“Maybe it's the stealthy bass line. Or the machine-gun guitar solo. Or the swaggering wail of the horns. Or maybe it's all three shaken together. Whatever the reasons (and there are many), the "James Bond Theme" still has a way of making guys feel, well, more guy-ly. "With male identity, there's a biological aspect to how we see ourselves, and for many men, the song releases feelings of invincibility and attractiveness," said Eugene Beresin, professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. "Men link the theme to strength, adulthood and virility. It's like the smell of a childhood baseball glove or a father's aftershave." But what exactly happens to trigger the flashback? "Music travels to the auditory nerve, where it's evaluated by the cerebral networks that process our emotions—before we even identify what we're hearing," Dr. Beresin said. "In a split second, our brain scans its files for a match. If the music unlocks memories, you are likely to reexperience the same emotions you felt when you first heard it." ”
