Neuroscientists have pinpointed the area of our brain where we store memories of music.

The findings are part of a study, published in the journal Brain, on memory loss in dementia, in particular looking at the ability to remember and recognize sounds, which is unusually preserved in Alzheimer’s disease. 

In the study, participants with dementia, as well as healthy controls, were asked to distinguish between well-known tunes and made-up tunes that had the same key and tempo but a different combination of notes.

The 27 participants with dementia had a diagnosis of either Alzheimer’s disease or a type of dementia called semantic dementia, where patients lose their understanding of words, objects and concepts.

The researchers found that participants with semantic dementia were unable to recognise the famous melodies.

MRI scans of these participants showed that the right anterior lobe of the brain, located behind the right ear, was significantly shrunken.  

Participants with Alzheimer’s did not show significant damage in this area of the brain.

http://alzheimersweekly.com/content/researchers-find-location-music-brain