It’s a simple fact of life that older people reminisce about the glory days. You might believe you’ll stay young and free-spirited forever, but one day you’ll find yourself grumbling¹ about not understanding the latest slang words and asking a young person what a meme is.

年纪大的人爱怀旧是人之常情。你也许以为自己会永远年轻，永远自由奔放，但总有一天你会发现自己已经不懂年轻人说的梗了。

For some it might be happening earlier than they thought. That’s according to a new survey from Deezer, which suggests people stop discovering new music at just 30 and a half.

对一些人来说，这个过程可能开始得比想象的更早一些。音乐流媒体服务网站Deezer的新调查称，人们在30.5岁之后就不再听新歌了。

The music streaming service surveyed 1,000 Brits about their music preferences and listening habits. 60% of people reported being in a musical rut, only listening to the same songs over and over, while just over a quarter (25%) said they wouldn’t be likely to try new music from outside their preferred genres².

该网站对1000名英国人的音乐喜好和听歌习惯进行了调查，发现60%的人喜欢重复听同几首歌，而超过25%的人称，他们不会去试听自己喜爱的音乐类型以外的新歌。

The peak age for discovering new music, the results suggested, was 24. This is when 75% of respondents said they listened to 10 or more new tracks a week, and 64% said they sought out five new artists per month. After this, though, it seems people’s ability to keep up with music trends peters off.

调查结果显示，搜索新歌的高峰年龄是24岁。这个年龄的调查对象中，有75%的人每周会听10首以上的新歌，而有64%的人称他们每个月会搜索5位新的歌手。自此以后，人们跟随音乐新潮流的能力就开始下降了。

Some of the reasons the survey revealed were people being overwhelmed by the amount of choice available (19%), having a demanding job (16%), and caring for young children (11%). Nearly half of respondents said they wished they had more time to dedicate to discovering new music, so at least for that 47% it wasn’t due to a lack of interest.

至于其中的原因，调查显示，有19%的人是因为歌曲太多，犯了选择困难症，16%的人是因为工作太忙，也有11%的人是因为需要照顾孩子。大约有47%的调查对象称，他们希望自己能有更多时间听新歌，所以对这一部分人来说，他们至少还是有兴趣的。

In 2015, the Skynet & Ebert blog looked at data from US Spotify users and Echo Nest. On average, teen music taste was dominated by popular music, then this steadily³ dropped until people’s tastes “matured” in their early 30s. By age 33, it was more likely they’d never listen to new music again.

2015年，Skynet & Ebert博客对美国声破天和回音网的用户数据进行了分析。分析发现，青少年的音乐口味受流行音乐影响最大，在这之后，流行音乐的影响将稳步下降。到了30岁出头时，他们的音乐品味会趋于“成熟”。到了33岁，人们基本就不再听新歌了。

Rather than having less time, some research suggests we listen to the same songs over and over again because of musical nostalgia⁴. For example, one major study, published in the journal Memory & Cognition, found that music had a very powerful effect on the mind to evoke⁵ memories, conjuring⁶ up old echos of the past at school or university.

一些研究显示，30岁以后不再听新歌并不是因为没有时间，人们不断地听同几首歌是因为怀旧。一项发表在《记忆与认知》期刊上的大型研究报告发现，老歌能够有力地唤醒人们对校园或大学时光的记忆。

Earlier this year, economist⁷ Seth Stephens-Davidowitz analysed Spotify data in the New York Times. Essentially⁸, he found that if you were in your early teens when a song was first released, it will be the most popular among your age group a decade later. Radiohead’s “Creep,” for example, is the 164th most popular song among 38-year-old men, but it doesn’t even reach the top 300 for those born 10 years earlier or later. It’s because men who are 38 now were in that musical sweet spot when the song was released in 1993.

今年早些时候，经济学家赛斯·斯蒂芬斯-大卫德威茨在《纽约时报》上发表了一篇研究声破天平台数据的文章。他发现，如果某一首歌最初发行的时候，你刚好处于青少年早期，10年之后，这首歌将成为你的同龄人中最受欢迎的一首。举例来说，英国摇滚乐队Radiohead的歌曲《Creep》在38岁男性最喜爱的歌曲中排名第164位，但是对于早10年或晚10年出生的人来说，这首歌甚至无法挤进前300名。这是因为现年38岁的男性在这首歌1993年发行的时候正好处于音乐接收的黄金期。

As for why this happens, research has shown how our favourite songs stimulate⁹ our pleasure responses in the brain, releasing dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and other happy chemicals. The more we like a song, the more of these chemicals flow through our body.

研究揭示了其中的原因：喜欢的歌曲会让我们的大脑产生愉悦的反应，释放出多巴胺、血清素和催产素等“幸福”物质。我们越喜欢一首歌，就意味着这首歌让大脑产生的“幸福”物质越多。

This happens for everyone, but during our adolescent years our brains are going through a lot of changes. We’re also incredibly hormonal¹⁰ and sensitive, so if we hear a song we really love, it’s more likely to stay with us forever.

每个人都会有这种反应，但在青少年时期，我们的大脑会经历很多变化。除此以外，青少年会分泌大量荷尔蒙，而且极其敏感。因此，我们如果在这时候喜欢上一首歌，那么它很有可能会伴随我们一生。

That isn’t to say you won’t hear a new song you love in later life – it just might not elicit¹¹ the same strong response because you aren’t such a sponge anymore.

这并不是说你以后就不可能喜欢上别的歌曲了，只是那些歌曲所引起的反应不如老歌强烈，因为你不再是一块可以无限吸收的“海绵”了。

Another reason we listen to the same songs over and over could be because of something called the “anticipation¹² phase.” If you get goosebumps when you hear your favourite songs, it could be because of the hormonal responses, but it could also be because you know the good part is coming up.

我们喜欢反复听一些歌曲的另一个原因是心理预期的作用。当你听到喜爱的歌曲时会心潮澎湃，这也许是因为荷尔蒙反应，但也可能是因为你知道高潮将在什么时候来临。

For example, just before the song peaks, or there’s a dramatic chord change, our brain perceives it as a reward and releases dopamine. However, over time we start to lose the same feeling of euphoria because we musically gorge¹³ ourselves.

比如，在歌曲即将进入高潮或者和弦出现戏剧性变化时，我们的大脑会将其视为奖励并释放多巴胺。不过，长此以往，歌曲高潮带来的愉悦感就会越弱，因为我们已经麻木了。

If you haven’t heard a song for several years, the euphoria may return, particularly if you first heard it when your brain was soaking everything up between the ages of 12 and 22.

如果你听到了一首好几年没听的歌，而这首歌刚好是你12到22岁“海绵期”阶段第一次听过的，大脑可能会再次经历当初这首歌曲带给你的欢愉。

So if you have a penchant¹⁴ for music from your youth, it’s probably wired deep into your psyche¹⁵. You can indulge in the old songs without shame because it will make your brain happy – it deserves it.

所以，如果你爱听年轻时听过的歌，这些歌很可能已经根植于你的心灵了。爱听老歌不是罪，只要你的大脑开心，那就值得了。