The music we listen to during this period has greater lasting impact than songs in later life because of a psychological phenomenon called the reminiscence bump.
Our memories define who we are and shape our sense of identity, but they are not evenly distributed throughout our life.
We have fewer memories from birth to about eight-years-old, while at the other end of the scale our minds can easily recall memories that happened most recently, although this does decline with age.
However, researchers have found there is a key age between the ages of 10 to 30-years-old when the reminiscence bump applies, meaning our memories have a particular affinity for recalling events.
The reminiscence bump happens for everything – our favourite books, films, sports stars and music, but evidence suggests music features most highly because musical memories are stored in a ‘safe’ area of the brain which is more resilient and protected against age related conditions.
She found there is a consistently reliable peak in both memory and preference for music people listened to during their teenage years.
Even when working with people in their eighties she found their strongest musical memories take them back to their youths.
It’s not necessarily when the music was released that is relevant but rather the time frame during which the music was important to an individual.
One theory for why this happens is that our minds undergo an intense and rapid phase of development during our teenage years and early twenties so our budding brains and memory systems are at their peak absorbing as much information about the world as they can.
I still find songs i used to listen when i was in high school great.
Generally speaking, I remember reading that people usually like the music from when they were young.
searches
Not the article I was thinking of, but same idea.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/bring-the-noise/articles/zvfphbk
“reminiscence bump” sounds incredibly pseudosciencey but scientists have never been great at naming things so…