Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Wakeful resting and listening to music contrast their effects on verbal long-term memory in dependence on word concreteness

Wakeful resting and listening to music contrast their effects on verbal long-term memory in... Wakeful resting and listening to music are powerful means to modulate memory. How these activities affect memory when directly compared has not been tested so far. In two experiments, participants encoded and immediately recalled two word lists followed by either 6 min wakefully resting or 6 min listening to music. The results of Experi- ment 1 show that both post-encoding conditions have a similar effect on memory after 1 day. In Experiment 2, we explored the possibility that less concrete words, i.e. lower in imageability than in Experiment 1, are differently affected by the two post-encoding conditions. The results of Experiment 2 show that, when words are less concrete, more words are retained after 1 day when encoding is followed by wakeful resting rather than listening to music. These findings indicate that the effects of wakeful resting and listening to music on memory consolidation are mod- erated by the concreteness of the encoded material. Keywords: Wakeful resting, Listening to music, Memory consolidation, Concreteness, Imageability, Interference Significance statement learning a word list. Our findings indicate that for more The phase immediately after learning plays a fundamen - concrete learning material—words high in imageability tal role in the life of new memories. When new memories like “cup” or “umbrella”—resting and listening to music are formed, they continue to be processed by our brain yield similar proportions of remembered words after even when the learning event is already over. Studies 1 day. However, when the learning material gets less con- indicate that neurophysiological processes responsible crete—when words are low in imageability like “truth” or for establishing enduring memories are vulnerable to “hunch”—more words are remembered after 1 day when disruption especially immediately after learning. Accord- participants rested compared to when participants lis- ingly, studies show that a short break immediately after tened to music. The reported study provides new insights learning, with closed eyes in a relaxing state, can support into how two familiar activities affect verbal memory for - memory, whereas task engagement, i.e. doing something mation in dependence of the concreteness of the learning cognitively demanding, can disrupt memory. Researchers material. are interested in identifying which post-learning activi- ties support memory and which disrupt memory. Here, Introduction we report two experiments investigating which impact Numerous behavioural and neuroscientific findings a short resting phase has on memory in younger adults indicate that new memories encoded while awake con- compared to a short phase of listening to music after tinue to be processed ‘off-line’ immediately after their acquisition, and that during this temporal window they are modifiable, i.e. the post-encoding activity can influ - *Correspondence: markus.martini@uibk.ac.at ence how much is remembered later (Dewar et al., 2007; University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria Dudai et  al., 2015; McGaugh, 2018; Tambini & Davachi, Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ licen ses/ by/4. 0/. Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 2 of 14 2019; Wamsley, 2019; Wixted, 2005, 2010). The study reactivated (Bergmann & Staresina, 2017; Dudai et  al., presented here investigated the effects of two familiar 2015; Tambini & Davachi, 2019). A repeated reactivation post-encoding ‘activities’: wakeful resting and listening helps a new memory representation to get stabilized and to music. Both activities are powerful means to modulate to become less prone to interference over time. Studies memory formation (Dewar et al., 2007; Judde & Rickard, indicate that new memories are vulnerable to consolida- 2010). However, no study so far investigated these two tion interference especially immediately after encoding post-encoding activities in direct comparison to contrast (Robertson, 2012; Wixted, 2005). Consequently, during their effects on memory. a period of wakeful rest, our brain finds optimal condi - tions to reactivate and consolidate new memories while Wakeful resting after encoding task engagement can disrupt reactivation and consolida- Wakeful resting can be described as a state during which tion processes potentially leading to a loss of these new outwardly focussed attention is reduced, while cogni- memories (Dewar et  al., 2007, 2012; Mednick et  al., tive resources are devoted to spontaneous, internally 2011; Tambini & Davachi, 2019; Wamsley, 2019). The focussed mind wandering processes, including thinking, magnitude of the reactivation seems thereby related to planning, dreaming, and imagination (Wamsley, 2019; improved memory. Tambini et al. (2010) found enhanced see also Smallwood & Schooler, 2015). A common meth- functional connectivity between task-relevant brain areas odological approach to investigate the impact of wakeful (hippocampus and a portion of the lateral occipital com- resting on memory is to contrast its effects with a task plex) during rest following a task with high subsequent in which participants are cognitively loaded. For exam- memory. Furthermore, they found that the magnitude ple, participants encode and immediately recall a word of the correlation between the connectivity of the learn- list. The critical manipulation takes place immediately ing relevant brain areas during rest predicted individual after the memory test. Participants either wakefully differences in a later memory test (see also Buch et  al., rest for several minutes in a relaxing state and closed 2021). These findings are in good agreement with results eyes, or perform a cognitively demanding task for sev- from sleep research (Schapiro et al., 2018). eral minutes, like spotting differences in images or solv - ing complex problems. At the end of the experiment, Listening to music after encoding participants’ memory on the word list is tested again in Music can be a powerful means to modulate memory a final, unannounced memory test. With this methodo - (Ferreri & Verga, 2016). Findings on the impact of listen- logical approach, the majority of existing studies find ing to music on memory range from memory-enhancing that memory retention is higher when encoding is fol- effects (Rauscher et  al., 1993; Thompson et  al., 2001), lowed by a brief period of wakeful resting compared to to memory detrimental effects (Iwanaga & Ito, 2002; when encoding is followed by performing a new task Thompson et  al., 2011;), to no-effects (Jäncke & Sand - (Wamsley, 2019; cf Martini & Sachse, 2020). This basic mann, 2010; Nguyen & Grahn, 2017)—with various fac- finding has been replicated several times with different tors modulating the nature and magnitude of musical encoding materials (verbal: Brokaw et  al., 2016; Dewar reactivity (e.g. Husain et al., 2002). The majority of these et  al., 2012; visuospatial: Craig et  al., 2015; procedural: studies investigated the impact of music on memory Humiston & Wamsley, 2018), distractor tasks (Dewar when music was presented before new encoding or dur- et  al., 2007), retention intervals (minutes: Mercer, 2015; ing new encoding. However, we are aware of only three days: Dewar et al., 2012), and age groups (children: Mar- studies so far investigating the impact of music on mem- tini et  al., 2019a; older adults: Dewar et  al., 2012; Mar- ory when music was presented immediately after new tini et  al., 2019b). One of the primary explanations why encoding (Greene et  al., 2010; Judde & Rickard, 2010; wakeful resting benefits memory is that states of reduced Rickard et  al., 2012, Experiment 2). Music is eminently interference support memory consolidation—a family of suitable to induce and modulate both, arousal and emo- neurophysiological processes transforming new memory tion (Baumgartner et  al., 2006; Greene et  al., 2010; Van- representations into lasting ones (Dudai et al., 2015; Has- derArk & Ely, 1992; see also Mather & Sutherland, 2011; selmo, 1999). Memory consolidation during the awake McGaugh, 2015, 2018). Therefore, it appears reasonable state seems thereby to be similar to memory consolida- to speculate that music might have an intrinsic capac- tion during sleep. For instance, Brokaw et al. (2016) found ity to modulate memory consolidation. Greene et  al. that improved memory was associated with an increase (2010) showed that the interaction of mood and arousal in slow oscillatory brain activity, an EEG signature pro- induced by music following encoding of abstract shapes posed to facilitate memory consolidation also during enhanced recognition memory. Memory was enhanced sleep. It is further assumed that during memory con- both in a positive mood and high arousal state as well as solidation, the newly encoded information is repeatedly in a negative mood and low arousal state, both relative to M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 3 of 14 a positive mood and low arousal state or a negative mood Dudai et al., 2015; Wamsley, 2019; Hasselmo, 1999; Has- and high arousal state. The study of Judde and Rickard selmo & McGaughy, 2004). Based on the previous out- (2010) showed that recognition of neutral words after lines, we therefore expected to find that more words are 7  days was significantly enhanced, regardless of valence, retained over 1 day period when encoding is followed by when music was presented 20  min after encoding, yet wakeful resting compared to when encoding is followed not when it was presented immediately or 45  min after by listening to music. encoding, compared to a control condition in which participants just encoded and immediately recalled the Experiment 1 word list. Findings of Rickard et  al., (2012; Experiment Method 2) showed that more details of an emotional story were Participants retained over 7 days when learning was followed by back- We calculated the sample size required to observe a sig- ground sound or arousing music (marginally significant), nificant wakeful resting effect based on the pwr pack - and reduced when learning was followed by relaxing age (Champely et  al., 2020) using an alpha of 0.05, music (compared to a neutral story condition). power of 0.80, and a medium effect size. We found the minimum required sample size to be twenty-six partici- The present study pants. Forty university students took part in the experi- The present study aimed at contrasting the effects of ment in exchange for course credit (31 female; mean wakeful resting and listening to music on memory. Par- age = 23.08  years; SD = 5.68; age range = 18–55  years). ticipants encoded and immediately recalled two word All participants gave informed consent to take part in the lists. Recall of one word list was followed by 6  min of study. wakeful resting; recall of the other word list was followed by 6  min of listening to music. Memories for both word Materials and procedure lists were tested again after 24 h. The experiment included two testing sessions, denoted Findings from earlier studies indicate that listening to as Session 1 and Session 2 in the remainder of this work. music immediately after encoding either has no impact The two sessions were separated by 1  day. We applied a on memory or memory-enhancing effects (Greene et al., repeated measures design with the within-subjects fac- 2010; Judde & Rickard, 2010; Rickard et  al., 2012)—the tors of post-encoding activity (wakeful resting vs. lis- latter effect is potentially modulated by a change in the tening to music) and time of recall (immediate vs. after (emotional) arousal state (see McGaugh, 2015, 2018) or 1 day). the novelty of the stimulus (Moncada &Viola, 2007; but see also Wang & Morris, 2010). However, those few exist- Session 1 ing studies, which investigated the impact of listening Session 1 included two word-encoding phases, which to music on memory when presented immediately after occurred one after the other. Each word-encoding phase the encoding of new information did not directly com- consisted of (a) a visual presentation of one of two word pare a wakeful resting condition to a listening to music lists (with instructions to remember as many words as condition. possible for a subsequent immediate recall), (b) immedi- The majority of findings from research on wakeful rest - ate free recall of the word list, (c) a ~ 6 min post-encoding ing indicate that memory retention is supported by a activity delay, which participants spent either wakefully brief period of post-encoding wakeful resting compared resting or listening to music, and (d) answering of post- to a post-encoding period in which (i) a mentally effort - encoding activity questions. ful new task is performed, whereby the interfering mate- The two word lists consisted of 15 German words each. rial does not have to be similar to the to-be-remembered Words were taken from the Leipzig Affective Norms material (Dewar et  al., 2007, 2014; Martini et  al., 2019a; for German (LANG; Kanske & Kotz, 2010). The LANG for conflicting results see Martini et  al., 2020; Varma consists of one-thousand German nouns that have been et  al., 2017), or (ii) attention is inwardly focussed, for rated on the dimension of emotional valence (9 points example, when rich autobiographical retrieval/future scale ranging from negative, neutral to positive), arousal imagination is stimulated by short auditory sound cues (9 points scale ranging from high arousing to low arous- (Craig et  al., 2014; Varma et  al., 2018). These findings ing), and concreteness (9 points scale ranging from resonate with the view that any condition that results in concrete to abstract). We selected only words from the reduced interference, i.e. during which no new memories LANG database falling within ± 1SD of the reported are formed (e.g. slow-wave sleep, benzodiazepines, ace- mean LANG rating scores for the dimensions valence tylcholine antagonists) support memory consolidation (M = 5.07, SD = 1.20), arousal (M = 2.97, SD = 1.96), (Mednick et al., 2011; see also Tambini & Davachi, 2019; and concreteness (M = 2.07, SD = 1.38). Words were Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 4 of 14 2.0; Diaz et al., 2014) in addition to seven self-generated mono- and bisyllabic and consisted of four to six let- questions. The ARSQ measures mind wandering activ - ters (e.g. “Tasse[cup]”, “Schirm[umbrella]”, “Kran[crane]”, ity with 30 items via a five-point Likert scale (1 = “com- “Regal[shelf]”, “Angel[rod]”). We created the word lists pletely disagree” to 5 = “completely agree”) resulting in such that each word started with a different first letter. ten factors (discontinuity of mind, theory of mind, self, Words were presented one by one, in a pseudo-rand- planning, sleepiness, comfort, somatic awareness, health omized order, for 2  s in the middle of the screen (black concern, visual and verbal thought; for details see Diaz against a white background). In the recall phase, partici- et  al., 2014). With our self-generated questions, we were pants were asked to write down as many words from the interested in whether participants’ thoughts were related previously presented word list as possible, in any order to the past, present, or future (“I thought about some- they wanted, on a blank sheet of paper, within 45 s. thing in the past/present/future; 1 = “strongly disagree” During the wakeful resting delay, participants were to 5 “strongly agree”) and their emotional connotation asked to rest quietly, in a relaxed sitting position with (“I thought about something that brings sorrow/happi- their eyes closed in the darkened testing room for ness/anger/sadness; 1 = “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly 5.45 min. The experimenter rested with the participants. agree”). Participants wore no headphones during the wakeful The order of the two post-encoding activity conditions resting phase. was counterbalanced across participants. Twenty par- During the listening to music delay, participants lis- ticipants were in the ‘first wakeful resting-then listening tened to five music excerpts. A music excerpt comprised to music’ condition and twenty participants in the ‘first the chorus of a piece of music lasting about 60  s. Par- listening to music-then wakeful resting’ condition. Each ticipants were asked to listen to and engage in the music participant had a partition on her/his right and left and with their eyes closed in the darkened testing room the distance between participants was about two meters for 5.45  min. The selected music excerpts consisted of to increase privacy and decrease distraction. Participants vocal songs, between 150 and 180 bpm fast (Smallpools: were tested in groups of one to maximum four partici- “American love”; Aloe Blacc: “Can you do this?”; We the pants. Between the two word-encoding phases, partici- Kings: “Kids in the moonlight”; KSHMR & Yves feat. pants were instructed to fill out questionnaires regarding Krewella: “No regrets”; Neon Trees: “Everybody talks”). participants’ personality, sensitivity, and music prefer- Participants listened to the music via headphones. Music ence for about 10  min. Data from these questionnaires excerpts were presented in the same sequential order, are not reported in the present study. without breaks, to all participants, at a comfortable vol- ume level. The five pieces of music were selected by six student raters. In an online survey, they were asked to Session 2 listen to twenty pieces of music (all ≥ 150  bpm), each Session 2 started between 19 and 31  h after Session 1 presented for 30 s while their eyes should be closed. The (M = 25 h). In Session 2, participants were asked to recall raters answered questions on arousal, valence, familiarity, both word lists, beginning with the word list that had perceived subjective speed, and liking. Music from the been presented first in Session 1. Participants were asked genres pop, alternative, and dance was presented. to write down as many words as possible, within 90 s per Emotional arousal was assessed before each word-list word list, in any order they wanted on a blank sheet of encoding phase and directly after each post-encoding paper. activity (“At the moment I feel emotionally aroused”; 1 = “strongly disagree” to 6 = “strongly agree”; ”In the Analysis of the data previous wakeful resting/listening to music condition Memory performance I felt emotionally aroused”; 1 = “strongly disagree” to Our measure of participants´ memory performance 6 = “strongly agree”). Additionally, following each post- for each word list recall was the number of words cor- encoding activity we asked participants whether they rectly recalled (15 per word list). Delayed (1-day) recall rehearsed the previously presented word list or parts of it test performance was scored such that a recalled word (e.g. “In the previous resting phase I rehearsed the word was rated correctly regardless of whether the participant list or parts of it”; 1 = “not at all” to 6 = “very often”), and correctly assigned the recalled word to the correct word whether they fell asleep (e.g. “In the previous resting list. For instance, if a participant remembered the word phase I fell