Help! Plea for Beatles memories

How do the songs of The Beatles shape your identity?

Psychologists at the University of Leeds are using The Beatles to increase their understanding of human memory.

They want people to recollect moments in their lives linked to the Fab Four with the aim of discovering how musical memories affect a person's identity.

The scientists said the thoughts might be linked to a particular Beatles song or album or possibly a news event, such as the assassination of John Lennon.

They aim to create the biggest database of "autobiographical" memories.

According to the team, these memories can be prompted by certain signals and music, especially, has a strong sensitive and recollective power in relation to long-term memories.

Personal experiences

The researchers believe that by using The Beatles to trigger such thoughts, they can reach out to the widest possible population sample.

Professor Martin Conway, who is leading the experiment, said: "We're very interested in how different age groups associate with different aspects of The Beatles.

"The reason why we're interested in this is we're interested in a thing called generation identity. So we're quite interested in how your memory of your own personal experiences is linked into public events.

"And The Beatles are a fantastic way to look at that."

People who want to take part in the experiment can register on the Magical Memory Tour website.