Summary: Nostalgic music activates brain regions tied to memory, reward, and self-processing, a finding that could help improve quality of life for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers report that familiar, emotionally charged songs can trigger vivid autobiographical memories and engage multiple brain systems. Understanding these neural mechanisms may open new therapeutic avenues for memory-related conditions.
Key Facts:
- Brain Activation: Nostalgic songs engage memory networks as well as reward and self-referential brain systems.
- Potential Therapy: Music may help people with dementia access memories, supporting emotional well-being and interpersonal connection.
- Future Research: Ongoing studies aim to translate these findings into targeted interventions for Alzheimer’s and related dementias.
Source: USC
Put on one of your all-time favorite songs — the one you’ve loved for years. What comes to mind? A childhood home, a first love, a prom night?
Nostalgic music—songs tied to specific moments in our lives—can spark intense emotions and clear memories across all ages. While scientists have long observed music’s emotional power, the precise brain mechanisms behind music-evoked nostalgia have been less clear.
A team at the University of Southern California is narrowing that gap. Their work shows how a brief snippet of a beloved song can activate a network of brain regions responsible for memory, reward, and the sense of self—suggesting practical uses for people living with dementia.
“Listening to nostalgic music not only elicits the traditional memory networks of the brain, but it also involves the reward, narrative and self-processing systems,” says Assal Habibi, director of the USC Dornsife Center for Music, Brain and Society. “These mechanisms explain how ten seconds of a familiar tune can transport you back to a vivid scene, like your high school prom. That ability could be harnessed to help individuals with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.”
Music, movement and learning
Habibi’s research focuses on how music influences the developing brain, cognition, and emotion. As an associate research professor of psychology at USC Dornsife, she combines neuroimaging and behavioral testing to study how musical experience shapes perception, learning, and emotional regulation.
She founded the USC Dornsife Center for Music, Brain and Society to unite expertise from USC Dornsife, the Keck School of Medicine, the USC Thornton School of Music, and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Since its launch in 2023, the center has pursued three main research tracks.
One line of work examines how learning to play an instrument supports cognitive and language development in children. Conducted in partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s youth orchestra program and Heart of Los Angeles—and supported by the L.A. Philharmonic and the GROW at Annenberg Foundation—this research has yielded insights into how musical training supports emotional regulation and social skills.
Another major focus investigates how music triggers emotions and autobiographical memories—an area with clear implications for older adults and people with neurodegenerative disease.
“By clarifying how music evokes nostalgia and personal memories in healthy younger and older adults, we hope to adapt these findings to help older adults with Alzheimer’s and related dementias,” Habibi explains.
Unveiling lost memories
To explore how nostalgic music can retrieve memories, Habibi and doctoral candidate Sarah Hennessy collaborated with experts in machine learning, MRI, and psychology. They measured not only whether a song brought a memory to mind, but also how vividly participants could describe it.
Vividness, as the team defines it, reflects the level of detail in a memory: sensory impressions, specific scenes, and emotional color, rather than a vague or perfunctory recounting of past events.
Their research included two complementary studies. In one, 60 participants—30 younger and 30 older—provided playlists of personally meaningful songs. The team used an algorithm developed at USC Viterbi to generate control songs that were musically similar but not personally significant, and they also included entirely unfamiliar pieces.
While participants listened inside an MRI scanner, researchers recorded brain activity as they heard nostalgic, control, and unfamiliar music. After each excerpt, participants described any memory it elicited, and the researchers rated those recollections for vividness.
Hennessy reports striking neuroimaging results. “Nostalgic music activates widespread brain regions, notably the default mode network, which is typically engaged in daydreaming and self-narrative,” she says. “We also see activity in visual areas even when participants keep their eyes closed—suggesting they are vividly visualizing scenes tied to the memory.”
Enhancing quality of life
A second study followed 150 participants of color over 12 weeks. In some weeks they heard nostalgic music; in others they heard familiar-but-not-nostalgic selections. After each listening session, participants described any autobiographical memory and researchers scored its vividness. These results will inform an upcoming paper examining whether nostalgic music consistently produces richer, more detailed recollections.
Habibi says the unique pattern of brain encoding and retrieval triggered by nostalgic music appears personalized—closely linked to an individual’s life story. “If nostalgic music can help dementia patients access memories that are otherwise out of reach, even briefly, it can meaningfully enhance quality of life,” she says.
“For example, if a patient playing with their children suddenly recalls the details of a birthday party tied to a song, that moment restores emotional richness and connection. That can matter deeply to both the person and their family.”
Connecting to a sense of self
Habibi and Hennessy continue to map the neural pathways linking music to memory and identity. Recently, the team—including collaborators from USC Thornton and the Alzheimer Disease Research Center—received a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab grant to study how music engagement affects hearing, communication, and psychosocial well-being for people with or at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and for their caregivers.
Hennessy presented the MRI study findings at the NeuroMusic Conference at McMaster University in November 2023 and is completing her doctoral work. Additional analyses from the dementia-focused study in people of color are underway and will be submitted for peer review.
Currently, Habibi, Hennessy, and doctoral candidate Ellen Herschel are testing a clinical music-intervention app designed for people experiencing dementia. The app aims to support emotional regulation by playing music tailored to reduce agitation or, when appropriate, to prompt autobiographical recall.
“Investigating how music evokes strong emotions and memories helps explain why music-evoked memories can remain relatively preserved in Alzheimer’s and related dementias,” Hennessy says. “Nostalgic music can reconnect people to their sense of self. Because neurodegenerative disease often diminishes that sense of identity, a carefully tailored music intervention might provide a temporary ‘return to self’ by activating autobiographical and self-referential brain networks.”
About this music and memory research news
Author: Paul McQuiston
Source: USC
Contact: Paul McQuiston – USC
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News