Musical Contexts and Associative Memory

Examining how musical contexts serve as scaffolding for image associative memory

This is an ongoing project~

Project Overview

This ongoing research investigates how musical contexts can facilitate the formation of associative memories and, crucially, support the development of indirect associations between stimuli that were never directly paired. Building on foundational work in relational memory, this study examines whether familiar music can serve as an effective "landmark cue" that helps people construct connections between distinct elements in memory.

Background & Motivation

Associative memory allows us to link discrete elements of experience into coherent representations. While direct associations form through explicit pairing, indirect associations—connections between items that were never experienced together—represent a higher-order memory function critical for inference and flexible cognition.

This project draws inspiration from seminal work by Preston and colleagues on the hippocampus's role in relational memory, and Shohamy and Wagner's (2008) research on associative inference. These studies demonstrated that the hippocampus enables the integration of separately learned associations into novel, inferred relationships.

Music presents a particularly interesting contextual cue for several reasons:

It contains rich temporal and emotional information
It connects strongly to existing knowledge and schemas
It naturally organizes experiences into coherent episodes

By examining how musical contexts influence both direct and indirect associative memory, this research aims to uncover potential mechanisms for enhancing relational learning through contextual cues.

EncodingDemo.mp4

Experimental Design

The study employs a modified version of the associative inference paradigm developed by Shohamy and Wagner (2008), with the critical addition of musical context manipulation.

Encoding Phase:

Participants view an animal photo alongside three scene photos
They must select which scene is 'correctly' paired with the animal
Feedback is provided to guide learning
Initial trials involve guessing, with learning occurring gradually
Direct associations are established (e.g., A1-B1, A1-B2, A2-B1)
Crucially, some pairings share a common musical context while others do not

Retrieval Phase:

Participants are tested on both directly learned associations (A1-B1, A1-B2, A2-B1)
And critically, on indirect associations never explicitly paired (A2-B2)
Performance is compared between associations formed with shared musical contexts versus different contexts or no music

Research Questions

Does a shared musical context enhance the formation of direct associative memories?
Can musical contexts facilitate the development of indirect associations between stimuli that were never directly paired?
What are the cognitive mechanisms through which musical contexts support relational binding?

Current Status

The project is currently in the recruitment and data collection phase. Initial piloting has been completed, and the full experimental protocol is being implemented with participants.

Relevance to Previous Work

This study represents an evolution in my research trajectory, extending beyond sequence learning to examine how music influences broader associative networks in memory. While my previous work focused on how music enhances temporal order memory, this project investigates music's capacity to support flexible, inferential memory processes that underlie complex cognition.

By examining both direct and indirect associations, this research aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how music shapes memory organization and facilitates the integration of discrete experiences into coherent knowledge structures.

Credits

This project is currently conducted by my undergraduate RAs: Shailey Desai and Zahra Nurbhai

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