Wearing’s brain infection destroyed his hippocampus and other nearby brain regions, causing amnesia. All of these different representations are put together in a specific region of the brain called the hippocampus, located within the temporal lobes, to form a memory.

When you remember other moments in time, such as your own past (or when you think about your own future), you use multiple brain regions, including both the temporal and frontal lobes. When you remember what you were thinking about earlier, or wonder how something that happened may have instead happened differently, you are using your frontal lobe (which is important for thinking). For instance, when you remember what something you saw earlier that day looked like, you are using your occipital lobe, which is involved in vision. In order to form and retrieve long-term memories (i.e., pieces of personal experiences and knowledge), multiple regions of the brain work together to form a coordinated network that transmits information from one brain region to another. How Do Musical Memories Differ from Other Long-Term Memories? What, then, is so special about the ability of these people to remember music, even when they cannot remember just about anything else? In this article, we will show you where musical memories may be represented in the brain and how they can survive while other memories are lost. Wearing is not unique-non-musicians with severe amnesia can also show lasting memories of music (, Chapter 29). Wearing was also unable to remember almost his entire past, but he could play pieces of music on the piano from memory and mouth the melodies while conducting a choir. Oliver Sacks tells the story of musician and musicologist (i.e., an expert who studies music) Clive Wearing who, after suffering a devastating brain infection called herpes encephalitis, was unable to “retain an impression of anything for more than a blink” (, Chapter 15). Even more fascinating, musical memories seem to be very well preserved in people who suffer from amnesia-that is the clinical term for memory loss. Think about how much more effort it takes to learn information from a textbook, or to remember the details of day-to-day events in your life. After hearing it several times, you might know it by heart. For example, if you hear a catchy song, you will most likely be able to remember parts of it a few days later. Our brains possess a remarkable ability to make, store, and retrieve memories of music, even when we are not aware of doing so. That is a lot of data you managed to summon from your brain, just like that! You effortlessly recalled the pitch, rhythm, and maybe even the lyrics of more than 15 songs in a short amount of time.

How many points did you score? We would not be surprised if it is more than 15. Give yourself 1 point if you can manage to sing or hum at least the next 5 s of that song. Try this simple exercise: go to your music library, pick a song, and play the first 3 s of it. In this article, we will show you where in the brain the musical memory area is, and why your memory for music is often resistant to brain diseases that cause memory loss. This musical memory area is separate from the parts of your brain you use to remember things you have learned in school or details about events that happen in your life. Have you ever wondered what happens in your brain when you think about your favorite songs? Recent research has revealed an area of the brain that is active when we listen to music that we know.

Songs about memories