asleep”; yes/no). No explicit explanation of ‘corn’ from list 1 but mismatched the word to list 2 it was what defines a rehearsal activity was given to participants. scored correctly recalled. To examine how much of the Additionally, we asked participants about their thoughts immediately recalled words were retained over 1  day in and feelings during the delay condition, measured with each post-encoding activity condition (wakeful resting vs. the Amsterdam Resting State Questionnaire (ARSQ listening to music), we computed for each participant a M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 5 of 14 percentage-retention score for each condition. Retention which depicts the percentage-retention scores. As shown scores were calculated by dividing the number of words in Fig.  1B, participants retained a similar amount of recalled correctly after 1  day by the number of words words after 1  day in the wakeful resting condition and recalled correctly at immediate recall in Session 1 and listening to music condition, t(39) = 0.74, p = 0.463, multiplying the quotient by 100 (e.g. Dewar et al., 2012). d = 0.117. The order of the post-learning condition (first Memory retention scores were statistically analysed using wakeful resting [M = 0.54, SD = 0.28]-then listening to a paired-samples t test. music [M = 0.44, SD = 0.30] versus first listening to music [M = 0.56, SD = 0.30]-then wakeful resting [M = 0.52, Subjective rehearsal ratings SD = 0.27]) revealed no significant effect for post-encod - Participants’ responses to the question of how often ing activity, F(1,38) = 0.58, p = 0.449, η = 0.015, order, they rehearsed the word list or parts of it during wake- F(1,38) = 0.41, p = 0.53, η = 0.011, and the post-encod- ful resting and listening to music were compared using ing activity*order interaction, F(1,38) = 3.42, p = 0.072, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Relations between partici- η = 0.083. The same pattern of results was obtained pants’ rehearsal ratings and memory retention scores in when the raw number of words recalled was analysed the respective post-encoding activity condition (wakeful (see Fig.  1A and Supplements, Additional file  2: Experi- resting vs. listening to music) were analysed using Spear- ment 1 - Analyses of the raw number of words recalled). man correlations. Subjective rehearsal ratings Subjective emotional arousal ratings Participants’ rehearsal ratings indicate that words To measure the change in emotional arousal in the were only rarely rehearsed during the respective post- respective post-encoding activity condition (wakeful encoding activity condition (wakeful resting: M = 2.33, resting vs. listening to music) we calculated an emo- SD = 1.46; listening to music: M = 1.90, SD = 1.41). tional arousal change score for each participant. Emo- Rehearsal ratings did not differ significantly between tional arousal change scores were calculated by dividing the wakeful resting condition and the listening to music participant’s emotional arousal rating before encoding condition, W = 265.00, p = 0.153, r = 0.305. rank-biserial a word list divided by the emotional arousal rating after Rehearsal ratings in the wakeful resting condition were the respective post-encoding activity (wakeful resting vs. not significantly correlated with memory retention in the listening to music). Differences in the emotional arousal wakeful resting condition, r = 0.245, p = 0.128 (see Spearman change scores between the post-encoding activity condi- Additional file  3: Fig.  3, Supplements). Rehearsal ratings tions were analysed using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. in the listening to music condition were significantly cor - Correlational analyses with memory retention scores in related with memory retention in the listening to music the respective post-encoding activity condition (wakeful condition, r = 0.46, p = 0.003 (see Additional file  3: Spearman resting vs. listening to music) were analysed using Spear- Fig.  3, Supplements). Exclusion of those participants man correlations. responding to the rehearsal question in the listening to music condition in a range between 5 and 6 (n = 3) and Thought activity reanalysing  the differences in memory retention scores For the ARSQ questionnaire, we followed the scoring between the wakeful resting condition and listening to method described in Diaz et  al. (2014). Data from the music condition did not change our previously reported self-generated items were analysed based on participants’ pattern of results in the ‘Memory performance’ section. raw scores. Descriptive statistics as well as inference sta- tistical analyses using Spearman correlations between the Subjective arousal ratings ARSQ dimensions and our mind wandering items with Mean arousal ratings at the two recall times in the two memory retention over 1 day can be found in the Supple- post-encoding activity conditions (wakeful resting vs. lis- ments (Additional file 1: Table 1). tening to music) are presented in Fig.  1C, which depicts Statistical analyses were conducted using JASP (JASP the raw emotional arousal ratings, and in Fig.  1D, which Team, 2020). The alpha level was set at < 0.05. depicts the emotional arousal change scores (for a description see Methods section). As shown in Fig.  1D, Results emotional arousal change increased in the listening to Memory performance music condition (> 100%) and decreased in the wakeful Mean memory performance at the two recall times in resting condition (< 100%), W = 50.50, p < 0.001, r rank- the two post-encoding activity conditions (wakeful rest- = − 0.809. Emotional arousal change in the wake- biserial ing vs. listening to music) is presented in Fig.  1A, which ful resting condition was not significantly correlated depicts the raw number of words recalled, and in Fig. 1B, with memory retention in the wakeful resting condition, Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 6 of 14 Fig. 1 A Mean number of words correctly recalled (out of 15 per word list) as a function of the post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]) and time of recall (immediate vs. after 1 day). B Mean retention scores in percent as a function of post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]). Retention scores were calculated by dividing the number of correctly recalled words in Session 2 by the number of correctly recalled words in Session 1 and multiplying the quotient by 100. C Mean emotional arousal ratings as a function of the post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]) and time of measurement (before learning the word list [pre] vs. after the post-encoding activity [post]). D Percentage emotional arousal change scores as a function of post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]). Percentage emotional arousal change scores were calculated by dividing participant’s emotional arousal rating before encoding a word list divided by the emotional arousal rating after the respective post-encoding activity (wakeful resting vs. listening to music) multiplied by 100. Dashed helpline: 100% indicates no change in the mean pre- to post emotional arousal ratings. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean file  1: Table  1). One person reported having temporar- r = 0.02, p = 0.897, and emotional arousal change Spearman ily fallen asleep during the wakeful resting condition. in the listening to music condition was not significantly Excluding the participant from analyses did not change correlated with memory retention in the listening to our patterns of results in the ‘Memory performance’ sec- music condition, r = − 0.10, p = 0.545. Spearman tion. On a Likert scale between 1 and 6, participants indi- Participants’ thought activity was diverse within and cated that, on average, they liked the musical excerpts between the respective post-encoding activity condition (M = 4.39, SD = 1.27). Nineteen participants indicated (wakeful resting vs. listening to music) and were not sig- that they knew at least one excerpt and 2 participants nificantly correlated with memory retention after 1  day were not sure. Thirteen participants related at least one (Bonferroni corrected; see Supplements, Additional M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 7 of 14 Method music excerpt with an emotional event. All of them indi- Participants cated that this event had a positive connotation. Forty-nine university students (35 female, mean The results of Experiment 1 indicate that a brief period age = 22.83  years, SD = 3.41  years, age range = 18–37  years) of wakeful resting immediately after encoding a word list took part in the experiment in exchange for course credit. All seems to have a similar impact on memory retention over participants gave informed consent to take part in the study. 1 day as a brief period of listening to music. This finding partly resonates with those of Judde and Rickard (2010) showing that emotionally arousing music affected mem - Materials and procedure ory when presented 20 min after encoding a word list but The basic experimental procedure was the same as not immediately or 45 min after encoding a word list, in in Experiment 1 (see Method section). The two word addition to the findings of Rickard et  al. (2012), which lists consisted again of 15 German words each. How- indicate that they did not find a significant post-encoding ever, this time words were taken from the Berlin Affec - condition*memory performance interaction effect (but tive Word List Reloaded (BAWL-R; Võ et  al., 2009). The see also the studies of Martini et  al., 2020; Varma et  al., BAWL–R is a list of over 2,900 German words which 2017). were rated regarding valence [7-point scale ranging In a second experiment, we exploratively tested a from -3 (very negative) through 0 (neutral) to + 3 (ver y potential modulating effect of the presented word lists. positive)], arousal [5-point scale ranging from 1 (low In Experiment 1, we used relatively concrete words arousal) to 5 (high arousal)], and imageability [7-point like “cup”, “crane”, or “umbrella”. Findings indicate that imageability scale ranged from 1 (low imageability) to memory performance generally increases from abstract 7 (high imageability)]. We selected only words from the words (e.g. conscience, truth) to concrete words. One BAWL-R database falling within ± 1SD of the reported hypothesis for this effect is that concrete words are rep - mean BAWL-R rating scores for the dimensions valence resented in a double coding, a verbal code and an images (M = 0.24, SD = 1.02) and arousal (M = 2.54, SD = 1.05). code which can have additive effects resulting in better For the dimension imageability (M = 1.87, SD = 1.05) the memory for concrete words than for less concrete words reported mean rating scores should be as low as possi- (for a comprehensive overview, see Paivio, 1986; but see ble. All selected words had a mean imageability BAWL- also, e.g. Fliessbach et  al., 2006; Welcome et  al., 2011). R rating score < 2.2. Words were monosyllabic, bisyllabic, We assumed that the encoding of concrete words poten- or trisyllabic and consisted of five to nine letters (e.g. tially resulted in stronger memory traces less prone to “Ahnung[hunch]”, “Reform[reform]”, “Sitte[custom]”, post-encoding consolidation interference which resulted “Zweck[purpose])”. Word lists were created such that in similar memory retention scores in the wakeful rest- each word started with a different first letter. Words were ing condition and listening to music condition in Experi- presented one by one, in a pseudo-randomized order, ment 1. In Experiment 2, therefore, we contrasted the for 2 s in the middle of the screen (black against a white concrete word lists of Experiment 1 by constructing word background). Participants were tested in single testing lists consisting of words low in imageability ratings. If the sessions. Delayed recall performance was collected online post-encoding activity of wakeful resting and listening to (see Judde & Rickard, 2010). Participants’ heart rate was music have similar effects on memory retention, like in measured during Session 1 (these data are not presented Experiment 1, this effect should be found independently in the present paper). The order of the two post-encoding of the concreteness of the to-be-encoded words. How- activity conditions was counterbalanced across partici- ever, if less concrete words are represented in weaker pants. Each participant had a partition on her/his right, memory traces more prone to consolidation interference, left, and front. During wakeful resting, participants wore as expected (Creery et al., 2015; Diekelmann et al., 2010; capsule earmuffs. Denis et  al., 2021; Schapiro et  al., 2018; Tambini et  al., 2018), we should find differences in 1-day memory reten - Analysis of the data tion performance in dependence of whether encoding Scoring and statistical analyses of participants’ memory was followed by wakefully resting or listening to music. performance, subjective rehearsal ratings, emotional arousal ratings, and thought activity were the same as in Experiment 2 Experiment 1. Descriptive statistics and Spearman cor- In Experiment 2, we compared how a 6 min wakeful-rest- relations between the ARSQ dimensions and our mind ing period after encoding and a 6 min listening to music wandering items with memory retention over 1  day are period after encoding affects memory retention over provided in the Supplements (Additional file 1: Table 2). 1 day for less concrete words. Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 8 of 14 Subjective arousal ratings Statistical analyses were conducted using JASP (JASP Mean arousal ratings at the two recall times in the two Team, 2020). The alpha level was set at < 0.05. post-encoding activity conditions (wakeful resting vs. lis- tening to music) are presented in Fig.  2C, which depicts Memory performance the raw emotional arousal ratings, and in Fig.  2D, which From six participants, which took part in Session 1, but depicts the emotional arousal change scores (for a not in Session 2, we imputed the missing 1-day recall description see Methods section). As shown in Fig.  2D, values using the predictive mean matching method in emotional arousal change increased in the listening to the mice package (v3.14.0; van Buuren & Groothuis- music condition (> 100%) and decreased in the wakeful Oudshoorn, 2011). One participant was excluded resting condition (< 100%), W = 20.00, p < 0.001, r rank- from further analyses laying 3 SD above the mean = − 0.951. Emotional arousal change in the wake- biserial 1-day delayed recall performance. The finally ana - ful resting condition was not significantly correlated with lysed data set consisted of forty-eight participants (34 memory retention in the wakeful resting condition, r Spear- female, mean age = 22.82  years, SD = 3.45  years, age = − 0.02, p = 0.884, and emotional arousal change in man range = 18–37  years). Twenty-five participants were in the listening to music condition was not significantly cor - the ‘first wakeful resting-then listening to music’ condi - related with memory retention in the listening to music tion and 23 participants in the ‘first listening to music- condition, r = 0.05, p = 0.722. Spearman then wakeful resting’ condition. Participants’ thought activity was diverse within and between the respective post-encoding activity condition Results (wakeful resting vs. listening to music) and were not sig- Memory performance nificantly correlated with memory retention after 1  day Mean memory performance at the two recall times in (Bonferroni corrected; see Supplements, Additional file  1: the two post-encoding activity conditions (wakeful rest- Table  2). No person reported having fallen temporarily ing vs. listening to music) is presented in Fig.  2A, which asleep during the wakeful resting condition. On a Likert depicts the raw number of words recalled, and in Fig. 2B, scale between 1 and 6, participants indicated that they which depicts the percentage-retention scores. As shown liked the musical excerpts on average 3.98 (SD = 1.27). in Fig.  2B, participants’ retention scores were signifi - Twenty-seven participants indicated that they knew at cantly higher after 1  day if word list encoding was fol- least one excerpt. Twenty-two participants related at lowed by a brief period of wakeful resting than if it was least one music excerpt with an emotional event. All of followed by listening to music, t(47) = 2.84, p = 0.007, them indicated that this event had positive connotations. d = 0.410. The order of the post-learning condition (first wakeful resting-then listening to music vs. first listening Experiment 1 and Experiment 2: to music-then wakeful resting) revealed no significant combined memory performance results effect (p > 0.20). The same pattern of results was obtained Acknowledging that Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 when the raw number of words recalled was analysed used different populations and were conducted at differ - (see Fig.  2A and Supplements, Additional file  2: Experi- ent times with variations in the methodological approach, ment 2 - Analyses of the raw number of words recalled). we conducted a cross-experimental statistical analysis of participants’ memory performance (immediate recall Subjective rehearsal ratings performance and memory retention over 1 day). Participants’ rehearsal ratings indicate that words were only For the analysis of participants’ immediate recall per- rarely rehearsed during the respective post-encoding activ- formance, we conducted a mixed analysis of variance ity condition (wakeful resting: M = 2.04, SD = 1.7; listening with post-encoding activity condition (wakeful resting vs. to music: M = 1.47, SD = 0.89). The difference in rehearsal listening to music) as within-subject factor and experi- ratings between the two post-encoding activity condi- ment (Experiment 1 vs. Experiment 2) as between-sub- tions was statistically significant, W = 234.00, p = 0.003, jects factor. Statistical analyses revealed no significant r = 0.696. Rehearsal ratings in the wakeful resting rank-biserial effect of post-encoding activity condition, F(1,86) = 0.75, condition were not significantly correlated with memory p = 0.391, η = 0.009, overall participants immediately retention in the wakeful resting condition, r = 0.276, Spearman recalled a similar amount of words in the wakeful rest- p = 0.067 (see Additional file  3: Fig.  3, Supplements). ing condition and listening to music condition. A sig- Rehearsal ratings in the listening to music condition were nificant effect of experiment, F(1,86) = 35.82, p < 0.001, not significantly correlated with memory retention in the η = 0.294, indicated that overall participants immedi- listening to music condition, r = 0.173, p = 0.256 (see Spearman ately recalled significantly more words in Experiment 1 Additional file 3 : Fig. 3, Supplements). M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 9 of 14 Fig. 2 A Mean number of words correctly recalled (out of 15 per word list) as a function of the post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]) and time of recall (immediate vs. after 1 day). B Mean percentage-retention scores as a function of post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]). Percentage-retention scores were calculated by dividing the number of correctly recalled words in Session 2 by the number of correctly recalled words in Session 1 and multiplying the quotient by 100. C Mean emotional arousal ratings as a function of the post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]) and time of measurement (before learning the word list [pre] vs. after the post-encoding activity [post]). D Percentage emotional arousal change scores as a function of post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]). Percentage emotional arousal change scores were calculated by dividing participant’s emotional arousal rating before encoding a word list divided by the emotional arousal rating after the respective post-encoding activity (wakeful resting vs. listening to music) multiplied by 100. Dashed helpline: 100% indicates no change in the mean pre- to post emotional arousal ratings. