Music-evoked autobiographical memories engage emotion, perception, and memory to make past moments vivid.

As we age, music shifts from defining our identity to acting as a window into our lived experiences.

Familiar melodies provide structure and comfort by giving complex feelings a safe place to move.

Intentionally listening to music helps us pause, connect with loved ones, and embrace life's fleeting moments.

Some songs arrive like visitors. Others have been living inside us for years.

We may not remember when they first entered. We may not have chosen them as favorites. They were not always the biggest hits, the songs everyone else seemed to be singing. Yet decades later, a few notes of the Beatles’ “Julia,” Simon and Garfunkel’s “Old Friends” or “The Boxer,” or the quiet opening of “Sunrise, Sunset” can stop us in our tracks.

Why does this happen?

At certain ages, we approach and listen to music for changing purposes. When we are young, a song may help us declare who we are—or who we hope to become. Giving language to rebellion, romance, loneliness, and possibility. Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” sounds different when the future is rushing toward us than it does when........

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