Musical memory is considered to be partly independent from other memory systems. In Alzheimer’s Disease and different types of dementia, musical memory is surprisingly robust, and likewise for brain lesions affecting other kinds of memory. In the August 2015 issue of Brain, a research team led by J.H. Jacobsen reported that results of MRI studies of subjects’ brain responses to familiar and unfamiliar music had isolated areas of the brain that store musical memory. In a second phase of the study comparing MRIs of individuals with Alzheimer’s versus a control group, they determined that those areas of the brain associated with musical memory were relatively well-preserved, despite the progression of this neurodegenerative disease. Read more.