Music brings memories back to the injured brain
In the first study of its kind, two researchers have used popular music to help severely brain-injured patients recall personal memories.
In their study, Baird and Samson played extracts from ‘Billboard Hot 100’ number-one songs in random order to five patients. The songs, taken from the whole of the patient’s lifespan from age five, were also played to five control subjects with no brain injury. All were asked to record how familiar they were with a given song, whether they liked it, and what memories it invoked.