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Longing for the Past and Music Listening Preferences

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Music, Nostalgia and Memory

Part of the book series: Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies ((PMMS))

Abstract

Music is one of the strongest means for evoking feelings of nostalgia. This chapter gives an overview of the changing meaning of nostalgia over time, discussing the psychological functions of nostalgia and music’s role in achieving this. The positive and negative impact of nostalgia are discussed, with consideration of how music preferences are influenced by the degree to which one misses things from the past. The findings presented in this chapter underpin one of the central premises of the volume, which is that the interaction between music, emotion and memory explain much of our music preferences and music listening selections.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Track 14: Imagine, John Lennon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development, Western Sydney University, Milperra, NSW, Australia

    Sandra Garrido

  2. Associate Dean Research, Deputy Director ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, Faculty of Fine Arts & Music The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Jane W. Davidson

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  1. Sandra Garrido
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  2. Jane W. Davidson
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Correspondence to Sandra Garrido .

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Garrido, S., Davidson, J.W. (2019). Longing for the Past and Music Listening Preferences. In: Music, Nostalgia and Memory. Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02556-4_2

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