Music is powerful ... but why?

We've written in the past about research on music and dementia.  Music has the power to dig deeply into the memory of someone with dementia to recall long-forgotten experiences involving music.  These memories are usually pleasant, and the individual is uplifted, at least while listening.  

As with other memories, people with Alzheimer's disease can often recall childhood memories, even though they can't remember an event a day earlier.  More likely, they will recall much earlier events and experiences if it had an emotional dimension.  Music, of course, stimulates emotion.

My friend Mike sent me a link to this interesting article on music and dementia.  In explaining the longevity of music in the brain and its influence on people with dementia, the article clarified several terms you will hear in discussions of memory and the brain.  Here's my summary.

Implicit memory is a form of long-term memory involving the unconscious ability to remember a habit or routine.  Procedural memory is a type of implicit memory.  An example might be how to get dressed.  

Explicit memory, also long-term memory, involves the intentional recollection of factual information, experiences, and concepts.  

Then there's episodic memory, a form of explicit memory.  It's the long-term recollection of everyday events, such as birthdays.  Memories in this category are formulated in the hippocampus but are encoded more durably in other parts of the brain.  You will recall that the first part of the Alzheimer's brain to fall is usually the hippocampus.  But procedural memory is executed elsewhere in the brain, so it's not as vulnerable to the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

So how does all of this play out?  According to the researchers interviewed for the article, episodic memory recalls hearing music long ago and the emotions surrounding that event.  With the associated emotions, recalling the event transports the mind back in time to the experience.  If you want to sing, on the other hand, that requires procedural memory.  

Short term memories arising in the hippocampus will be lost long before any implicit or explicit memories.

The 2014 film, Alive Inside, remains one of my favorite ways of understanding how music can enrich the lives of those with dementia.