basic part of our emotional selves, so it may
enter memory with fewer distractions and anchor well data associated with it.
Christopher Grayce