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean than in Experiment 2. There was no significant interac - effect of post-encoding activity condition, F(1,86) = 6.71, tion between immediate recall performance and experi- p = 0.011, η = 0.072, overall participants retained more ment, F(1,86) = 0.96, p = 0.330, η = 0.011. words in the wakeful resting condition than listening For the analysis of participants’ retention performance to music condition. A significant effect of experiment, over 1  day, we conducted a mixed analysis of variance F(1,86) = 21.62, p < 0.001, η = 0.201, revealed that over- with post-encoding activity condition (wakeful rest- all participants retained more words in Experiment 1 ing vs. listening to music) as within-subject factor and than in Experiment 2. There was no significant interac - experiment (Experiment 1 vs. Experiment 2) as between- tion between post-encoding activity condition and exper- subjects factor. Statistical analyses revealed a significant iment, F(1,86) = 2.74, p = 0.101, η = 0.031. p Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 10 of 14 Discussion reactivations, in our experiments by listening to music, The present study investigated the effects of wakeful rest - might have interfered less with memory consolidation ing and listening to music immediately after encoding a processes for more concrete words as these memory word list on memory. In Experiment 1, we demonstrate traces needed fewer reactivations to build more stable that participants retained a similar amount of words memory representations. This assumption resonates with after 1 day in the wakeful resting condition and listening findings from studies showing that our brain can prior - to music condition. In Experiment 2, where participants itize memories to be consolidated. There is evidence were required to encode words low in imageability, par- that memories are more likely to be reactivated dur- ticipants retained more words after 1  day in the wake- ing a post-encoding awake rest period when associated ful resting condition compared to the listening to music with reward (Gruber et al., 2016) or fear (de Voogd et al., condition. 2016). There is further evidence that memories relevant The question arises, why should less concrete words be for future behaviour (Wilhelm et  al., 2011), emotionally more affected and more concrete words be less affected salient stimuli (Hu et  al., 2006), and weaker memories by wakeful resting and listening to music? Studies indi- benefit more from a period of sleep (Denis et  al., 2021; cate that memory performance improves from abstract Diekelmann et al., 2010; Drosopoulos et al., 2007; Petzka words to concrete words (Paivio, 1986). It is easier to et  al., 2021; Schapiro et  al., 2018). Furthermore, weaker maintain words like “duck” or “table” compared to “truth” memories seem to benefit more from a targeted reac - or “hunch”. Theoretical explanations for this ‘concrete - tivation than stronger memories (Cairney et  al., 2014; ness effect’ assume that concrete words form a dual Creery et  al., 2015; Tambini et  al., 2017). At least for code, i.e. a verbal and sensory code, and/or have a more sleep-related memory improvements, it is assumed that accessible semantic network than less concrete words slow oscillatory activity supports the communication (Fliessbach et al., 2006). A meta-analytical review of neu- between learning relevant brain areas in the neocortex roimaging studies by Wang et  al. (2010) brought further and the hippocampus and the consolidation of these new insight showing that less concrete words engage more memories (Sirota & Buzsáki, 2005). This latter view is the verbal system while concrete words engage more the in-line with findings from Brokaw et  al. (2016) showing perceptual system—via mental imagery. It seems rea- that improved memory was associated with an increase sonable to assume that more concrete words are associ- in slow oscillatory brain activity during a wakeful resting ated with more stable memory traces than less concrete state immediately after encoding new information. Alto- words. This might explain why we found that more con - gether, we suggest that less concrete words, low in image- crete words (Experiment 1) were similarly affected by the ability, are associated with weaker memory traces which two post-encoding activities, whereas only less concrete can benefit more from a brief period of wakeful resting words (Experiment 2) could illuminate differences in and are more prone to interference inducted by listen- how the two post-encoding activities affect memory. Our ing to music, compared to more concrete words, high in results from Experiment 2 support the view that less con- imageability. crete words benefit from a state during which attention It could be argued that the beneficial effect of wakeful to external sensory input is reduced (Craig et  al., 2014; resting in Experiment 2 was due to an increased opportu- Dewar et al., 2012; Mednick et al., 2011; Robertson, 2012; nity to rehearse the just-encoded information. We found Wamsley, 2019; Wixted, 2005). Furthermore, consolida- that participants rehearsed words significantly more tion has been associated with the reactivation of recent often during wakeful resting than listening to music, experiences (Dudai et al., 2015; Tambini & Davachi, 2019; however, mean rehearsal rates were very low and not Tambini et al., 2010). Wakeful resting might just provide significantly related to memory retention in the respec - conditions of minimal interference, during which previ- tive post-encoding activity condition. Our findings reso - ously encoded words can be reactivated more often than nate with others showing that difficult to rehearse verbal is possible during periods filled with listening to music. material and thinking about the just-encoded verbal An increase of these automatic reactivations during information during wakeful resting is not or only weakly wakeful resting could allow the memory traces of less related to memory retention (e.g. Brokaw et  al., 2016; concrete words to be strengthened to a higher degree Dewar et  al., 2014). Nevertheless, we cannot exclude than is possible during listening to music (see also Schap- the possibility that some rehearsal activity might have iro et al., 2018). Potentially, more concrete words are rep- had a modulating effect on memory also in our experi - resented in more stable memory traces than less concrete ments. Inspection of Additional file  3: Fig.  3 (Supple- words because of dual coding and/or a better embedding ments) shows a trend in both experiments to the effect into a pre-existing semantic neural network. It could that rehearsal is positively related with the number of be speculated therefore that a disruption of automatic words retained after 1  day. Conceptually, it makes sense M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 11 of 14 to assume that rehearsal is an effective cognitive strategy (e.g. Gabrielsson & Lindström, 2001; Scherer & Oshinsky, to prevent forgetting and stabilize weakly represented 1977; van der Zwaag et  al., 2011). In our study musical information. Especially a brief period of wakeful resting tempo was over 150  bpm per excerpt, thus it is reason- can therefore represent an ideal opportunity to rehearse able to assume that this might have increased arousal, the just encoded information. However, results stem- which in turn could have had a detrimental effect on ming from a single post-conditional question, as it was memory consolidation (see also McGaugh, 2015). How- the case in our study, have to be considered cautiously for ever, there is contrasting evidence on the effect of tempo several reasons. First, a subjective post-conditional rating in increasing arousal. In fact, in the study by Judde and can only be a rough estimate of rehearsal activity taking Rickard (2010), findings suggested that the musical place over a 6  min interval—for example, fluctuations pieces‘ valence (i.e. negative, positive) was able to modu- of rehearsal activity over time cannot be represented by late arousal independently from the musical tempo. Spe- it. Second, the rehearsal activity rating was heavily sub- cifically, negative excerpts were slower than 150  bpm jective—for example, a rating of “3” on the rehearsal but were anyway able to increase arousal, suggesting activity scale will hardly bear the same meaning for all that tempo alone might be not sufficient in influencing participants. Third, participants were not provided with memory consolidation. Whether in the current study the clear definitions of rehearsal activity which potentially tempo alone was indirectly linked to a detrimental effect confounded the impact of different rehearsal types like in memory consolidation (through increased arousal), explicit/intentional rehearsal versus spontaneous/unin- remains thus to be determined. tentional rehearsal. Potential interfering effects in the listening to music One remaining open question is what exactly could lead condition might also have come from an increased emo- to potential consolidation interfering effects in the music tional arousal state or a changed mind wandering activity condition. In our study, we included musical excerpts during the period participants listened to music. Stud- from the genres pop, rock, and dance, with vocals, high in ies indicate that music is a potential means to modu- musical tempo. It is possible that the interfering effect of late emotional arousal and that emotional arousal, in listing to music might be due to these two latter, mutually turn, can modulate memory consolidation processes not exclusive factors. Regarding vocals, evidence exists (McGaugh, 2015). The findings of the few studies so far that memory interference can occur between informa- investigating the impact of emotional arousing music tion that is similar in its content, for instance when ver- following learning found tendentially positive effects bal encoding material is processed simultaneously or in on memory (Greene et  al., 2010; Judde & Rickard, 2010; short succession with verbal distractor material, resulting but see Experiment 2 of Rickard et  al., 2012 showing in a decreased memory performance (e.g. Dewar et  al., that relaxing music also can have consolidation interfer- 2007; Jones & Macken, 1993; Müller & Pilzecker, 1900). ing effects on emotional story elements). The findings of u Th s, it is conceivable that vocals included in our musical these studies would therefore suggest that listening to excerpts eventually interfered with consolidation leading emotionally arousing music following learning should to a decreased memory performance after 1  day. In our rather have effects supporting consolidation than effects study, participants encoded words in their mother tongue interfering with consolidation, which is contrary to our (German) and listened to musical pieces including vocals findings in Experiment 2. However, it is also suggested in participants’ second language (English). Words from that the effects of emotional arousal on memory con - the word lists were thereby not contained in the text of solidation depend on the emotional arousal level. More the vocals of the musical pieces. Therefore, we would concretely, it is assumed that the relationship between assume that the encoded words and words from the emotional arousal and memory follows an inverted vocal text were not likely to affect each other. However, a U-shaped function (see McGaugh, 2015, 2018, but also potential translation process itself, i.e. when participants Mather & Sutherland, 2011). Accordingly, high emotional tried to translate the vocals into their mother tongue, arousal states can under certain conditions also lead to which can be described as cognitive demanding activity, poorer memory. Our findings indicate that there was a could have led to consolidation interfering effects (but significant change in subjective emotional arousal rat - see Martini et  al., 2020) in addition to a potential inter- ings from before learning a word list to the rating after fering effect due to a semantic overlap of encoded words the respective post-encoding activity, with a significantly and vocals. higher proportional change in the listening to music con- Regarding the musical tempo, evidence exists that dition (see Figs.  1D and 2D). However, we found that musical tempo manipulations induce changes in the these proportional changes in emotional arousal were arousal state (Balch & Lewis, 1996), and are associated not related to the number of words retained after 1 day in with expressions of activity, excitement, and surprise the listening to music condition, which potentially would Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 12 of 14 indicate that emotional arousal was not the main driving the no-music condition of Rickard et  al.’s (2012) experi- factor for our results. This issue should have been further ment, participants heard background sounds in a busy tested by more concrete phrased items and in the view of café, which consisted of footsteps and people conversing the fact that participant ratings are subjective, a guessti- at a distance. In our study, we compared an eyes-closed mate of a dynamic process which can vary over time, and wakeful resting condition with an eyes-closed listening which are contingently biased by the condition itself. to music condition of equal length. In our wakeful rest- Regarding participants’ mind wandering activity, as ing condition, auditory sensory input was at a minimum outlined above, studies indicate that autobiographical while auditory sensory input in the control condition of retrieval induced by concrete external cues can impair Rickard et al. (2012) seemed to be constantly high. Back- memory consolidation (Craig et  al., Varma et  al., 2018). ground sound in Rickard et  al.’s (2012) control condi- It stands to reason that the musical pieces induced the tion potentially interfered with memory consolidation retrieval of concrete autobiographical events or imagi- which could have masked the true effects of the listening nations which might have interfered with the consolida- to music conditions. This view is supported by findings tion of the word lists. However, even though our results showing that concrete sound cues, which elicit autobio- indicate that the musical pieces induced the retrieval graphical thinking have been shown to impair the influ - of positive concrete events, at least in some partici- ence of rest on memory (Craig et al., 2014; Varma et al., pants, and thought activity during listening to music 2018). was highly diverse (see Additional file  1: Tables  1 and 2, Our study has several additional limitations. First, our Supplements), we did not find significant correlations findings are limited to unrelated words as encoding mate - (after Bonferroni correction) with the number of words rial. Second, it might be interesting to test the impact of retained after 1 day (see also Brokaw et al., 2016). Poten- resting and music in dependence on a reference condi- tially, more focussed research questions delineating spe- tion, e.g. performing a cognitively demanding task (e.g. cific mind wandering activities together with a higher Dewar et  al., 2007). This would be especially interesting experimental power might reveal interesting new find - in light of the finding of Experiment 1 as only with a third ings in future studies. post-encoding condition it can be tested whether the two Those few existing studies investigating the impact of post-encoding activities were similar in their effect on listening to music immediately following learning found memory because they both had a consolidation support- no or positive effects of listening to music on memory ing effect, or whether they both rather interfered with (Greene et  al., 2010; Judde & Rickard, 2010; Rickard consolidation (see also Kuschpel et al., 2015). et  al., 2012). It is important to note that our experimen- To conclude, this is the first study comparing the tal approach differed from those studies by at least two effects of wakeful resting and listening to music follow - major aspects which make different outcomes plausible. ing encoding on memory. Our findings indicate that the First and most relevant, our main goal was to delineate effect of the post-encoding activity depends on the con - listening to music from a different post-encoding activity, creteness of the verbal encoding material—if the ver- here wakeful resting. This experimental approach differs bal material is concrete resting and music have similar from the study of Judde and Rickard (2010) who did not effects on memory, if the verbal material is less concrete compare a listening to music condition to another con- memory benefits from a brief period of rest and is com - dition. Their main research focus was the timing of the parably impaired by a brief period of listening to music. music intervention after encoding a word list, and their control group was not exposed to any post-encoding Supplementary Information activity intervention. Similarly, Greene et  al. (2010) var- The online version contains supplementary material available at https:// doi. org/ 10. 1186/ s41235- 022- 00415-4. ied post-encoding emotional states by means of exposure to music that varied in both mood and arousal dimen- Additional file 1. Descriptive statistics of participants’ thought activity sions and measured their impact on visual recogni- during wakeful resting/listening to music and their correlations with tion memory. Both studies, therefore, did not compare memory retention performance after 1 day for Experiment 1 and Experi- ment 2. a listening to music condition to another post-encod- Additional file 2. Analyses of the raw number of words recalled for ing activity. From these studies, it is therefore unclear Experiment 1 and Experiment 2. whether the results are due to music per se. The study Additional file 3. Fig. 3. Scatterplots for the correlation between memory of Rickard et  al., (2012, Experiment 2) investigated the retention and participants‘ rehearsal ratings plotted separately for the impact of listening to music to a no-music condition of post-encoding activity condition (wakeful resting [grey regression lines] vs. listening to music [yellow regression lines]) and experiment (Experi- equal length. However, the no-music condition differed ment 1 vs. Experiment 2). fundamentally from our wakeful resting condition. In M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 13 of 14 Author contributions Denis, D., Mylonas, D., Poskanzer, C., Bursal, V., Payne, J. D., & Stickgold, R. (2021). MM and JRW designed Experiment 1. MM designed Experiment 2. JRW Sleep spindles preferentially consolidate weakly encoded memories. collected the data of Experiment 1. MM collected the data of Experiment 2. Journal of Neuroscience, 41(18), 4088–4099. