The Reading / Listening - Music and Memory - Level 2

A study has found that the energy levels of music affect what we remember. Two researchers in London looked at the kinds of memories people had after listening to different types of music. A music psychologist and a neuroscientist researched how the tempo and mood of songs affected what people remembered about their past. The researchers found that high-energy music made people remember funny and happy events. Slower and acoustic music brought back memories of calmness and sadness. It even made people think about romantic experiences.

The researchers asked 233 people about their memories. The people listened to popular songs from their childhood. The neuroscientist said the feelings people had about music affected their memories. She said: "It's not just the musical features that influence memory, but also how much a person likes a song." The music psychologist said acoustic songs brought back memories that were "vivid and unique" and contained "complex emotions like romance". The research will be put into a database of musical memories on a website.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Music and Memory - Level 0 Music and Memory - Level 1   or  Music and Memory - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1094542
  • https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/body-and-mind/songs-memories-emotion/
  • https://www.earth.com/news/how-music-tunes-the-emotions-in-our-memories/


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. listening to different types
  2. A music psychologist and a
  3. the tempo and
  4. what people remembered
  5. remember funny and
  6. acoustic
  7. brought back memories of calmness
  8. romantic
  1. about their past
  2. and sadness
  3. of music
  4. experiences
  5. neuroscientist
  6. happy events
  7. mood of songs
  8. music

Paragraph 2

  1. The researchers
  2. popular songs
  3. the feelings people
  4. the musical features that
  5. how much a person
  6. music
  7. memories that were vivid
  8. a database of musical memories
  1. likes a song
  2. had about music
  3. on a website
  4. from their childhood
  5. and unique
  6. influence memory
  7. psychologist
  8. asked 233 people

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A (1) _________________________________________________ that the energy levels of music affect what we remember. Two researchers in London (2) _________________________________________________ kinds of memories people had after listening to different types of music. A music psychologist and a neuroscientist researched how the (3) _________________________________________________ of songs affected what people remembered about their past. The researchers found that high-energy music (4) _________________________________________________ funny and happy events. Slower and (5) _________________________________________________ back memories of calmness and sadness. It even made people (6) _________________________________________________ experiences.

The researchers (7) _________________________________________________ about their memories. The people listened to (8) _________________________________________________ their childhood. The neuroscientist said the feelings people had about (9) _________________________________________________ memories. She said: "It's not just the musical features (10) _________________________________________________, but also how much a person likes a song." The music psychologist said acoustic songs brought back memories that were "vivid and unique" and contained "complex (11) _________________________________________________". The research will be put into a database of musical memories (12) _________________________________________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Astudyhasfoundthattheenergylevelsofmusicaffectwhatweremembe
r.TworesearchersinLondonlookedatthekindsofmemoriespeoplehad
afterlisteningtodifferenttypesofmusic.Amusicpsychologistandaneur
oscientistresearchedhowthetempoandmoodofsongsaffectedwhatpe
oplerememberedabouttheirpast.Theresearchersfoundthathigh-ene
rgymusicmadepeoplerememberfunnyandhappyevents.Sloweranda
cousticmusicbroughtbackmemoriesofcalmnessandsadness.Iteven
madepeoplethinkaboutromanticexperiences.Theresearchersasked
233peopleabouttheirmemories.Thepeoplelistenedtopopularsongsfr
omtheirchildhood.Theneuroscientistsaidthefeelingspeoplehadabou
tmusicaffectedtheirmemories.Shesaid:"It'snotjustthemusicalfeatur
esthatinfluencememory,butalsohowmuchapersonlikesasong."The
musicpsychologistsaidacousticsongsbroughtbackmemoriesthatwer
e"vividandunique"andcontained"complexemotionslikeromance".Th
eresearchwillbeputintoadatabaseofmusicalmemoriesonawebsite.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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