Have you ever heard a piece of music and immediately found yourself flooded with memories from years ago?
There's a reason for it.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina have found that when we listen to a favourite piece of music, the hippocampus - responsible for memory - is stimulated.
"These findings may explain why comparable emotional and mental states can be experienced by people listening to music that differs as widely as Beethoven and Eminem," the researchers write in the Scientific Reports journal.
I can certainly relate to this research. I only have to hear the first strains of the Jam's Eton Rifles and I'm immediately transported back to a particularly fun trip I took up to Scotland one summer.
In essence, our favourite songs imbue us with a sense of nostalgia. We smile fondly at times past yet at the same time wistfully regret that those days are no longer with us.
It explains, in part, why there is such a market for the records of the 50s, 60s and 70s - it's the baby boomers returning to their younger days!
Yet this phenomenon isn't restricted to just music.
All areas of collecting can stir the memories.
Many of us, me included, collect the items of our youth that we once owned, or wish we'd owned, such as old toys.
And many of us, me included, collect the autographs of pop and film stars who we grew up with.
 Were you gazing up at the Moon in July 1969? |
It's why we have seen such an increase in interest in Apollo 11 memorabilia over recent years. If you were a 15-year-old in 1969 when the first Moon landings took place, you are 60 today. Owning an autograph of the Apollo 11 crew connects you with those times, reminds you of your youth, and invokes huge pangs of nostalgia.
Another area where this is happening is with Madonna memorabilia. If you were a teenage Madonna fan in the mid 1980s, you are in your 40s now, potentially with a bit of money, and potentially wanting to relive those carefree days of your youth when you danced to Madge at the disco.
That's the power of collecting. It can take you back to the best days of your life, even if you didn't recognise them as such at the time.
How you can connect with your past
Now, I wouldn't be so bold as to ask your age, but see if one of these items from our stock doesn't make you nostalgic for times past:
· Sir Winston Churchill autographed typed letter
· A Madonna worn and signed rehearsal leotard
Thanks for reading,
Paul