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1523/ MM statistical analyses. MM, JRW, FT, SEH interpreted the data. MM wrote the JNEUR OSCI. 0818- 20. 2021 manuscript—original draft. MM, JRW, FT, SEH, PS reviewed and edited the Dewar, M., Alber, J., Butler, C., Cowan, N., & Della Sala, S. (2012). Brief wakeful manuscript. resting boosts new memories over the long term. Psychological Science, 23(9), 955–960. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1177/ 09567 97612 441220 Availability of data and materials Dewar, M., Alber, J., Cowan, N., & Della Sala, S. (2014). Boosting long-term The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from memory via wakeful rest: Intentional rehearsal is not necessary, consoli- the corresponding author on reasonable request. dation is sufficient. PloS One, 9(10), e109542. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1371/ journ al. pone. 01095 42 Dewar, M., Cowan, N., & Sala, S. D. (2007). Forgetting due to retroactive interfer- Declarations ence: A fusion of Müller and Pilzecker’s (1900) early insights into everyday forgetting and recent research on anterograde amnesia. Cortex, 43(5), Ethics approval and consent to participate 616–634. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/ s0010- 9452(08) 70492-1 The experiment presented in this manuscript was approved by the Psychol- Diaz, B. A., Van Der Sluis, S., Benjamins, J. S., Stoffers, D., Hardstone, R., Mans- ogy Research Ethics Committee of the University of Innsbruck. velder, H. D., Van Someren, E. J., & Linkenkaer-Hansen, K. (2014). The ARSQ 20 reveals age and personality effects on mind-wandering experiences. Competing interests Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 271. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3389/ fpsyg. 2014. 00271 The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Diekelmann, S., Born, J., & Wagner, U. (2010). Sleep enhances false memories depending on general memory performance. Behavioural Brain Research, Author details 208(2), 425–429. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. bbr. 2009. 12. 021 1 2 University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Depar tment Drosopoulos, S., Schulze, C., Fischer, S., & Born, J. (2007). Sleep’s function in of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. the spontaneous recovery and consolidation of memories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136(2), 169–183. https:// doi. org/ 10. Received: 26 April 2021 Accepted: 29 June 2022 1037/ 0096- 3445. 136.2. 169 Dudai, Y., Karni, A., & Born, J. (2015). The consolidation and transformation of memory. Neuron, 88(1), 20–32. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. neuron. 2015. 09. Ferreri, L., & Verga, L. (2016). Benefits of music on verbal learning and memory: References How and when does it work? Music Perception, 34(2), 167–182. https:// doi. Balch, W. R., & Lewis, B. S. (1996). Music-dependent memory: The roles of org/ 10. 1525/ MP. 2016. 34.2. 167 tempo change and mood mediation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Fliessbach, K., Weis, S., Klaver, P., Elger, C. E., & Weber, B. (2006). The effect Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22(6), 1354–1363. https:// doi. org/ 10. of word concreteness on recognition memory. NeuroImage, 32(3), 1037/ 0278- 7393. 22.6. 1354 1413–1421. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. neuro image. 2006. 06. 007 Baumgartner, T., Esslen, M., & Jäncke, L. (2006). From emotion perception to Gabrielsson, A., & Lindström, E. (2001). The influence of musical structure on emotion experience: Emotions evoked by pictures and classical music. emotional expression. In P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), Music and emo- International Journal of Psychophysiology, 60, 34–43. https:// doi. org/ 10. tion: Theory and research (pp. 223–248). Oxford University Press. 1016/j. ijpsy cho. 2005. 04. 007 Greene, C. M., Bahri, P., & Soto, D. (2010). Interplay between affect and arousal Bergmann, T. O., & Staresina, B. P. (2017). Neuronal oscillations and reactiva- in recognition memory. PLoS One, 5(7), e11739. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1371/ tion subserving memory consolidation. In N. Axmacher & B. Rasch (Eds.), journ al. pone. 00117 39 Cognitive neuroscience of memory consolidation (pp. 185–207). Springer Gruber, M. J., Ritchey, M., Wang, S. F., Doss, M. K., & Ranganath, C. (2016). International Publishing. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ 978-3- 319- 45066-7_ 12 Post-learning hippocampal dynamics promote preferential retention of Brokaw, K., Tishler, W., Manceor, S., Hamilton, K., Gaulden, A., Parr, E., & Wamsley, rewarding events. Neuron, 89(5), 1110–1120. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. E. J. (2016). Resting state EEG correlates of memory consolidation. Neuro- neuron. 2016. 01. 017 biology of Learning and Memory, 130, 17–25. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. nlm. Hasselmo, M. E. (1999). Neuromodulation: Acetylcholine and memory consoli- 2016. 01. 008 dation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3(9), 351–359. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/ Buch, E. R., Claudino, L., Quentin, R., Bönstrup, M., & Cohen, L. G. (2021). s1364- 6613(99) 01365-0 Consolidation of human skill linked to waking hippocampo-neocortical Hasselmo, M. E., & McGaughy, J. (2004). High acetylcholine levels set circuit replay. Cell Reports, 35(10), 109193. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. celrep. 2021. dynamics for attention and encoding and low acetylcholine levels set dynamics for consolidation. Progress in Brain Research, 145, 207–231. Cairney, S. A., Durrant, S. J., Hulleman, J., & Lewis, P. A. (2014). Targeted memory https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/ S0079- 6123(03) 45015-2 reactivation during slow wave sleep facilitates emotional memory con- Hu, P., Stylos-Allan, M., & Walker, M. P. (2006). Sleep facilitates consolidation of solidation. Sleep, 37(4), 701-707A. https:// doi. org/ 10. 5665/ sleep. 3572 emotional declarative memory. Psychological Science, 17(10), 891–898. Champely, S., Ekstrom, C., Dalgaard, P., Gill, J., Weibelzahl, S., Anandkumar, A., https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/j. 1467- 9280. 2006. 01799.x Ford, C., Volcic, R., & De Rosario, H. (2020). Pwr: Basic functions for power Humiston, G. B., & Wamsley, E. J. (2018). A brief period of eyes-closed rest analysis. R package version 1.3-0. https:// CRAN.R- proje ct. org/ packa ge= enhances motor skill consolidation. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, pwr 155, 1–6. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. nlm. 2018. 06. 002 Craig, M., Della Sala, S., & Dewar, M. (2014). Autobiographical thinking Husain, G., Thompson, W. F., & Schellenberg, E. G. (2002). Eec ff ts of musical interferes with episodic memory consolidation. PLoS One, 9(4), e93915. tempo and mode on arousal, mood, and spatial abilities. Music Perception, https:// doi. org/ 10. 1371/ journ al. pone. 00939 15 20(2), 151–171. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1525/ mp. 2002. 20.2. 151 Craig, M., Dewar, M., Della Sala, S., & Wolbers, T. (2015). Rest boosts the long- Iwanaga, M., & Ito, T. (2002). Disturbance effect of music on processing of term retention of spatial associative and temporal order information. verbal and spatial memories. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 94, 1251–1258. Hippocampus, 25(9), 1017–1027. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1002/ hipo. 22424 https:// doi. org/ 10. 2466/ pms. 2002. 94. 3c. 1251 Creery, J. D., Oudiette, D., Antony, J. W., & Paller, K. A. (2015). Targeted memory Jäncke, L., & Sandmann, P. (2010). Music listening while you learn: No influence reactivation during sleep depends on prior learning. Sleep, 38(5), of background music on verbal learning. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 6, 755–763. https:// doi. org/ 10. 5665/ sleep. 4670 3. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1186/ 1744- 9081-6-3 de Voogd, L. D., Fernández, G., & Hermans, E. J. (2016). Awake reactivation of JASP Team (2020). JASP ( Version 0.14.1)[Computer software]. emotional memory traces through hippocampal-neocortical interac- Jones, D. M., & Macken, W. J. (1993). Irrelevant tones produce an irrelevant tions. NeuroImage, 134, 563–572. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. neuro image. speech effect: Implications for phonological coding in working memory. 2016. 04. 026 Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 14 of 14 Journal of Experimental Psychololgy: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19, Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2015). The science of mind wandering: Empiri- 369–381. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1037/ 0278- 7393. 19.2. 369 cally navigating the stream of consciousness. Annual Review of Psychol- Judde, S., & Rickard, N. (2010). The effect of post-learning presentation of music ogy, 66, 487–518. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1146/ annur ev- psych- 010814- 015331 on long-term word-list retention. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Tambini, A., Berners-Lee, A., & Davachi, L. (2017). Brief targeted memory reac- 94(1), 13–20. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. nlm. 2010. 03. 002 tivation during the awake state enhances memory stability and benefits Kanske, P., & Kotz, S. A. (2010). Leipzig affective norms for German: A reliability the weakest memories. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 15325. https:// doi. org/ 10. study. Behavior Research Methods, 42(4), 987–991. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3758/ 1038/ s41598- 017- 15608-x BRM. 42.4. 987 Tambini, A., & Davachi, L. (2019). Awake reactivation of prior experiences Kuschpel, M. S., Liu, S., Schad, D. J., Heinzel, S., Heinz, A., & Rapp, M. A. (2015). consolidates memories and biases cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Differential effects of wakeful rest, music and video game playing on 23(10), 876–890. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. tics. 2019. 07. 008 working memory performance in the n-back task. Frontiers in Psychology, Tambini, A., Ketz, N., & Davachi, L. (2010). Enhanced brain correlations during 6, 1683. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3389/ fpsyg. 2015. 01683 rest are related to memory for recent experiences. Neuron, 65(2), 280–290. Martini, M., Martini, C., Bernegger, C., & Sachse, P. (2019a). Post-encoding wake-https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. neuron. 2010. 01. 001 ful resting supports the retention of new verbal memories in children Thompson, W. F., Schellenberg, E. G., & Husain, G. (2001). Arousal, mood, and aged 13–14 years. The British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 37(2), the Mozart effect. Psychological Science, 12(3), 248–251. https:// doi. org/ 199–210. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/ bjdp. 1226710. 1111/ 1467- 9280. 00345 Martini, M., Riedlsperger, B., Maran, T., Martini, C., & Sachse, P. (2020). The effect Thompson, W. F., Schellenberg, E. G., & Letnic, A. K. (2011). Fast and loud of post-learning wakeful rest on the retention of second language learn- background music disrupts reading comprehension. Psychology of Music, ing material over the long term. Current Psychology, 39, 299–306. https:// 40(6), 700–708. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1177/ 03057 35611 400173 doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s12144- 017- 9760-z van Buuren, S., & Groothuis-Oudshoorn, K. (2011). mice: Multivariate imputa- Martini, M., & Sachse, P. (2020). Factors modulating the effects of waking rest tion by chained equations in R. Journal of Statistical Software, 45(3), 1–67. on memory. Cognitive Processing, 21, 149–153. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ https:// doi. org/ 10. 18637/ jss. v045. i03 s10339- 019- 00942-x van der Zwaag, M. D., Westerink, J. H. D. M., & van den Broek, E. L. (2011). Martini, M., Zamarian, L., Sachse, P., Martini, C., & Delazer, M. (2019b). Wakeful Emotional and psychophysiological responses to tempo, mode, and resting and memory retention: A study with healthy older and younger percussiveness. Musicae Scientiae, 15(2), 250–269. https:// doi. org/ 10. adults. Cognitive Processing, 20, 125–131. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ 1177/ 10298 64911 403364 s10339- 018- 0891-4 VanderArk, S. D., & Ely, D. (1992). Biochemical and galvanic skin responses to Mather, M., & Sutherland, M. R. (2011). Arousal-biased competition in percep- music stimuli by college students in biology and music. Perceptual and tion and memory. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(2), 114–133. Motor Skills, 74(3), 1079–1090. https:// doi. org/ 10. 2466/ pms. 1992. 74. 3c. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1177/ 17456 91611 400234 1079 McGaugh, J. L. (2015). Consolidating memories. Annual Review of Psychology, Varma, S., Daselaar, S. M., Kessels, R., & Takashima, A. (2018). Promotion and 66, 1–24. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1146/ annur ev- psych- 010814- 014954 suppression of autobiographical thinking differentially affect episodic McGaugh, J. L. (2018). Emotional arousal regulation of memory consolidation. memory consolidation. PLoS One, 13(8), e0201780. https:// doi. org/ 10. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 19, 55–60. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. 1371/ journ al. pone. 02017 80 cobeha. 2017. 10. 003 Varma, S., Takashima, A., Krewinkel, S., van Kooten, M., Fu, L., Medendorp, W. P., Mednick, S. C., Cai, D. J., Shuman, T., Anagnostaras, S., & Wixted, J. T. (2011). Kessels, R., & Daselaar, S. M. (2017). Non-interfering effects of active post- An opportunistic theory of cellular and systems consolidation. Trends in encoding tasks on episodic memory consolidation in humans. Frontiers in Neurosciences, 34(10), 504–514. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. tins. 2011. 06. 003 Behavioral Neuroscience, 11, 54. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3389/ fnbeh. 2017. 00054 Mercer, T. (2015). Wakeful rest alleviates interference-based forgetting. Memory, Võ, M. L., Conrad, M., Kuchinke, L., Urton, K., Hofmann, M. J., & Jacobs, A. M. 23(2), 127–137. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1080/ 09658 211. 2013. 872279 (2009). The Berlin affective word list reloaded (BAWL-R). Behavior Research Moncada, D., & Viola, H. (2007). Induction of long-term memory by exposure Methods, 41(2), 534–538. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3758/ BRM. 41.2. 534 to novelty requires protein synthesis: Evidence for a behavioral tagging. Wamsley, E. J. (2019). Memory consolidation during waking rest. Trends in Cog- Journal of Neuroscience, 27(28), 7476–7481. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1523/ nitive Sciences, 23(3), 171–173. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. tics. 2018. 12. 007 JNEUR OSCI. 1083- 07. 2007 Wang, J., Conder, J. A., Blitzer, D. N., & Shinkareva, S. V. (2010). Neural representa- Müller, G. E., & Pilzecker, A. (1900). Experimentelle Beiträge zur Lehre vom tion of abstract and concrete concepts: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging Gedächtnis. Zeitschrift Für Psychologie, 1, 1–300. studies. Human Brain Mapping, 31(10), 1459–1468. https:// doi. org/ 10. Nguyen, T., & Grahn, J. A. (2017). Mind your music: The effects of music-induced 1002/ hbm. 20950 mood and arousal across different memory tasks. Psychomusicology: Music, Wang, S. H., & Morris, R. G. (2010). Hippocampal-neocortical interactions in Mind, and Brain, 27(2), 81–94. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1037/ pmu00 00178 memory formation, consolidation, and reconsolidation. Annual Review Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. Oxford of Psychology, 61, 49–79. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1146/ annur ev. psych. 093008. University Press. 100523 Petzka, M., Charest, I., Balanos, G. M., & Staresina, B. P. (2021). Does sleep- Welcome, S. E., Paivio, A., McRae, K., & Joanisse, M. F. (2011). An electrophysi- dependent consolidation favour weak memories? Cortex, 134, 65–75. ological study of task demands on concreteness effects: Evidence for https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. cortex. 2020. 10. 005 dual coding theory. Experimental Brain Research, 212(3), 347–358. https:// Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Ky, C. N. (1993). Music and spatial task perfor-doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s00221- 011- 2734-8 mance. Nature, 365(6447), 611. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1038/ 36561 1a0 Wilhelm, I., Diekelmann, S., Molzow, I., Ayoub, A., Mölle, M., & Born, J. (2011). Rickard, N. S., Wong, W. W., & Velik, L. (2012). Relaxing music counters height- Sleep selectively enhances memory expected to be of future relevance. ened consolidation of emotional memory. Neurobiology of Learning and Journal of Neuroscience, 31(5), 1563–1569. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1523/ JNEUR Memory, 97(2), 220–228. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. nlm. 2011. 12. 005OSCI. 3575- 10. 2011 Robertson, E. M. (2012). New insights in human memory interference and Wixted, J. T. (2005). A theory about why we forget what we once knew. Current consolidation. Current Biology, 22(2), R66–R71. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. Directions in Psychological Science, 14(1), 6–9. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/j. cub. 2011. 11. 0510963- 7214. 2005. 00324.x Schapiro, A. C., McDevitt, E. A., Rogers, T. T., Mednick, S. C., & Norman, K. A. Wixted, J. T. (2010). The role of retroactive interference and consolidation in (2018). Human hippocampal replay during rest prioritizes weakly learned everyday forgetting. In S. D. Sala (Ed.), forgetting (pp. 285–312). Psychol- information and predicts memory performance. Nature Communications, ogy Press. 9(1), 3920. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1038/ s41467- 018- 06213-1 Scherer, K. R., & Oshinsky, J. S. (1977). Cue utilization in emotion attribution Publisher’s Note from auditory stimuli. Motivation and Emotion, 1, 331–346. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in pub- Sirota, A., & Buzsáki, G. (2005). Interaction between neocortical and hip- lished maps and institutional affiliations. pocampal networks via slow oscillations. Thalamus & Related Systems, 3(4), 245–259. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1017/ S1472 92880 70002 58 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Cognitive Research:Principles and Implications Springer Journals

Wakeful resting and listening to music contrast their effects on verbal long-term memory in dependence on word concreteness

