Avaliação da exposição à música na modulação da memória episódica

Abstract

Memory is an essential cognitive function for learning processes and quality of life. It is through memory that individuals shape their identity and give meaning to their experiences. Episodic memory, a type of memory that involves personal experiences occurring at specific times and places, is influenced by emotional aspects that are directly linked to the reward system, involving affective responses with varying degrees of hedonia. This study investigated whether musical reward modulates the process of recognition in short-term and long-term episodic memory in non-musician adults. 209 participants completed a translated version of the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ), an instrument designed to measure susceptibility to musical reward. This translated version (BMRQ-BR) showed good indicators of validity and internal consistency (Study 1). Subsequently, participants performed an online memory experiment, where they had to encode ten sets of words presented in different auditory contexts, including highly pleasant classical music, slightly pleasant classical music, and absence of music (Study 2). Immediately after and 24 hours after the encoding task, participants underwent word recognition tasks using the remember/know paradigm. The results showed that the presence or absence of musical stimuli did not have a significant effect on the overall performance of the different participant groups. However, when examined individually, participants with high sensitivity to musical reward showed better recall performance when the encoding occurred in a pleasant musical context. This suggests that musical pleasure can facilitate the encoding of verbal information in episodic memory. The results also indicate that individual sensitivity to musical reward is an important factor in the relationship between music and memory