Have you ever wondered why we still love the music we listened to as teenagers? Even though time has passed, it continues to hold a special place in our hearts and on our playlists.
There's a psychological explanation for this phenomenon called neural nostalgia. And that's what therapist and photographer Nikki Roy recently discussed in an Instagram reel
The scientific explanation
Nikki explains in the video that researchers have discovered that the music we listen to during adolescence connects to our brains in a way that is different from anything we listen to as adults.
According to science, the prefrontal cortex is the area responsible for decision-making, critical thinking, emotional control, and problem-solving. However, it only reaches full development at age 25 .
Before that, the body uses the amygdala, which is related to the processing of emotions. Therefore, it makes sense that songs that generate positive emotions in us during adolescence stay with us.
Furthermore, puberty hormones can intensify some experiences, including listening to music and connecting emotionally.
Music is a connection to ourselves
Daniel Levitin , author of the book This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession , links the music we listen to to our sense of identity.
For the writer, what we hear in our youth becomes a way of belonging to a certain social group, since we often discover new music and artists through friends, recommendations from people or media outlets we admire, or media content we consume.
At the end of the reel, Nikki Roy comments that listening to the music you enjoyed as a teenager is a great way to reconnect with yourself, a simple action that, for her, "makes us feel alive again.".
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