Preferred J-pop music and visual memory retrieval: an exploratory pilot fMRI study

Listening to music while studying is common, yet it remains unclear whether self-selected popular music facilitates or interferes with memory performance. This exploratory pilot fMRI study examined whether preferred Japanese pop music (J-Pop), compared with unpleasant sounds and a no-sound baseline, was descriptively associated with differences in visual memory retrieval, subjective focus, and regional brain activity in healthy young adults. Five participants completed a visual encoding and retr