This is a replication and further interpretation of Holbrook and Schindler's study "Some Exploratory Findings on the Development of Musical Tastes" from 1989. Holbrook and Schindler's investigation has been widely acknowledged in music psychology as well as in consumer research and has helped further the assumption that people generally cling to music and other cultural objects they get to know in late adolescence/early adulthood. In the current replication study, a peak in musical preference across songspecific age could be confirmed, but it shifted from 23.47 years in the original study to 17.36 years in the replication. This could possibly be explained by subjects' earlier exposure to music and increased media familiarity. However, it could be shown that preferences at these peaks do not significantly differ from preferences at other ages. Also, the inverted U-shaped curve featured in the original study could not be observed among individuals' ratings, which tend to prefer music which is either gradually older or else gradually younger than themselves. The U-shaped curve seems to emerge as an artefact of combining two types of rather linear data into one chart. In fact, no empirical evidence remains to sustain the overall cultural assumption which has its basis in Holbrook and Schindler's study. It might still be valid, as evidenced by people having experienced the generation effect individually, but alternative research strategies will have to be developed to provide its empirical confirmation.

Musical imagery can occur in at least five different conditions: (1) voluntary musical imagery: participants are asked to imagine a tune; (2) involuntary musical imagery (a.k.a. as “earworms”): music comes to mind without deliberate attempt; (3) permanent involuntary musical imagery: long-term imagery, “earworms” that become chronic and persist; (4) musical hallucinosis: a disorder associated with musical hallucinations among individuals with organic impairments such as hearing loss; and (5) musical hallucinations: music is “simply there” as a symptom of various (mental) disorders. This article is an attempt at a qualitative distinction between these imagery conditions based on a continuum of how real versus how imagery-like the percept of music is. We propose that these behavioral specifications find their neural correlate in the activation of the primary auditory cortex. The underlying etiology and (possible) pathological condition might not be the most favorable classifier of the brain activity on this level. The model suggested is based on an existing review of the literature, including metastudies and a number of single-case studies. In our view, the foremost duty in handling individuals affected by long-term imagery is to provide a proper and differentiated diagnosis, to overcome their biggest concern that they might be “turning mad.” The cases reported suggest that the conditions and symptoms are stable and not progressive, which might be of some relief. A research strategy is suggested to investigate the validity of the model and to test the hypothesis.

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