Abstract
Comparisons between involuntarily and voluntarily retrieved autobiographical memories have revealed similarities in encoding and maintenance, with differences in terms of specificity and emotional responses. Our study extended this research area into the domain of musical memory, which afforded a unique opportunity to compare the same memory as accessed both involuntarily and voluntarily. Specifically, we compared instances of involuntary musical imagery (INMI, or “earworms”)—the spontaneous mental recall and repetition of a tune—to deliberate recall of the same tune as voluntary musical imagery (VMI) in terms of recall accuracy and emotional responses. Twenty participants completed two 3-day tasks. In an INMI task, participants recorded information about INMI episodes as they occurred; in a VMI task, participants were prompted via text message to deliberately imagine each tune they had previously experienced as INMI. In both tasks, tempi of the imagined tunes were recorded by tapping to the musical beat while wearing an accelerometer and additional information (e.g., tune name, emotion ratings) was logged in a diary. Overall, INMI and VMI tempo measurements for the same tune were strongly correlated. Tempo recall for tunes that have definitive, recorded versions was relatively accurate, and tunes that were retrieved deliberately (VMI) were not recalled more accurately in terms of tempo than spontaneous and involuntary instances of imagined music (INMI). Some evidence that INMI elicited stronger emotional responses than VMI was also revealed. These results demonstrate several parallels to previous literature on involuntary memories and add new insights on the phenomenology of INMI.
Highlights
Comparisons between involuntarily and voluntarily retrieved autobiographical memories have revealed similarities in encoding and maintenance, with differences in terms of specificity and emotional responses
It was found that imagined music (INMI) and voluntary musical imagery (VMI) for the same tune were recalled with a similar degree of temporal accuracy in comparison to its original, recorded version
A strong correlation was found between the tempo of INMI and VMI for the same tune
Summary
Comparisons between involuntarily and voluntarily retrieved autobiographical memories have revealed similarities in encoding and maintenance, with differences in terms of specificity and emotional responses. A body of literature has accumulated that compares involuntarily versus deliberately/voluntarily retrieved memories, with the majority of such research focused on comparing involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) to voluntary autobiographical memories (VAMs; e.g., Berntsen, 1998; Berntsen & Hall, 2004; Johannessen & Berntsen, 2010; Mace, 2006; Rubin & Berntsen, 2009; Schlagman & Kvavilashvili, 2008) Overall, this literature suggests that IAMs are Ba basic mode of remembering that operates on the same episodic memory system as voluntary (strategic) remembering and follows the same rules of encoding and maintenance^ Mem Cogn (2018) 46:741–756 is consistent with this unitary system view, as differences in brain activation patterns have been found to be predominantly associated with initial retrieval mode (involuntary vs. voluntary), whereas similar activation patterns are associated with retrieval success following both involuntary and voluntary retrieval of episodic memories (Hall et al, 2014)
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