Does A Song Conjure Painful Memories? Try To Rehabilitate It, Say Scientists

When Bonnie hears nan opening bars of nan Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony, she is transported backmost to 1997. But it isn’t a joyful representation that comes to mind; it is nan achy recollection of driving location from schoolhouse and seeing nan sheriff changing a fastener connected her house.

Then a teenager, Bonnie and her family were astir to beryllium evicted. And nan Verve’s opus was everywhere.

“It was a large deed astatine nan time, and it conscionable seemed to beryllium playing each nan time, successful takeaway shops and shopping centres, connected nan power successful nan car. I conscionable couldn’t get distant from this song,” she says.

To this time nan 46-year-old who lives successful Canberra, Australia, says she will alteration nan power aliases time off nan location wherever nan opus is playing to debar proceeding it. “The lyrics of this opus excessively intimately described our situation,” she says.

Indeed galore group debar peculiar tunes because they are attached to nan representation of an arena that was either upsetting, aliases was erstwhile pleasant but has since go achy to recall.

For Matt, 52, an technologist successful nan northbound of England, nan full oeuvre of Neil Diamond is to beryllium avoided aft a partner pinch a emotion of nan vocalist confessed to having lied astir nan quality of a narration pinch a colleague.

“We utilized to for illustration Friday nighttime room discos. We utilized to perceive to each kinds, and usually Neil Diamond would beryllium on,” Matt says, adding his erstwhile partner had been to respective Neil Diamond concerts, including 1 pinch her leader earlier she met Matt.

The colleague, nan female insisted, had conscionable been a friend. But aft 3 years successful a narration pinch Matt, she confessed she had had an matter pinch her leader while she was joined to her erstwhile hubby and still had feelings for nan colleague.

Now, says Matt, erstwhile a Neil Diamond opus comes connected nan radio, he has to skip nan track. “If I spell into my section pub and it’s connected nan jukebox I’ll spell into nan different room aliases spell outside,” he says.

The euphony of Neil Diamond has go associated pinch feelings of betrayal for 1 erstwhile fan. Photograph: AP

According to Ilja Salakka, a doctoral interrogator astatine nan University of Helsinki, nan narration betwixt euphony and memories is linked to emotions.

“Emotions play a cardinal domiciled successful long-lasting memories generally, and since euphony tin evoke beardown emotions, it is apt that euphony tin heighten nan representation related to an event,” he said. “Of course, this tin besides activity successful reverse: an arena itself whitethorn beryllium affectional and fortify nan representation of a business that involves music.”

Dr Stephanie Leal, a postdoctoral chap astatine nan University of California, Berkley, said that erstwhile emotionally arousing euphony occurs, aliases is paired with, an affectional experience, it tin beryllium difficult to pin down which is causing nan emotions that thief instil nan memory. “The type of affectional consequence tin really dictate what we’re holding connected to successful our memories,” she said.

In 1 study, Leal and colleagues recovered erstwhile group listened to euphony that induced either very beardown aliases very anemic emotions they were amended capable to retrieve nan gist of an event, whereas they were amended capable to retrieve specifications erstwhile they had a much mean affectional response.

Salakka added that typically it is euphony from a listener’s teenage years aliases early adulthood that evokes astir memories.

“[The] mostly of memories attached to euphony thin to beryllium affirmative successful nature,” he added. But that is not ever nan case. “Positive music-related memories are often much wide successful nature, whereas antagonistic memories thin to beryllium related to much circumstantial events,” he said.

As Matt’s acquisition shows, however, nan emotions attached to a song, and its associated memory, tin change. “Now it’s drafting up antagonistic memories successful that [it’s] stirring up caller emotions that weren’t primitively there,” said Leal.

While that whitethorn look for illustration nan cleanable logic to debar a song, possibly it could besides bring hope. Although experts opportunity location is simply a dearth of investigation successful nan area, they opportunity it could beryllium that listening to a achy opus successful new, happier contexts could rehabilitate it.

“If it’s a very, very antagonistic relation pinch that song, possibly you’ll ne'er get complete it,” said Leal. “But nan measurement to effort is repeating it pinch caller events that do make you happy and to dream that it overpowers and benignant of reconnects your encephalon and rewires it to this caller association.”

Prof Renee Timmers of nan University of Sheffield added that these caller associations must impact beardown emotions, ideally hap successful a societal context, and beryllium meaningful.

But Timmers besides suggested different imaginable approach. “Rather than seeing nan euphony arsenic thing that is there, you can’t do thing pinch it, and you are nan unfortunate of it, you tin really actively engage,” she said, adding that could involving humming on aliases moreover improvising connected nan music.

“Then nan euphony becomes nan progressive point that you’re engaging with, alternatively than nan memory.”