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/wakeful-resting-and-listening-to-music-contrast-their-effects-on-y9rSfb6O6H

References (72)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2022
eISSN
2365-7464
DOI
10.1186/s41235-022-00415-4
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Wakeful resting and listening to music are powerful means to modulate memory. How these activities affect memory when directly compared has not been tested so far. In two experiments, participants encoded and immediately recalled two word lists followed by either 6 min wakefully resting or 6 min listening to music. The results of Experi- ment 1 show that both post-encoding conditions have a similar effect on memory after 1 day. In Experiment 2, we explored the possibility that less concrete words, i.e. lower in imageability than in Experiment 1, are differently affected by the two post-encoding conditions. The results of Experiment 2 show that, when words are less concrete, more words are retained after 1 day when encoding is followed by wakeful resting rather than listening to music. These findings indicate that the effects of wakeful resting and listening to music on memory consolidation are mod- erated by the concreteness of the encoded material. Keywords: Wakeful resting, Listening to music, Memory consolidation, Concreteness, Imageability, Interference Significance statement learning a word list. Our findings indicate that for more The phase immediately after learning plays a fundamen - concrete learning material—words high in imageability tal role in the life of new memories. When new memories like “cup” or “umbrella”—resting and listening to music are formed, they continue to be processed by our brain yield similar proportions of remembered words after even when the learning event is already over. Studies 1 day. However, when the learning material gets less con- indicate that neurophysiological processes responsible crete—when words are low in imageability like “truth” or for establishing enduring memories are vulnerable to “hunch”—more words are remembered after 1 day when disruption especially immediately after learning. Accord- participants rested compared to when participants lis- ingly, studies show that a short break immediately after tened to music. The reported study provides new insights learning, with closed eyes in a relaxing state, can support into how two familiar activities affect verbal memory for - memory, whereas task engagement, i.e. doing something mation in dependence of the concreteness of the learning cognitively demanding, can disrupt memory. Researchers material. are interested in identifying which post-learning activi- ties support memory and which disrupt memory. Here, Introduction we report two experiments investigating which impact Numerous behavioural and neuroscientific findings a short resting phase has on memory in younger adults indicate that new memories encoded while awake con- compared to a short phase of listening to music after tinue to be processed ‘off-line’ immediately after their acquisition, and that during this temporal window they are modifiable, i.e. the post-encoding activity can influ - *Correspondence: markus.martini@uibk.ac.at ence how much is remembered later (Dewar et al., 2007; University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria Dudai et  al., 2015; McGaugh, 2018; Tambini & Davachi, Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ licen ses/ by/4. 0/. Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 2 of 14 2019; Wamsley, 2019; Wixted, 2005, 2010). The study reactivated (Bergmann & Staresina, 2017; Dudai et  al., presented here investigated the effects of two familiar 2015; Tambini & Davachi, 2019). A repeated reactivation post-encoding ‘activities’: wakeful resting and listening helps a new memory representation to get stabilized and to music. Both activities are powerful means to modulate to become less prone to interference over time. Studies memory formation (Dewar et al., 2007; Judde & Rickard, indicate that new memories are vulnerable to consolida- 2010). However, no study so far investigated these two tion interference especially immediately after encoding post-encoding activities in direct comparison to contrast (Robertson, 2012; Wixted, 2005). Consequently, during their effects on memory. a period of wakeful rest, our brain finds optimal condi - tions to reactivate and consolidate new memories while Wakeful resting after encoding task engagement can disrupt reactivation and consolida- Wakeful resting can be described as a state during which tion processes potentially leading to a loss of these new outwardly focussed attention is reduced, while cogni- memories (Dewar et  al., 2007, 2012; Mednick et  al., tive resources are devoted to spontaneous, internally 2011; Tambini & Davachi, 2019; Wamsley, 2019). The focussed mind wandering processes, including thinking, magnitude of the reactivation seems thereby related to planning, dreaming, and imagination (Wamsley, 2019; improved memory. Tambini et al. (2010) found enhanced see also Smallwood & Schooler, 2015). A common meth- functional connectivity between task-relevant brain areas odological approach to investigate the impact of wakeful (hippocampus and a portion of the lateral occipital com- resting on memory is to contrast its effects with a task plex) during rest following a task with high subsequent in which participants are cognitively loaded. For exam- memory. Furthermore, they found that the magnitude ple, participants encode and immediately recall a word of the correlation between the connectivity of the learn- list. The critical manipulation takes place immediately ing relevant brain areas during rest predicted individual after the memory test. Participants either wakefully differences in a later memory test (see also Buch et  al., rest for several minutes in a relaxing state and closed 2021). These findings are in good agreement with results eyes, or perform a cognitively demanding task for sev- from sleep research (Schapiro et al., 2018). eral minutes, like spotting differences in images or solv - ing complex problems. At the end of the experiment, Listening to music after encoding participants’ memory on the word list is tested again in Music can be a powerful means to modulate memory a final, unannounced memory test. With this methodo - (Ferreri & Verga, 2016). Findings on the impact of listen- logical approach, the majority of existing studies find ing to music on memory range from memory-enhancing that memory retention is higher when encoding is fol- effects (Rauscher et  al., 1993; Thompson et  al., 2001), lowed by a brief period of wakeful resting compared to to memory detrimental effects (Iwanaga & Ito, 2002; when encoding is followed by performing a new task Thompson et  al., 2011;), to no-effects (Jäncke & Sand - (Wamsley, 2019; cf Martini & Sachse, 2020). This basic mann, 2010; Nguyen & Grahn, 2017)—with various fac- finding has been replicated several times with different tors modulating the nature and magnitude of musical encoding materials (verbal: Brokaw et  al., 2016; Dewar reactivity (e.g. Husain et al., 2002). The majority of these et  al., 2012; visuospatial: Craig et  al., 2015; procedural: studies investigated the impact of music on memory Humiston & Wamsley, 2018), distractor tasks (Dewar when music was presented before new encoding or dur- et  al., 2007), retention intervals (minutes: Mercer, 2015; ing new encoding. However, we are aware of only three days: Dewar et al., 2012), and age groups (children: Mar- studies so far investigating the impact of music on mem- tini et  al., 2019a; older adults: Dewar et  al., 2012; Mar- ory when music was presented immediately after new tini et  al., 2019b). One of the primary explanations why encoding (Greene et  al., 2010; Judde & Rickard, 2010; wakeful resting benefits memory is that states of reduced Rickard et  al., 2012, Experiment 2). Music is eminently interference support memory consolidation—a family of suitable to induce and modulate both, arousal and emo- neurophysiological processes transforming new memory tion (Baumgartner et  al., 2006; Greene et  al., 2010; Van- representations into lasting ones (Dudai et al., 2015; Has- derArk & Ely, 1992; see also Mather & Sutherland, 2011; selmo, 1999). Memory consolidation during the awake McGaugh, 2015, 2018). Therefore, it appears reasonable state seems thereby to be similar to memory consolida- to speculate that music might have an intrinsic capac- tion during sleep. For instance, Brokaw et al. (2016) found ity to modulate memory consolidation. Greene et  al. that improved memory was associated with an increase (2010) showed that the interaction of mood and arousal in slow oscillatory brain activity, an EEG signature pro- induced by music following encoding of abstract shapes posed to facilitate memory consolidation also during enhanced recognition memory. Memory was enhanced sleep. It is further assumed that during memory con- both in a positive mood and high arousal state as well as solidation, the newly encoded information is repeatedly in a negative mood and low arousal state, both relative to M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 3 of 14 a positive mood and low arousal state or a negative mood Dudai et al., 2015; Wamsley, 2019; Hasselmo, 1999; Has- and high arousal state. The study of Judde and Rickard selmo & McGaughy, 2004). Based on the previous out- (2010) showed that recognition of neutral words after lines, we therefore expected to find that more words are 7  days was significantly enhanced, regardless of valence, retained over 1 day period when encoding is followed by when music was presented 20  min after encoding, yet wakeful resting compared to when encoding is followed not when it was presented immediately or 45  min after by listening to music. encoding, compared to a control condition in which participants just encoded and immediately recalled the Experiment 1 word list. Findings of Rickard et  al., (2012; Experiment Method 2) showed that more details of an emotional story were Participants retained over 7 days when learning was followed by back- We calculated the sample size required to observe a sig- ground sound or arousing music (marginally significant), nificant wakeful resting effect based on the pwr pack - and reduced when learning was followed by relaxing age (Champely et  al., 2020) using an alpha of 0.05, music (compared to a neutral story condition). power of 0.80, and a medium effect size. We found the minimum required sample size to be twenty-six partici- The present study pants. Forty university students took part in the experi- The present study aimed at contrasting the effects of ment in exchange for course credit (31 female; mean wakeful resting and listening to music on memory. Par- age = 23.08  years; SD = 5.68; age range = 18–55  years). ticipants encoded and immediately recalled two word All participants gave informed consent to take part in the lists. Recall of one word list was followed by 6  min of study. wakeful resting; recall of the other word list was followed by 6  min of listening to music. Memories for both word Materials and procedure lists were tested again after 24 h. The experiment included two testing sessions, denoted Findings from earlier studies indicate that listening to as Session 1 and Session 2 in the remainder of this work. music immediately after encoding either has no impact The two sessions were separated by 1  day. We applied a on memory or memory-enhancing effects (Greene et al., repeated measures design with the within-subjects fac- 2010; Judde & Rickard, 2010; Rickard et  al., 2012)—the tors of post-encoding activity (wakeful resting vs. lis- latter effect is potentially modulated by a change in the tening to music) and time of recall (immediate vs. after (emotional) arousal state (see McGaugh, 2015, 2018) or 1 day). the novelty of the stimulus (Moncada &Viola, 2007; but see also Wang & Morris, 2010). However, those few exist- Session 1 ing studies, which investigated the impact of listening Session 1 included two word-encoding phases, which to music on memory when presented immediately after occurred one after the other. Each word-encoding phase the encoding of new information did not directly com- consisted of (a) a visual presentation of one of two word pare a wakeful resting condition to a listening to music lists (with instructions to remember as many words as condition. possible for a subsequent immediate recall), (b) immedi- The majority of findings from research on wakeful rest - ate free recall of the word list, (c) a ~ 6 min post-encoding ing indicate that memory retention is supported by a activity delay, which participants spent either wakefully brief period of post-encoding wakeful resting compared resting or listening to music, and (d) answering of post- to a post-encoding period in which (i) a mentally effort - encoding activity questions. ful new task is performed, whereby the interfering mate- The two word lists consisted of 15 German words each. rial does not have to be similar to the to-be-remembered Words were taken from the Leipzig Affective Norms material (Dewar et  al., 2007, 2014; Martini et  al., 2019a; for German (LANG; Kanske & Kotz, 2010). The LANG for conflicting results see Martini et  al., 2020; Varma consists of one-thousand German nouns that have been et  al., 2017), or (ii) attention is inwardly focussed, for rated on the dimension of emotional valence (9 points example, when rich autobiographical retrieval/future scale ranging from negative, neutral to positive), arousal imagination is stimulated by short auditory sound cues (9 points scale ranging from high arousing to low arous- (Craig et  al., 2014; Varma et  al., 2018). These findings ing), and concreteness (9 points scale ranging from resonate with the view that any condition that results in concrete to abstract). We selected only words from the reduced interference, i.e. during which no new memories LANG database falling within ± 1SD of the reported are formed (e.g. slow-wave sleep, benzodiazepines, ace- mean LANG rating scores for the dimensions valence tylcholine antagonists) support memory consolidation (M = 5.07, SD = 1.20), arousal (M = 2.97, SD = 1.96), (Mednick et al., 2011; see also Tambini & Davachi, 2019; and concreteness (M = 2.07, SD = 1.38). Words were Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 4 of 14 2.0; Diaz et al., 2014) in addition to seven self-generated mono- and bisyllabic and consisted of four to six let- questions. The ARSQ measures mind wandering activ - ters (e.g. “Tasse[cup]”, “Schirm[umbrella]”, “Kran[crane]”, ity with 30 items via a five-point Likert scale (1 = “com- “Regal[shelf]”, “Angel[rod]”). We created the word lists pletely disagree” to 5 = “completely agree”) resulting in such that each word started with a different first letter. ten factors (discontinuity of mind, theory of mind, self, Words were presented one by one, in a pseudo-rand- planning, sleepiness, comfort, somatic awareness, health omized order, for 2  s in the middle of the screen (black concern, visual and verbal thought; for details see Diaz against a white background). In the recall phase, partici- et  al., 2014). With our self-generated questions, we were pants were asked to write down as many words from the interested in whether participants’ thoughts were related previously presented word list as possible, in any order to the past, present, or future (“I thought about some- they wanted, on a blank sheet of paper, within 45 s. thing in the past/present/future; 1 = “strongly disagree” During the wakeful resting delay, participants were to 5 “strongly agree”) and their emotional connotation asked to rest quietly, in a relaxed sitting position with (“I thought about something that brings sorrow/happi- their eyes closed in the darkened testing room for ness/anger/sadness; 1 = “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly 5.45 min. The experimenter rested with the participants. agree”). Participants wore no headphones during the wakeful The order of the two post-encoding activity conditions resting phase. was counterbalanced across participants. Twenty par- During the listening to music delay, participants lis- ticipants were in the ‘first wakeful resting-then listening tened to five music excerpts. A music excerpt comprised to music’ condition and twenty participants in the ‘first the chorus of a piece of music lasting about 60  s. Par- listening to music-then wakeful resting’ condition. Each ticipants were asked to listen to and engage in the music participant had a partition on her/his right and left and with their eyes closed in the darkened testing room the distance between participants was about two meters for 5.45  min. The selected music excerpts consisted of to increase privacy and decrease distraction. Participants vocal songs, between 150 and 180 bpm fast (Smallpools: were tested in groups of one to maximum four partici- “American love”; Aloe Blacc: “Can you do this?”; We the pants. Between the two word-encoding phases, partici- Kings: “Kids in the moonlight”; KSHMR & Yves feat. pants were instructed to fill out questionnaires regarding Krewella: “No regrets”; Neon Trees: “Everybody talks”). participants’ personality, sensitivity, and music prefer- Participants listened to the music via headphones. Music ence for about 10  min. Data from these questionnaires excerpts were presented in the same sequential order, are not reported in the present study. without breaks, to all participants, at a comfortable vol- ume level. The five pieces of music were selected by six student raters. In an online survey, they were asked to Session 2 listen to twenty pieces of music (all ≥ 150  bpm), each Session 2 started between 19 and 31  h after Session 1 presented for 30 s while their eyes should be closed. The (M = 25 h). In Session 2, participants were asked to recall raters answered questions on arousal, valence, familiarity, both word lists, beginning with the word list that had perceived subjective speed, and liking. Music from the been presented first in Session 1. Participants were asked genres pop, alternative, and dance was presented. to write down as many words as possible, within 90 s per Emotional arousal was assessed before each word-list word list, in any order they wanted on a blank sheet of encoding phase and directly after each post-encoding paper. activity (“At the moment I feel emotionally aroused”; 1 = “strongly disagree” to 6 = “strongly agree”; ”In the Analysis of the data previous wakeful resting/listening to music condition Memory performance I felt emotionally aroused”; 1 = “strongly disagree” to Our measure of participants´ memory performance 6 = “strongly agree”). Additionally, following each post- for each word list recall was the number of words cor- encoding activity we asked participants whether they rectly recalled (15 per word list). Delayed (1-day) recall rehearsed the previously presented word list or parts of it test performance was scored such that a recalled word (e.g. “In the previous resting phase I rehearsed the word was rated correctly regardless of whether the participant list or parts of it”; 1 = “not at all” to 6 = “very often”), and correctly assigned the recalled word to the correct word whether they fell asleep (e.g. “In the previous resting list. For instance, if a participant remembered the word phase I fell asleep”; yes/no). No