Your brain has a greatest-hits era.

Researchers call it the “reminiscence bump.”

As we get older, we don't remember every period of our lives equally. We tend to have a particularly rich collection of autobiographical memories from adolescence and early adulthood. Music seems to be especially good at bringing those memories back.

In one study, memorable music experiences reported by young adults peaked around ages 13–14. More recent research involving nearly 1,900 people found that personally meaningful songs tended to peak around age 17.

So yes, the soundtrack to your teenage years really may have gotten special treatment from your brain.

But why those years?

Think about everything happening during adolescence and early adulthood.

You're figuring out who you are. Friendships become incredibly important. You're experiencing independence, relationships, heartbreak, driving, parties, school dances, first jobs and approximately 700 other things that feel extremely important at the time.

And music is playing through all of it.

Researchers think identity formation may be one reason memories from this period stick around so strongly. Music also becomes wrapped up in our social lives and sense of who we are.

That song wasn't just a song.

It was playing when you rode around with your friends.

It was on at the dance.

It was the album you played until somebody in your house begged you to put literally anything else on.

It belonged to a version of you.

Then one song brings the whole thing back.

Music can act as a cue for autobiographical memory, which are memories connected to your own life.

That's why hearing an old song can feel surprisingly specific.

You're not necessarily thinking:

Ah yes, I remember enjoying this composition.

You're thinking:

Oh my gosh. This was playing in Lisa's car the summer after graduation.

Researchers have even found that personally significant songs are more likely to be connected with specific episodic memories than songs that don't carry the same personal meaning.

Basically, your brain didn't just save the song.

It saved some of the life happening around it.

And your parents may have snuck some songs into your soundtrack.

Here's an especially cool part.

Research has found that people can also have strong responses to music from their parents' generation.

Which makes sense when you think about it.

The radio was playing in the kitchen. Dad controlled the car stereo. Mom had her favorite records. Certain albums played every Christmas. You heard the same artists over and over before you were old enough to choose your own music.

So sometimes nostalgia isn't even about your era.

It's about the soundtrack that was playing around you while you were growing up!

This is why playlists can be personal.

A playlist for an older adult doesn't have to be a generic collection called “Oldies.”

Ask better questions.

What did you listen to in high school?

What did you play way too loudly in your first car?

What song did you dance to?

What did your parents always have playing?

Those answers tell you much more than someone's birth year ever could.

And suddenly you're not just putting on background music.

You're putting on their music.

Try this tonight.

Pick a song you loved somewhere between your early teens and early twenties.

Don't multitask. Just play it.

Then notice what shows up first.

A person?

A place?

A car?

A feeling?

A completely random memory you haven't thought about in 30 years?

That's the fun part.

Somewhere inside a three-minute song can be an entire chapter of somebody's life.

That's pretty awesome!