Much is known about the memory inducing power of music.  We all have a song that will take us back to our first High School dance, or that special song we share with our significant other. 

Researchers are studying the effect of music on the brain as a therapy   for dementia and other memory disorders, anxiety, stress and depression, learning disabilities and many physical illnesses, such as chronic pain, cancer and Parkinson’s disease.  Music has been found to  improve mood, help us learn, and to socially bond with other people  Music is part of our identity and brings back memories of a previous time and place.  Music can positively affect the brain's reward/pleasure system and lead to reduction in stress producing hormones.

Experts look at the different types of memory involved to understand the impact of music on one's memory.  Performing music uses "procedural" memory, a type of long-term implicit memory, the coconscious ability to remember how to do something, a routine or habit, like riding a bike or typing on a keyboard.  "Episodic" is a long-term explicit memory, a conscious recollection, a memory that can transport us back to a time and place when we heard the piece of music.

Some experts are researching how music can ease agitation in those suffering from dementia...could music be an alternative to sedating medications, perhaps allowing patients to keep living at home.

Read more at the Washington Post