explicit explanation of ‘corn’ from list 1 but mismatched the word to list 2 it was what defines a rehearsal activity was given to participants. scored correctly recalled. To examine how much of the Additionally, we asked participants about their thoughts immediately recalled words were retained over 1  day in and feelings during the delay condition, measured with each post-encoding activity condition (wakeful resting vs. the Amsterdam Resting State Questionnaire (ARSQ listening to music), we computed for each participant a M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 5 of 14 percentage-retention score for each condition. Retention which depicts the percentage-retention scores. As shown scores were calculated by dividing the number of words in Fig.  1B, participants retained a similar amount of recalled correctly after 1  day by the number of words words after 1  day in the wakeful resting condition and recalled correctly at immediate recall in Session 1 and listening to music condition, t(39) = 0.74, p = 0.463, multiplying the quotient by 100 (e.g. Dewar et al., 2012). d = 0.117. The order of the post-learning condition (first Memory retention scores were statistically analysed using wakeful resting [M = 0.54, SD = 0.28]-then listening to a paired-samples t test. music [M = 0.44, SD = 0.30] versus first listening to music [M = 0.56, SD = 0.30]-then wakeful resting [M = 0.52, Subjective rehearsal ratings SD = 0.27]) revealed no significant effect for post-encod - Participants’ responses to the question of how often ing activity, F(1,38) = 0.58, p = 0.449, η = 0.015, order, they rehearsed the word list or parts of it during wake- F(1,38) = 0.41, p = 0.53, η = 0.011, and the post-encod- ful resting and listening to music were compared using ing activity*order interaction, F(1,38) = 3.42, p = 0.072, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Relations between partici- η = 0.083. The same pattern of results was obtained pants’ rehearsal ratings and memory retention scores in when the raw number of words recalled was analysed the respective post-encoding activity condition (wakeful (see Fig.  1A and Supplements, Additional file  2: Experi- resting vs. listening to music) were analysed using Spear- ment 1 - Analyses of the raw number of words recalled). man correlations. Subjective rehearsal ratings Subjective emotional arousal ratings Participants’ rehearsal ratings indicate that words To measure the change in emotional arousal in the were only rarely rehearsed during the respective post- respective post-encoding activity condition (wakeful encoding activity condition (wakeful resting: M = 2.33, resting vs. listening to music) we calculated an emo- SD = 1.46; listening to music: M = 1.90, SD = 1.41). tional arousal change score for each participant. Emo- Rehearsal ratings did not differ significantly between tional arousal change scores were calculated by dividing the wakeful resting condition and the listening to music participant’s emotional arousal rating before encoding condition, W = 265.00, p = 0.153, r = 0.305. rank-biserial a word list divided by the emotional arousal rating after Rehearsal ratings in the wakeful resting condition were the respective post-encoding activity (wakeful resting vs. not significantly correlated with memory retention in the listening to music). Differences in the emotional arousal wakeful resting condition, r = 0.245, p = 0.128 (see Spearman change scores between the post-encoding activity condi- Additional file  3: Fig.  3, Supplements). Rehearsal ratings tions were analysed using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. in the listening to music condition were significantly cor - Correlational analyses with memory retention scores in related with memory retention in the listening to music the respective post-encoding activity condition (wakeful condition, r = 0.46, p = 0.003 (see Additional file  3: Spearman resting vs. listening to music) were analysed using Spear- Fig.  3, Supplements). Exclusion of those participants man correlations. responding to the rehearsal question in the listening to music condition in a range between 5 and 6 (n = 3) and Thought activity reanalysing  the differences in memory retention scores For the ARSQ questionnaire, we followed the scoring between the wakeful resting condition and listening to method described in Diaz et  al. (2014). Data from the music condition did not change our previously reported self-generated items were analysed based on participants’ pattern of results in the ‘Memory performance’ section. raw scores. Descriptive statistics as well as inference sta- tistical analyses using Spearman correlations between the Subjective arousal ratings ARSQ dimensions and our mind wandering items with Mean arousal ratings at the two recall times in the two memory retention over 1 day can be found in the Supple- post-encoding activity conditions (wakeful resting vs. lis- ments (Additional file 1: Table 1). tening to music) are presented in Fig.  1C, which depicts Statistical analyses were conducted using JASP (JASP the raw emotional arousal ratings, and in Fig.  1D, which Team, 2020). The alpha level was set at < 0.05. depicts the emotional arousal change scores (for a description see Methods section). As shown in Fig.  1D, Results emotional arousal change increased in the listening to Memory performance music condition (> 100%) and decreased in the wakeful Mean memory performance at the two recall times in resting condition (< 100%), W = 50.50, p < 0.001, r rank- the two post-encoding activity conditions (wakeful rest- = − 0.809. Emotional arousal change in the wake- biserial ing vs. listening to music) is presented in Fig.  1A, which ful resting condition was not significantly correlated depicts the raw number of words recalled, and in Fig. 1B, with memory retention in the wakeful resting condition, Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 6 of 14 Fig. 1 A Mean number of words correctly recalled (out of 15 per word list) as a function of the post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]) and time of recall (immediate vs. after 1 day). B Mean retention scores in percent as a function of post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]). Retention scores were calculated by dividing the number of correctly recalled words in Session 2 by the number of correctly recalled words in Session 1 and multiplying the quotient by 100. C Mean emotional arousal ratings as a function of the post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]) and time of measurement (before learning the word list [pre] vs. after the post-encoding activity [post]). D Percentage emotional arousal change scores as a function of post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]). Percentage emotional arousal change scores were calculated by dividing participant’s emotional arousal rating before encoding a word list divided by the emotional arousal rating after the respective post-encoding activity (wakeful resting vs. listening to music) multiplied by 100. Dashed helpline: 100% indicates no change in the mean pre- to post emotional arousal ratings. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean file  1: Table  1). One person reported having temporar- r = 0.02, p = 0.897, and emotional arousal change Spearman ily fallen asleep during the wakeful resting condition. in the listening to music condition was not significantly Excluding the participant from analyses did not change correlated with memory retention in the listening to our patterns of results in the ‘Memory performance’ sec- music condition, r = − 0.10, p = 0.545. Spearman tion. On a Likert scale between 1 and 6, participants indi- Participants’ thought activity was diverse within and cated that, on average, they liked the musical excerpts between the respective post-encoding activity condition (M = 4.39, SD = 1.27). Nineteen participants indicated (wakeful resting vs. listening to music) and were not sig- that they knew at least one excerpt and 2 participants nificantly correlated with memory retention after 1  day were not sure. Thirteen participants related at least one (Bonferroni corrected; see Supplements, Additional M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 7 of 14 Method music excerpt with an emotional event. All of them indi- Participants cated that this event had a positive connotation. Forty-nine university students (35 female, mean The results of Experiment 1 indicate that a brief period age = 22.83  years, SD = 3.41  years, age range = 18–37  years) of wakeful resting immediately after encoding a word list took part in the experiment in exchange for course credit. All seems to have a similar impact on memory retention over participants gave informed consent to take part in the study. 1 day as a brief period of listening to music. This finding partly resonates with those of Judde and Rickard (2010) showing that emotionally arousing music affected mem - Materials and procedure ory when presented 20 min after encoding a word list but The basic experimental procedure was the same as not immediately or 45 min after encoding a word list, in in Experiment 1 (see Method section). The two word addition to the findings of Rickard et  al. (2012), which lists consisted again of 15 German words each. How- indicate that they did not find a significant post-encoding ever, this time words were taken from the Berlin Affec - condition*memory performance interaction effect (but tive Word List Reloaded (BAWL-R; Võ et  al., 2009). The see also the studies of Martini et  al., 2020; Varma et  al., BAWL–R is a list of over 2,900 German words which 2017). were rated regarding valence [7-point scale ranging In a second experiment, we exploratively tested a from -3 (very negative) through 0 (neutral) to + 3 (ver y potential modulating effect of the presented word lists. positive)], arousal [5-point scale ranging from 1 (low In Experiment 1, we used relatively concrete words arousal) to 5 (high arousal)], and imageability [7-point like “cup”, “crane”, or “umbrella”. Findings indicate that imageability scale ranged from 1 (low imageability) to memory performance generally increases from abstract 7 (high imageability)]. We selected only words from the words (e.g. conscience, truth) to concrete words. One BAWL-R database falling within ± 1SD of the reported hypothesis for this effect is that concrete words are rep - mean BAWL-R rating scores for the dimensions valence resented in a double coding, a verbal code and an images (M = 0.24, SD = 1.02) and arousal (M = 2.54, SD = 1.05). code which can have additive effects resulting in better For the dimension imageability (M = 1.87, SD = 1.05) the memory for concrete words than for less concrete words reported mean rating scores should be as low as possi- (for a comprehensive overview, see Paivio, 1986; but see ble. All selected words had a mean imageability BAWL- also, e.g. Fliessbach et  al., 2006; Welcome et  al., 2011). R rating score < 2.2. Words were monosyllabic, bisyllabic, We assumed that the encoding of concrete words poten- or trisyllabic and consisted of five to nine letters (e.g. tially resulted in stronger memory traces less prone to “Ahnung[hunch]”, “Reform[reform]”, “Sitte[custom]”, post-encoding consolidation interference which resulted “Zweck[purpose])”. Word lists were created such that in similar memory retention scores in the wakeful rest- each word started with a different first letter. Words were ing condition and listening to music condition in Experi- presented one by one, in a pseudo-randomized order, ment 1. In Experiment 2, therefore, we contrasted the for 2 s in the middle of the screen (black against a white concrete word lists of Experiment 1 by constructing word background). Participants were tested in single testing lists consisting of words low in imageability ratings. If the sessions. Delayed recall performance was collected online post-encoding activity of wakeful resting and listening to (see Judde & Rickard, 2010). Participants’ heart rate was music have similar effects on memory retention, like in measured during Session 1 (these data are not presented Experiment 1, this effect should be found independently in the present paper). The order of the two post-encoding of the concreteness of the to-be-encoded words. How- activity conditions was counterbalanced across partici- ever, if less concrete words are represented in weaker pants. Each participant had a partition on her/his right, memory traces more prone to consolidation interference, left, and front. During wakeful resting, participants wore as expected (Creery et al., 2015; Diekelmann et al., 2010; capsule earmuffs. Denis et  al., 2021; Schapiro et  al., 2018; Tambini et  al., 2018), we should find differences in 1-day memory reten - Analysis of the data tion performance in dependence of whether encoding Scoring and statistical analyses of participants’ memory was followed by wakefully resting or listening to music. performance, subjective rehearsal ratings, emotional arousal ratings, and thought activity were the same as in Experiment 2 Experiment 1. Descriptive statistics and Spearman cor- In Experiment 2, we compared how a 6 min wakeful-rest- relations between the ARSQ dimensions and our mind ing period after encoding and a 6 min listening to music wandering items with memory retention over 1  day are period after encoding affects memory retention over provided in the Supplements (Additional file 1: Table 2). 1 day for less concrete words. Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 8 of 14 Subjective arousal ratings Statistical analyses were conducted using JASP (JASP Mean arousal ratings at the two recall times in the two Team, 2020). The alpha level was set at < 0.05. post-encoding activity conditions (wakeful resting vs. lis- tening to music) are presented in Fig.  2C, which depicts Memory performance the raw emotional arousal ratings, and in Fig.  2D, which From six participants, which took part in Session 1, but depicts the emotional arousal change scores (for a not in Session 2, we imputed the missing 1-day recall description see Methods section). As shown in Fig.  2D, values using the predictive mean matching method in emotional arousal change increased in the listening to the mice package (v3.14.0; van Buuren & Groothuis- music condition (> 100%) and decreased in the wakeful Oudshoorn, 2011). One participant was excluded resting condition (< 100%), W = 20.00, p < 0.001, r rank- from further analyses laying 3 SD above the mean = − 0.951. Emotional arousal change in the wake- biserial 1-day delayed recall performance. The finally ana - ful resting condition was not significantly correlated with lysed data set consisted of forty-eight participants (34 memory retention in the wakeful resting condition, r Spear- female, mean age = 22.82  years, SD = 3.45  years, age = − 0.02, p = 0.884, and emotional arousal change in man range = 18–37  years). Twenty-five participants were in the listening to music condition was not significantly cor - the ‘first wakeful resting-then listening to music’ condi - related with memory retention in the listening to music tion and 23 participants in the ‘first listening to music- condition, r = 0.05, p = 0.722. Spearman then wakeful resting’ condition. Participants’ thought activity was diverse within and between the respective post-encoding activity condition Results (wakeful resting vs. listening to music) and were not sig- Memory performance nificantly correlated with memory retention after 1  day Mean memory performance at the two recall times in (Bonferroni corrected; see Supplements, Additional file  1: the two post-encoding activity conditions (wakeful rest- Table  2). No person reported having fallen temporarily ing vs. listening to music) is presented in Fig.  2A, which asleep during the wakeful resting condition. On a Likert depicts the raw number of words recalled, and in Fig. 2B, scale between 1 and 6, participants indicated that they which depicts the percentage-retention scores. As shown liked the musical excerpts on average 3.98 (SD = 1.27). in Fig.  2B, participants’ retention scores were signifi - Twenty-seven participants indicated that they knew at cantly higher after 1  day if word list encoding was fol- least one excerpt. Twenty-two participants related at lowed by a brief period of wakeful resting than if it was least one music excerpt with an emotional event. All of followed by listening to music, t(47) = 2.84, p = 0.007, them indicated that this event had positive connotations. d = 0.410. The order of the post-learning condition (first wakeful resting-then listening to music vs. first listening Experiment 1 and Experiment 2: to music-then wakeful resting) revealed no significant combined memory performance results effect (p > 0.20). The same pattern of results was obtained Acknowledging that Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 when the raw number of words recalled was analysed used different populations and were conducted at differ - (see Fig.  2A and Supplements, Additional file  2: Experi- ent times with variations in the methodological approach, ment 2 - Analyses of the raw number of words recalled). we conducted a cross-experimental statistical analysis of participants’ memory performance (immediate recall Subjective rehearsal ratings performance and memory retention over 1 day). Participants’ rehearsal ratings indicate that words were only For the analysis of participants’ immediate recall per- rarely rehearsed during the respective post-encoding activ- formance, we conducted a mixed analysis of variance ity condition (wakeful resting: M = 2.04, SD = 1.7; listening with post-encoding activity condition (wakeful resting vs. to music: M = 1.47, SD = 0.89). The difference in rehearsal listening to music) as within-subject factor and experi- ratings between the two post-encoding activity condi- ment (Experiment 1 vs. Experiment 2) as between-sub- tions was statistically significant, W = 234.00, p = 0.003, jects factor. Statistical analyses revealed no significant r = 0.696. Rehearsal ratings in the wakeful resting rank-biserial effect of post-encoding activity condition, F(1,86) = 0.75, condition were not significantly correlated with memory p = 0.391, η = 0.009, overall participants immediately retention in the wakeful resting condition, r = 0.276, Spearman recalled a similar amount of words in the wakeful rest- p = 0.067 (see Additional file  3: Fig.  3, Supplements). ing condition and listening to music condition. A sig- Rehearsal ratings in the listening to music condition were nificant effect of experiment, F(1,86) = 35.82, p < 0.001, not significantly correlated with memory retention in the η = 0.294, indicated that overall participants immedi- listening to music condition, r = 0.173, p = 0.256 (see Spearman ately recalled significantly more words in Experiment 1 Additional file 3 : Fig. 3, Supplements). M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 9 of 14 Fig. 2 A Mean number of words correctly recalled (out of 15 per word list) as a function of the post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]) and time of recall (immediate vs. after 1 day). B Mean percentage-retention scores as a function of post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]). Percentage-retention scores were calculated by dividing the number of correctly recalled words in Session 2 by the number of correctly recalled words in Session 1 and multiplying the quotient by 100. C Mean emotional arousal ratings as a function of the post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]) and time of measurement (before learning the word list [pre] vs. after the post-encoding activity [post]). D Percentage emotional arousal change scores as a function of post-encoding activity (wakeful resting [grey] vs. listening to music [yellow]). Percentage emotional arousal change scores were calculated by dividing participant’s emotional arousal rating before encoding a word list divided by the emotional arousal rating after the respective post-encoding activity (wakeful resting vs. listening to music) multiplied by 100. Dashed helpline: 100% indicates no change in the mean pre- to post emotional arousal ratings. