Time f低s in a continuous stream — yet our memories are divided into separate episodes, 所有这些都成为我们个人故事的一部分. How emotions shape this memory formation process is a mystery that science has only recently begun to unravel. 最新的线索来自正规欧洲杯买球网站洛杉矶分校的心理学家, who have discovered that fluctuating emotions elicited by music helps form separate and durable memories.
这项研究中, 发表在《正规欧洲杯买球网站》上， used music to manipulate the emotions of volunteers performing simple tasks on a computer. The researchers found that the dynamics of people’s emotions molded otherwise neutral experiences into memorable events.
“Changes in emotion evoked by music created boundaries between episodes that made it easier for people to remember what they had seen and when they had seen it,主要作者梅森·麦克雷说, 正规欧洲杯买球网站洛杉矶分校心理学博士生. “We think this finding has great therapeutic promise for helping people with PTSD and depression.”
随着时间的流逝, 人们需要对信息进行分组, 因为要记住的东西太多了(而且不是所有的都有用). Two processes appear to be involved in turning experiences into memories over time: The first integrates our memories, compressing and linking them into individualized episodes; the other expands and separates each memory as the experience recedes into the past. There’s a constant tug of war between integrating memories and separating them, 正是这种推拉有助于形成不同的记忆. This flexible process helps a person understand and find meaning in their experiences, 以及保留信息.
“这就像把物品放进盒子里长期储存一样,通讯作者David Clewett说, 正规欧洲杯买球网站洛杉矶分校的心理学助理教授. “When we need to retrieve a piece of information, we open the box that holds it. What this research shows is that emotions seem to be an effective box for doing this sort of organization and for making memories more accessible.”
A similar effect may help explain why Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” has been so effective at creating vivid and lasting memories: Her concert contains meaningful chapters that can be opened and closed to relive highly emotional experiences.
麦克雷和克莱维特, 以及哥伦比亚大学的马修·萨克斯, 聘请作曲家专门创作能引起欢乐的音乐, 焦虑, 情绪:不同程度的悲伤或平静的情绪. Study participants listened to the music while imagining a narrative to accompany a series of neutral images on a computer screen, 比如一片西瓜片, 钱包或足球. They also used the computer mouse to track moment-to-moment changes in their feelings on a novel tool developed for tracking emotional reactions to music.
然后, 在完成一项分散注意力的任务后, 参与者以随机顺序再次看到成对的图片. 对于每一对, 他们被问及他们首先看到的是哪张图片, 然后，他们觉得自己看到这两个物体的时间间隔有多远. Pairs of objects that participants had seen immediately before and after a change of emotional state — whether of high, 低, or medium intensity —were remembered as having occurred farther apart in time compared to images that did not span an emotional change. Participants also had worse memory for the order of items that spanned emotional changes compared to items they had viewed while in a more stable emotional state. These effects suggest that a change in emotion resulting from listening to music was pushing new memories apart.
“这告诉我们，情绪变化和悬念的紧张时刻, 就像皇后乐队的《欧洲杯买球》中的乐句一样,’ could be remembered as having lasted longer than less emotive experiences of similar length,麦克雷说. “Musicians and composers who weave emotional events together to tell a story may be imbuing our memories with a rich temporal structure and longer sense of time.”
情绪变化的方向也很重要. 记忆整合是最好的, 连续事件的记忆在时间上感觉更紧密, and participants were better at recalling their order — when the shift was toward more positive emotions. 另一方面, 转向更消极的情绪(从平静到悲伤), for example) tended to separate and expand the mental distance between new memories.
Participants were also surveyed the fol低ing day to assess their longer-term memory, 并且对情绪变化时的物品和时刻表现出更好的记忆力, 尤其是当他们正经历着强烈的积极情绪时. This suggests that feeling more positive and energized can fuse different elements of an experience together in memory.
萨克斯强调音乐作为一种干预手段的效用.
“Most music-based therapies for disorders rely on the fact that listening to music can help patients relax or feel enjoyment, 减少消极情绪症状,他说. The benefits of music-listening in these cases are therefore secondary and indirect. 在这里, we are suggesting a possible mechanism by which emotionally dynamic music might be able to directly treat the memory issues that characterize such disorders.”
Clewett said these findings could help people reintegrate the memories that have caused post-traumatic stress disorder.
“如果创伤记忆没有被妥善储存, 当壁橱门打开时，里面的东西就会溢出来, 通常没有警告. 这就是为什么普通事件, 比如烟花, 能引发创伤经历的闪回吗, 比如在轰炸或枪击中幸存下来,他说. “我们认为我们可以调动积极的情绪, 可能是用音乐, 帮助创伤后应激障碍患者将原始记忆放入盒子并重新整合, 这样负面情绪就不会蔓延到日常生活中.”
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, 正规欧洲杯买球网站洛杉矶分校 and Columbia University.
