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Science Friday

When music transports you to a different place

6/17/202619 min

Do you ever hear a song that transports you to a specific place and time? This auditory wormhole has a name: musical daydreams. Music cognition expert Elizabeth Margulis studies why they happen, and what they tell us about our brains. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss this phenomenon.

Guest:

Dr. Elizabeth Margulis is a professor and director of Princeton’s Music Cognition Lab. She’s also the author of “Transported: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams.”

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Clips

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Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Flora Lichtman· Host0:00

    [upbeat music] Hey, it's Flora, and you're listening to Science Friday. Do you ever hear a song that seems to immediately transport you to a specific time and place? [laughs] I am a little embarrassed by this, but this song does always get me.

  2. Dave Matthews· Soundbite0:18

    You've got your ball, you've got your chain. Tied to me tight, tie me up again. Who's got the claws in you, my friend. Into your heart, heart beat again.

  3. Flora Lichtman· Host0:38

    Okay.

  4. Dave Matthews· Soundbite0:39

    Sweet like candy rain.

  5. Flora Lichtman· Host0:40

    I'm 13 in Saints Roller Rink. The disco lights are going. I'm holding another seventh-grader's sweaty hand, and it is all very, very awkward. I'm sure you have your own version, and this auditory wormhole has a name: a musical daydream. And my next guest is kind of obsessed with figuring them out. Why they happen, how they happen, and what they tell us about ourselves. Dr. Elizabeth Margulis is the director of Princeton's Music Cognition Lab. She's also the author of the book Transported: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams. Elizabeth, thanks for being here.

  6. Elizabeth Margulis· Guest1:18

    Thanks so much for having me.

  7. Flora Lichtman· Host1:20

    Do you have a relationship with Dave Matthews Band?

  8. Elizabeth Margulis· Guest1:23

    Uh, you know what? [laughs] I have a sibling who has a deep relationship with Dave Matthews Band.

  9. Unknown speaker1:29

    [laughs]

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