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean than in Experiment 2. There was no significant interac - effect of post-encoding activity condition, F(1,86) = 6.71, tion between immediate recall performance and experi- p = 0.011, η = 0.072, overall participants retained more ment, F(1,86) = 0.96, p = 0.330, η = 0.011. words in the wakeful resting condition than listening For the analysis of participants’ retention performance to music condition. A significant effect of experiment, over 1  day, we conducted a mixed analysis of variance F(1,86) = 21.62, p < 0.001, η = 0.201, revealed that over- with post-encoding activity condition (wakeful rest- all participants retained more words in Experiment 1 ing vs. listening to music) as within-subject factor and than in Experiment 2. There was no significant interac - experiment (Experiment 1 vs. Experiment 2) as between- tion between post-encoding activity condition and exper- subjects factor. Statistical analyses revealed a significant iment, F(1,86) = 2.74, p = 0.101, η = 0.031. p Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 10 of 14 Discussion reactivations, in our experiments by listening to music, The present study investigated the effects of wakeful rest - might have interfered less with memory consolidation ing and listening to music immediately after encoding a processes for more concrete words as these memory word list on memory. In Experiment 1, we demonstrate traces needed fewer reactivations to build more stable that participants retained a similar amount of words memory representations. This assumption resonates with after 1 day in the wakeful resting condition and listening findings from studies showing that our brain can prior - to music condition. In Experiment 2, where participants itize memories to be consolidated. There is evidence were required to encode words low in imageability, par- that memories are more likely to be reactivated dur- ticipants retained more words after 1  day in the wake- ing a post-encoding awake rest period when associated ful resting condition compared to the listening to music with reward (Gruber et al., 2016) or fear (de Voogd et al., condition. 2016). There is further evidence that memories relevant The question arises, why should less concrete words be for future behaviour (Wilhelm et  al., 2011), emotionally more affected and more concrete words be less affected salient stimuli (Hu et  al., 2006), and weaker memories by wakeful resting and listening to music? Studies indi- benefit more from a period of sleep (Denis et  al., 2021; cate that memory performance improves from abstract Diekelmann et al., 2010; Drosopoulos et al., 2007; Petzka words to concrete words (Paivio, 1986). It is easier to et  al., 2021; Schapiro et  al., 2018). Furthermore, weaker maintain words like “duck” or “table” compared to “truth” memories seem to benefit more from a targeted reac - or “hunch”. Theoretical explanations for this ‘concrete - tivation than stronger memories (Cairney et  al., 2014; ness effect’ assume that concrete words form a dual Creery et  al., 2015; Tambini et  al., 2017). At least for code, i.e. a verbal and sensory code, and/or have a more sleep-related memory improvements, it is assumed that accessible semantic network than less concrete words slow oscillatory activity supports the communication (Fliessbach et al., 2006). A meta-analytical review of neu- between learning relevant brain areas in the neocortex roimaging studies by Wang et  al. (2010) brought further and the hippocampus and the consolidation of these new insight showing that less concrete words engage more memories (Sirota & Buzsáki, 2005). This latter view is the verbal system while concrete words engage more the in-line with findings from Brokaw et  al. (2016) showing perceptual system—via mental imagery. It seems rea- that improved memory was associated with an increase sonable to assume that more concrete words are associ- in slow oscillatory brain activity during a wakeful resting ated with more stable memory traces than less concrete state immediately after encoding new information. Alto- words. This might explain why we found that more con - gether, we suggest that less concrete words, low in image- crete words (Experiment 1) were similarly affected by the ability, are associated with weaker memory traces which two post-encoding activities, whereas only less concrete can benefit more from a brief period of wakeful resting words (Experiment 2) could illuminate differences in and are more prone to interference inducted by listen- how the two post-encoding activities affect memory. Our ing to music, compared to more concrete words, high in results from Experiment 2 support the view that less con- imageability. crete words benefit from a state during which attention It could be argued that the beneficial effect of wakeful to external sensory input is reduced (Craig et  al., 2014; resting in Experiment 2 was due to an increased opportu- Dewar et al., 2012; Mednick et al., 2011; Robertson, 2012; nity to rehearse the just-encoded information. We found Wamsley, 2019; Wixted, 2005). Furthermore, consolida- that participants rehearsed words significantly more tion has been associated with the reactivation of recent often during wakeful resting than listening to music, experiences (Dudai et al., 2015; Tambini & Davachi, 2019; however, mean rehearsal rates were very low and not Tambini et al., 2010). Wakeful resting might just provide significantly related to memory retention in the respec - conditions of minimal interference, during which previ- tive post-encoding activity condition. Our findings reso - ously encoded words can be reactivated more often than nate with others showing that difficult to rehearse verbal is possible during periods filled with listening to music. material and thinking about the just-encoded verbal An increase of these automatic reactivations during information during wakeful resting is not or only weakly wakeful resting could allow the memory traces of less related to memory retention (e.g. Brokaw et  al., 2016; concrete words to be strengthened to a higher degree Dewar et  al., 2014). Nevertheless, we cannot exclude than is possible during listening to music (see also Schap- the possibility that some rehearsal activity might have iro et al., 2018). Potentially, more concrete words are rep- had a modulating effect on memory also in our experi - resented in more stable memory traces than less concrete ments. Inspection of Additional file  3: Fig.  3 (Supple- words because of dual coding and/or a better embedding ments) shows a trend in both experiments to the effect into a pre-existing semantic neural network. It could that rehearsal is positively related with the number of be speculated therefore that a disruption of automatic words retained after 1  day. Conceptually, it makes sense M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 11 of 14 to assume that rehearsal is an effective cognitive strategy (e.g. Gabrielsson & Lindström, 2001; Scherer & Oshinsky, to prevent forgetting and stabilize weakly represented 1977; van der Zwaag et  al., 2011). In our study musical information. Especially a brief period of wakeful resting tempo was over 150  bpm per excerpt, thus it is reason- can therefore represent an ideal opportunity to rehearse able to assume that this might have increased arousal, the just encoded information. However, results stem- which in turn could have had a detrimental effect on ming from a single post-conditional question, as it was memory consolidation (see also McGaugh, 2015). How- the case in our study, have to be considered cautiously for ever, there is contrasting evidence on the effect of tempo several reasons. First, a subjective post-conditional rating in increasing arousal. In fact, in the study by Judde and can only be a rough estimate of rehearsal activity taking Rickard (2010), findings suggested that the musical place over a 6  min interval—for example, fluctuations pieces‘ valence (i.e. negative, positive) was able to modu- of rehearsal activity over time cannot be represented by late arousal independently from the musical tempo. Spe- it. Second, the rehearsal activity rating was heavily sub- cifically, negative excerpts were slower than 150  bpm jective—for example, a rating of “3” on the rehearsal but were anyway able to increase arousal, suggesting activity scale will hardly bear the same meaning for all that tempo alone might be not sufficient in influencing participants. Third, participants were not provided with memory consolidation. Whether in the current study the clear definitions of rehearsal activity which potentially tempo alone was indirectly linked to a detrimental effect confounded the impact of different rehearsal types like in memory consolidation (through increased arousal), explicit/intentional rehearsal versus spontaneous/unin- remains thus to be determined. tentional rehearsal. Potential interfering effects in the listening to music One remaining open question is what exactly could lead condition might also have come from an increased emo- to potential consolidation interfering effects in the music tional arousal state or a changed mind wandering activity condition. In our study, we included musical excerpts during the period participants listened to music. Stud- from the genres pop, rock, and dance, with vocals, high in ies indicate that music is a potential means to modu- musical tempo. It is possible that the interfering effect of late emotional arousal and that emotional arousal, in listing to music might be due to these two latter, mutually turn, can modulate memory consolidation processes not exclusive factors. Regarding vocals, evidence exists (McGaugh, 2015). The findings of the few studies so far that memory interference can occur between informa- investigating the impact of emotional arousing music tion that is similar in its content, for instance when ver- following learning found tendentially positive effects bal encoding material is processed simultaneously or in on memory (Greene et  al., 2010; Judde & Rickard, 2010; short succession with verbal distractor material, resulting but see Experiment 2 of Rickard et  al., 2012 showing in a decreased memory performance (e.g. Dewar et  al., that relaxing music also can have consolidation interfer- 2007; Jones & Macken, 1993; Müller & Pilzecker, 1900). ing effects on emotional story elements). The findings of u Th s, it is conceivable that vocals included in our musical these studies would therefore suggest that listening to excerpts eventually interfered with consolidation leading emotionally arousing music following learning should to a decreased memory performance after 1  day. In our rather have effects supporting consolidation than effects study, participants encoded words in their mother tongue interfering with consolidation, which is contrary to our (German) and listened to musical pieces including vocals findings in Experiment 2. However, it is also suggested in participants’ second language (English). Words from that the effects of emotional arousal on memory con - the word lists were thereby not contained in the text of solidation depend on the emotional arousal level. More the vocals of the musical pieces. Therefore, we would concretely, it is assumed that the relationship between assume that the encoded words and words from the emotional arousal and memory follows an inverted vocal text were not likely to affect each other. However, a U-shaped function (see McGaugh, 2015, 2018, but also potential translation process itself, i.e. when participants Mather & Sutherland, 2011). Accordingly, high emotional tried to translate the vocals into their mother tongue, arousal states can under certain conditions also lead to which can be described as cognitive demanding activity, poorer memory. Our findings indicate that there was a could have led to consolidation interfering effects (but significant change in subjective emotional arousal rat - see Martini et  al., 2020) in addition to a potential inter- ings from before learning a word list to the rating after fering effect due to a semantic overlap of encoded words the respective post-encoding activity, with a significantly and vocals. higher proportional change in the listening to music con- Regarding the musical tempo, evidence exists that dition (see Figs.  1D and 2D). However, we found that musical tempo manipulations induce changes in the these proportional changes in emotional arousal were arousal state (Balch & Lewis, 1996), and are associated not related to the number of words retained after 1 day in with expressions of activity, excitement, and surprise the listening to music condition, which potentially would Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 12 of 14 indicate that emotional arousal was not the main driving the no-music condition of Rickard et  al.’s (2012) experi- factor for our results. This issue should have been further ment, participants heard background sounds in a busy tested by more concrete phrased items and in the view of café, which consisted of footsteps and people conversing the fact that participant ratings are subjective, a guessti- at a distance. In our study, we compared an eyes-closed mate of a dynamic process which can vary over time, and wakeful resting condition with an eyes-closed listening which are contingently biased by the condition itself. to music condition of equal length. In our wakeful rest- Regarding participants’ mind wandering activity, as ing condition, auditory sensory input was at a minimum outlined above, studies indicate that autobiographical while auditory sensory input in the control condition of retrieval induced by concrete external cues can impair Rickard et al. (2012) seemed to be constantly high. Back- memory consolidation (Craig et  al., Varma et  al., 2018). ground sound in Rickard et  al.’s (2012) control condi- It stands to reason that the musical pieces induced the tion potentially interfered with memory consolidation retrieval of concrete autobiographical events or imagi- which could have masked the true effects of the listening nations which might have interfered with the consolida- to music conditions. This view is supported by findings tion of the word lists. However, even though our results showing that concrete sound cues, which elicit autobio- indicate that the musical pieces induced the retrieval graphical thinking have been shown to impair the influ - of positive concrete events, at least in some partici- ence of rest on memory (Craig et al., 2014; Varma et al., pants, and thought activity during listening to music 2018). was highly diverse (see Additional file  1: Tables  1 and 2, Our study has several additional limitations. First, our Supplements), we did not find significant correlations findings are limited to unrelated words as encoding mate - (after Bonferroni correction) with the number of words rial. Second, it might be interesting to test the impact of retained after 1 day (see also Brokaw et al., 2016). Poten- resting and music in dependence on a reference condi- tially, more focussed research questions delineating spe- tion, e.g. performing a cognitively demanding task (e.g. cific mind wandering activities together with a higher Dewar et  al., 2007). This would be especially interesting experimental power might reveal interesting new find - in light of the finding of Experiment 1 as only with a third ings in future studies. post-encoding condition it can be tested whether the two Those few existing studies investigating the impact of post-encoding activities were similar in their effect on listening to music immediately following learning found memory because they both had a consolidation support- no or positive effects of listening to music on memory ing effect, or whether they both rather interfered with (Greene et  al., 2010; Judde & Rickard, 2010; Rickard consolidation (see also Kuschpel et al., 2015). et  al., 2012). It is important to note that our experimen- To conclude, this is the first study comparing the tal approach differed from those studies by at least two effects of wakeful resting and listening to music follow - major aspects which make different outcomes plausible. ing encoding on memory. Our findings indicate that the First and most relevant, our main goal was to delineate effect of the post-encoding activity depends on the con - listening to music from a different post-encoding activity, creteness of the verbal encoding material—if the ver- here wakeful resting. This experimental approach differs bal material is concrete resting and music have similar from the study of Judde and Rickard (2010) who did not effects on memory, if the verbal material is less concrete compare a listening to music condition to another con- memory benefits from a brief period of rest and is com - dition. Their main research focus was the timing of the parably impaired by a brief period of listening to music. music intervention after encoding a word list, and their control group was not exposed to any post-encoding Supplementary Information activity intervention. Similarly, Greene et  al. (2010) var- The online version contains supplementary material available at https:// doi. org/ 10. 1186/ s41235- 022- 00415-4. ied post-encoding emotional states by means of exposure to music that varied in both mood and arousal dimen- Additional file 1. Descriptive statistics of participants’ thought activity sions and measured their impact on visual recogni- during wakeful resting/listening to music and their correlations with tion memory. Both studies, therefore, did not compare memory retention performance after 1 day for Experiment 1 and Experi- ment 2. a listening to music condition to another post-encod- Additional file 2. Analyses of the raw number of words recalled for ing activity. From these studies, it is therefore unclear Experiment 1 and Experiment 2. whether the results are due to music per se. The study Additional file 3. Fig. 3. Scatterplots for the correlation between memory of Rickard et  al., (2012, Experiment 2) investigated the retention and participants‘ rehearsal ratings plotted separately for the impact of listening to music to a no-music condition of post-encoding activity condition (wakeful resting [grey regression lines] vs. listening to music [yellow regression lines]) and experiment (Experi- equal length. However, the no-music condition differed ment 1 vs. Experiment 2). fundamentally from our wakeful resting condition. In M artini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 13 of 14 Author contributions Denis, D., Mylonas, D., Poskanzer, C., Bursal, V., Payne, J. D., & Stickgold, R. (2021). MM and JRW designed Experiment 1. MM designed Experiment 2. JRW Sleep spindles preferentially consolidate weakly encoded memories. collected the data of Experiment 1. MM collected the data of Experiment 2. Journal of Neuroscience, 41(18), 4088–4099. