Beatles on the brain

The Beatles at the Empire Theatre, Sunderland, 1963 from 'On the Brink of Fame: Pop Stars in the Swinging Sixties', a book of photographs by Ian Wright of the Northern Echo. © Ian Wright

Press release issued: 10 September 2008

What springs to mind when you hear a Beatles song? How often are our memories of an important event linked to music? These are just some of the questions that will be answered by Graham Collingridge, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Bristol, in a talk at this year’s BA Festival of Science.

These are just some of the questions that will be answered by Graham Collingridge, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Bristol, at an event in the Cavern Club on Wednesday 10 September, part of this year’s BA Festival of Science at the University of Liverpool.

Music has a profound influence on our lives. Memories are formed by changes in the connections between nerve cells. Special proteins that convey messages are added and removed as we hear music and feel the rhythm. Whether you’re listening to music or playing an instrument, different parts of your brain are involved.

Professor Collingridge’s talk ‘Memories are made of music’ will examine the changes that take place in our brains and how musical memories are formed.

The talk is part of an evening event Brains, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll, organised by the European Dana Alliance for the Brain in collaboration with the British Neuroscience Association and sponsored by the Wellcome Trust.

Other speakers at the event are comedian Mark Stevenson, musician Mehmet Husseyin, Professor Martin Conway of the University of Leeds who will talk about how things the Beatles did intersected with people’s lives through memories, and Dr Lauren Stewart of Goldsmiths, University of London who will discuss why musical memories are so special.

The event, which runs from 6.30pm to 10pm, will be chaired by Quentin Cooper, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Material World.