How Music Shapes Memory, Emotion, and Imagination

How Music Shapes Memory, Emotion, and Imagination

From The Pulse by WHYY

June 11, 2026 · 50 min

About this episode

The episode explores how music influences memory, emotion, and imagination, featuring insights from experts in music cognition.

Music can transport us to a different time and place — but how does that happen? We explore how music affects our brains — from its ability to tap into our memories and imaginations, to “musical daydreaming” and how it helps us understand both the world and ourselves. We also discuss the therapeutic power of music. We talk with Elizabeth Margulis, director of the Music Cognition Lab at Princeton University, about how music affects our brains, and how it helps us make meaning and sense — both of ourselves, and of the world. Her new book is “ Transported: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams .” We listen back to an interview with musician and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin about music's ability to engage our brains, its close link with physical movement, and its function — both therapeutically, and in human evolution. He’s the author of “ I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music As Medicine .”

People in this episode

Guest: Elizabeth Margulis

Topics covered

  • music and memory
  • music therapy
  • cognition
  • emotional impact of music
  • musical daydreaming

Keywords

  • music
  • memory
  • emotion
  • cognition
  • therapy
  • musical daydreaming
  • neuroscience

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Music Cognition Lab, Princeton University

Books & works: Transported: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams, I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music As Medicine

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