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1523/ MM statistical analyses. MM, JRW, FT, SEH interpreted the data. MM wrote the JNEUR OSCI. 0818- 20. 2021 manuscript—original draft. MM, JRW, FT, SEH, PS reviewed and edited the Dewar, M., Alber, J., Butler, C., Cowan, N., & Della Sala, S. (2012). Brief wakeful manuscript. resting boosts new memories over the long term. Psychological Science, 23(9), 955–960. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1177/ 09567 97612 441220 Availability of data and materials Dewar, M., Alber, J., Cowan, N., & Della Sala, S. (2014). Boosting long-term The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from memory via wakeful rest: Intentional rehearsal is not necessary, consoli- the corresponding author on reasonable request. dation is sufficient. PloS One, 9(10), e109542. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1371/ journ al. pone. 01095 42 Dewar, M., Cowan, N., & Sala, S. D. (2007). Forgetting due to retroactive interfer- Declarations ence: A fusion of Müller and Pilzecker’s (1900) early insights into everyday forgetting and recent research on anterograde amnesia. Cortex, 43(5), Ethics approval and consent to participate 616–634. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/ s0010- 9452(08) 70492-1 The experiment presented in this manuscript was approved by the Psychol- Diaz, B. A., Van Der Sluis, S., Benjamins, J. S., Stoffers, D., Hardstone, R., Mans- ogy Research Ethics Committee of the University of Innsbruck. velder, H. D., Van Someren, E. J., & Linkenkaer-Hansen, K. (2014). The ARSQ 20 reveals age and personality effects on mind-wandering experiences. Competing interests Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 271. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3389/ fpsyg. 2014. 00271 The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Diekelmann, S., Born, J., & Wagner, U. (2010). Sleep enhances false memories depending on general memory performance. Behavioural Brain Research, Author details 208(2), 425–429. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. bbr. 2009. 12. 021 1 2 University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Depar tment Drosopoulos, S., Schulze, C., Fischer, S., & Born, J. (2007). Sleep’s function in of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. the spontaneous recovery and consolidation of memories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136(2), 169–183. https:// doi. org/ 10. Received: 26 April 2021 Accepted: 29 June 2022 1037/ 0096- 3445. 136.2. 169 Dudai, Y., Karni, A., & Born, J. (2015). The consolidation and transformation of memory. Neuron, 88(1), 20–32. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. neuron. 2015. 09. Ferreri, L., & Verga, L. (2016). Benefits of music on verbal learning and memory: References How and when does it work? Music Perception, 34(2), 167–182. https:// doi. Balch, W. R., & Lewis, B. S. (1996). Music-dependent memory: The roles of org/ 10. 1525/ MP. 2016. 34.2. 167 tempo change and mood mediation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Fliessbach, K., Weis, S., Klaver, P., Elger, C. E., & Weber, B. (2006). The effect Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22(6), 1354–1363. https:// doi. org/ 10. of word concreteness on recognition memory. NeuroImage, 32(3), 1037/ 0278- 7393. 22.6. 1354 1413–1421. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. neuro image. 2006. 06. 007 Baumgartner, T., Esslen, M., & Jäncke, L. (2006). From emotion perception to Gabrielsson, A., & Lindström, E. (2001). The influence of musical structure on emotion experience: Emotions evoked by pictures and classical music. emotional expression. In P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), Music and emo- International Journal of Psychophysiology, 60, 34–43. https:// doi. org/ 10. tion: Theory and research (pp. 223–248). Oxford University Press. 1016/j. ijpsy cho. 2005. 04. 007 Greene, C. M., Bahri, P., & Soto, D. (2010). Interplay between affect and arousal Bergmann, T. O., & Staresina, B. P. (2017). Neuronal oscillations and reactiva- in recognition memory. PLoS One, 5(7), e11739. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1371/ tion subserving memory consolidation. In N. Axmacher & B. Rasch (Eds.), journ al. pone. 00117 39 Cognitive neuroscience of memory consolidation (pp. 185–207). Springer Gruber, M. J., Ritchey, M., Wang, S. F., Doss, M. K., & Ranganath, C. (2016). International Publishing. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ 978-3- 319- 45066-7_ 12 Post-learning hippocampal dynamics promote preferential retention of Brokaw, K., Tishler, W., Manceor, S., Hamilton, K., Gaulden, A., Parr, E., & Wamsley, rewarding events. Neuron, 89(5), 1110–1120. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. E. J. (2016). Resting state EEG correlates of memory consolidation. Neuro- neuron. 2016. 01. 017 biology of Learning and Memory, 130, 17–25. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. nlm. Hasselmo, M. E. (1999). Neuromodulation: Acetylcholine and memory consoli- 2016. 01. 008 dation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3(9), 351–359. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/ Buch, E. R., Claudino, L., Quentin, R., Bönstrup, M., & Cohen, L. G. (2021). s1364- 6613(99) 01365-0 Consolidation of human skill linked to waking hippocampo-neocortical Hasselmo, M. E., & McGaughy, J. (2004). High acetylcholine levels set circuit replay. Cell Reports, 35(10), 109193. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. celrep. 2021. dynamics for attention and encoding and low acetylcholine levels set dynamics for consolidation. Progress in Brain Research, 145, 207–231. Cairney, S. A., Durrant, S. J., Hulleman, J., & Lewis, P. A. (2014). Targeted memory https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/ S0079- 6123(03) 45015-2 reactivation during slow wave sleep facilitates emotional memory con- Hu, P., Stylos-Allan, M., & Walker, M. P. (2006). Sleep facilitates consolidation of solidation. Sleep, 37(4), 701-707A. https:// doi. org/ 10. 5665/ sleep. 3572 emotional declarative memory. Psychological Science, 17(10), 891–898. Champely, S., Ekstrom, C., Dalgaard, P., Gill, J., Weibelzahl, S., Anandkumar, A., https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/j. 1467- 9280. 2006. 01799.x Ford, C., Volcic, R., & De Rosario, H. (2020). Pwr: Basic functions for power Humiston, G. B., & Wamsley, E. J. (2018). A brief period of eyes-closed rest analysis. R package version 1.3-0. https:// CRAN.R- proje ct. org/ packa ge= enhances motor skill consolidation. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, pwr 155, 1–6. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. nlm. 2018. 06. 002 Craig, M., Della Sala, S., & Dewar, M. (2014). Autobiographical thinking Husain, G., Thompson, W. F., & Schellenberg, E. G. (2002). Eec ff ts of musical interferes with episodic memory consolidation. PLoS One, 9(4), e93915. tempo and mode on arousal, mood, and spatial abilities. Music Perception, https:// doi. org/ 10. 1371/ journ al. pone. 00939 15 20(2), 151–171. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1525/ mp. 2002. 20.2. 151 Craig, M., Dewar, M., Della Sala, S., & Wolbers, T. (2015). Rest boosts the long- Iwanaga, M., & Ito, T. (2002). Disturbance effect of music on processing of term retention of spatial associative and temporal order information. verbal and spatial memories. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 94, 1251–1258. Hippocampus, 25(9), 1017–1027. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1002/ hipo. 22424 https:// doi. org/ 10. 2466/ pms. 2002. 94. 3c. 1251 Creery, J. D., Oudiette, D., Antony, J. W., & Paller, K. A. (2015). Targeted memory Jäncke, L., & Sandmann, P. (2010). Music listening while you learn: No influence reactivation during sleep depends on prior learning. Sleep, 38(5), of background music on verbal learning. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 6, 755–763. https:// doi. org/ 10. 5665/ sleep. 4670 3. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1186/ 1744- 9081-6-3 de Voogd, L. D., Fernández, G., & Hermans, E. J. (2016). Awake reactivation of JASP Team (2020). JASP ( Version 0.14.1)[Computer software]. emotional memory traces through hippocampal-neocortical interac- Jones, D. M., & Macken, W. J. (1993). Irrelevant tones produce an irrelevant tions. NeuroImage, 134, 563–572. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. neuro image. speech effect: Implications for phonological coding in working memory. 2016. 04. 026 Martini et al. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2022) 7:80 Page 14 of 14 Journal of Experimental Psychololgy: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19, Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2015). The science of mind wandering: Empiri- 369–381. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1037/ 0278- 7393. 19.2. 369 cally navigating the stream of consciousness. Annual Review of Psychol- Judde, S., & Rickard, N. (2010). The effect of post-learning presentation of music ogy, 66, 487–518. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1146/ annur ev- psych- 010814- 015331 on long-term word-list retention. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Tambini, A., Berners-Lee, A., & Davachi, L. (2017). Brief targeted memory reac- 94(1), 13–20. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. nlm. 2010. 03. 002 tivation during the awake state enhances memory stability and benefits Kanske, P., & Kotz, S. A. (2010). Leipzig affective norms for German: A reliability the weakest memories. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 15325. https:// doi. org/ 10. study. Behavior Research Methods, 42(4), 987–991. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3758/ 1038/ s41598- 017- 15608-x BRM. 42.4. 987 Tambini, A., & Davachi, L. (2019). Awake reactivation of prior experiences Kuschpel, M. S., Liu, S., Schad, D. J., Heinzel, S., Heinz, A., & Rapp, M. A. (2015). consolidates memories and biases cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Differential effects of wakeful rest, music and video game playing on 23(10), 876–890. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. tics. 2019. 07. 008 working memory performance in the n-back task. Frontiers in Psychology, Tambini, A., Ketz, N., & Davachi, L. (2010). Enhanced brain correlations during 6, 1683. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3389/ fpsyg. 2015. 01683 rest are related to memory for recent experiences. Neuron, 65(2), 280–290. Martini, M., Martini, C., Bernegger, C., & Sachse, P. (2019a). Post-encoding wake-https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. neuron. 2010. 01. 001 ful resting supports the retention of new verbal memories in children Thompson, W. F., Schellenberg, E. G., & Husain, G. (2001). Arousal, mood, and aged 13–14 years. The British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 37(2), the Mozart effect. Psychological Science, 12(3), 248–251. https:// doi. org/ 199–210. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/ bjdp. 1226710. 1111/ 1467- 9280. 00345 Martini, M., Riedlsperger, B., Maran, T., Martini, C., & Sachse, P. (2020). The effect Thompson, W. F., Schellenberg, E. G., & Letnic, A. K. (2011). Fast and loud of post-learning wakeful rest on the retention of second language learn- background music disrupts reading comprehension. Psychology of Music, ing material over the long term. Current Psychology, 39, 299–306. https:// 40(6), 700–708. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1177/ 03057 35611 400173 doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s12144- 017- 9760-z van Buuren, S., & Groothuis-Oudshoorn, K. (2011). mice: Multivariate imputa- Martini, M., & Sachse, P. (2020). Factors modulating the effects of waking rest tion by chained equations in R. Journal of Statistical Software, 45(3), 1–67. on memory. Cognitive Processing, 21, 149–153. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ https:// doi. org/ 10. 18637/ jss. v045. i03 s10339- 019- 00942-x van der Zwaag, M. D., Westerink, J. H. D. M., & van den Broek, E. L. (2011). Martini, M., Zamarian, L., Sachse, P., Martini, C., & Delazer, M. (2019b). Wakeful Emotional and psychophysiological responses to tempo, mode, and resting and memory retention: A study with healthy older and younger percussiveness. Musicae Scientiae, 15(2), 250–269. https:// doi. org/ 10. adults. Cognitive Processing, 20, 125–131. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ 1177/ 10298 64911 403364 s10339- 018- 0891-4 VanderArk, S. D., & Ely, D. (1992). Biochemical and galvanic skin responses to Mather, M., & Sutherland, M. R. (2011). Arousal-biased competition in percep- music stimuli by college students in biology and music. Perceptual and tion and memory. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(2), 114–133. Motor Skills, 74(3), 1079–1090. https:// doi. org/ 10. 2466/ pms. 1992. 74. 3c. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1177/ 17456 91611 400234 1079 McGaugh, J. L. (2015). Consolidating memories. Annual Review of Psychology, Varma, S., Daselaar, S. M., Kessels, R., & Takashima, A. (2018). Promotion and 66, 1–24. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1146/ annur ev- psych- 010814- 014954 suppression of autobiographical thinking differentially affect episodic McGaugh, J. L. (2018). Emotional arousal regulation of memory consolidation. memory consolidation. PLoS One, 13(8), e0201780. https:// doi. org/ 10. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 19, 55–60. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. 1371/ journ al. pone. 02017 80 cobeha. 2017. 10. 003 Varma, S., Takashima, A., Krewinkel, S., van Kooten, M., Fu, L., Medendorp, W. P., Mednick, S. C., Cai, D. J., Shuman, T., Anagnostaras, S., & Wixted, J. T. (2011). Kessels, R., & Daselaar, S. M. (2017). Non-interfering effects of active post- An opportunistic theory of cellular and systems consolidation. Trends in encoding tasks on episodic memory consolidation in humans. Frontiers in Neurosciences, 34(10), 504–514. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. tins. 2011. 06. 003 Behavioral Neuroscience, 11, 54. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3389/ fnbeh. 2017. 00054 Mercer, T. (2015). Wakeful rest alleviates interference-based forgetting. Memory, Võ, M. L., Conrad, M., Kuchinke, L., Urton, K., Hofmann, M. J., & Jacobs, A. M. 23(2), 127–137. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1080/ 09658 211. 2013. 872279 (2009). The Berlin affective word list reloaded (BAWL-R). Behavior Research Moncada, D., & Viola, H. (2007). Induction of long-term memory by exposure Methods, 41(2), 534–538. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3758/ BRM. 41.2. 534 to novelty requires protein synthesis: Evidence for a behavioral tagging. Wamsley, E. J. (2019). Memory consolidation during waking rest. Trends in Cog- Journal of Neuroscience, 27(28), 7476–7481. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1523/ nitive Sciences, 23(3), 171–173. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. tics. 2018. 12. 007 JNEUR OSCI. 1083- 07. 2007 Wang, J., Conder, J. A., Blitzer, D. N., & Shinkareva, S. V. (2010). Neural representa- Müller, G. E., & Pilzecker, A. (1900). Experimentelle Beiträge zur Lehre vom tion of abstract and concrete concepts: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging Gedächtnis. Zeitschrift Für Psychologie, 1, 1–300. studies. Human Brain Mapping, 31(10), 1459–1468. https:// doi. org/ 10. Nguyen, T., & Grahn, J. A. (2017). Mind your music: The effects of music-induced 1002/ hbm. 20950 mood and arousal across different memory tasks. Psychomusicology: Music, Wang, S. H., & Morris, R. G. (2010). Hippocampal-neocortical interactions in Mind, and Brain, 27(2), 81–94. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1037/ pmu00 00178 memory formation, consolidation, and reconsolidation. Annual Review Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. Oxford of Psychology, 61, 49–79. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1146/ annur ev. psych. 093008. University Press. 100523 Petzka, M., Charest, I., Balanos, G. M., & Staresina, B. P. (2021). Does sleep- Welcome, S. E., Paivio, A., McRae, K., & Joanisse, M. F. (2011). An electrophysi- dependent consolidation favour weak memories? Cortex, 134, 65–75. ological study of task demands on concreteness effects: Evidence for https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. cortex. 2020. 10. 005 dual coding theory. Experimental Brain Research, 212(3), 347–358. https:// Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Ky, C. N. (1993). Music and spatial task perfor-doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s00221- 011- 2734-8 mance. Nature, 365(6447), 611. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1038/ 36561 1a0 Wilhelm, I., Diekelmann, S., Molzow, I., Ayoub, A., Mölle, M., & Born, J. (2011). Rickard, N. S., Wong, W. W., & Velik, L. (2012). Relaxing music counters height- Sleep selectively enhances memory expected to be of future relevance. ened consolidation of emotional memory. Neurobiology of Learning and Journal of Neuroscience, 31(5), 1563–1569. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1523/ JNEUR Memory, 97(2), 220–228. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. nlm. 2011. 12. 005OSCI. 3575- 10. 2011 Robertson, E. M. (2012). New insights in human memory interference and Wixted, J. T. (2005). A theory about why we forget what we once knew. Current consolidation. Current Biology, 22(2), R66–R71. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. Directions in Psychological Science, 14(1), 6–9. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/j. cub. 2011. 11. 0510963- 7214. 2005. 00324.x Schapiro, A. C., McDevitt, E. A., Rogers, T. T., Mednick, S. C., & Norman, K. A. Wixted, J. T. (2010). The role of retroactive interference and consolidation in (2018). Human hippocampal replay during rest prioritizes weakly learned everyday forgetting. In S. D. Sala (Ed.), forgetting (pp. 285–312). Psychol- information and predicts memory performance. Nature Communications, ogy Press. 9(1), 3920. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1038/ s41467- 018- 06213-1 Scherer, K. R., & Oshinsky, J. S. (1977). Cue utilization in emotion attribution Publisher’s Note from auditory stimuli. Motivation and Emotion, 1, 331–346. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in pub- Sirota, A., & Buzsáki, G. (2005). Interaction between neocortical and hip- lished maps and institutional affiliations. pocampal networks via slow oscillations. Thalamus & Related Systems, 3(4), 245–259. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1017/ S1472 92880 70002 58

Journal

Cognitive Research:Principles and ImplicationsSpringer Journals

Published: Sep 3, 2022

Keywords: Wakeful resting; Listening to music; Memory consolidation; Concreteness; Imageability; Interference

There are no references for this article.