Music and Memory


Do you want to relive the experience of being absorbed in your favorite book? Do you feel like your emotions control you? You can take back control over your emotions and mental state through conscious application of music. For example, gyms always play fast, up-beat music to get their lifters pumped and ready to beat PRs. However, music can actually be used to illicit very specific emotions depending on your experiences. 

Any song can be encoded in your mind to represent any emotion or personal experience. This might be absurd, but here are a few examples of song and mental state pairs that I have. Kordhell "Murder in My Mind" is the single-pointed focus I feel when walking briskly through an airport, hell-bent on getting to my gate on time. Billie Eilish "Therefore I am" represents the contemplative state of mind where I can create ideas to write about. Palaye Royale "No Love in LA" reminds me of the struggle and perseverance needed to read papers that I can barely comprehend.

How does one train oneself to feel a certain emotion or relive a specific experience from hearing the first few verses of a song? Consistent repetition of a piece of music while performing a task will train your mind to pair a song with an activity. Note that you can only listen to the song you've chosen only during that specific activity. For example, to associate "No Love in LA" with reading research papers, I read for thirty minutes a day while listening to that song on repeat. I didn't listen to the song for the rest of the day. It took my mind a week or two to create the connection. As a result, to motivate myself to read technical papers, all I have to do is play the first ten seconds or so of "No Love in LA." Now, months after my brain created the association, that song still nudges me to read papers.

Pick a song you enjoy and a habit you want to create; then, try the process for yourself. It's uncanny how the mind can recall particular mental states through music alone.


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