Can listening to the Beatles Improve Your Memory? New Research Says Music Just Might Stir the Brain

Associate professor of music and director of Northeastern University’s Music Imaging and Neural Dynamics lab, Psyche Loui discovered that older persons' brain connectivity strengthened when they listened to their favorite music, such as The Beatles. Dr. Loui and her multidisciplinary team of music therapists, neurologists, and geriatric psychiatrists specifically found that music acted as a link between the auditory system of the brain and the reward system, which controls motivation. The original idea for this research came out of Dr. Loui’s own experience playing music in nursing homes. She recalled how people who couldn’t finish a sentence or thought would suddenly harmonize and sing along to a song she was playing.