Contemplations on 'Access' and music

I wonder if maybe at a part of my brain's chemical cycling, when the potential for depression symptoms is becoming greater, the arrangement of neurotransmitters in my head makes the more emotionally charged part of my memory more easily accessible. Emotions involve a more central portion of the brain, and this part is where a lot of neurotransmitter imbalances are traced that seem linked to mood disorders. On a normal day, while certain words, phrases and songs are linked to my memories, I have more control over suppression of irrelevant thought patterns. If I am listening to Meatloaf's "Objects in the Rear-view Mirror", I may think about what parallels exist between this narrative and my own past, but I do not recall my own memories in the process, and am not really emotionally affected by the song. However, in this phase of my brain's functioning, when I listen to this song, I get a more complete recollection of my memories relating to this song, and all the emotions linked to these memories. I can be concentrating on the song or just hearing it in the background, and I get the same effect. In practice this just means maybe I should not play Meatloaf while I am in this phase, but it may also suggest more of how the brain may look in bipolar people during cycling.

Interestingly enough, while these songs that evoke personal, disturbing memories are quite potent in my current state, many other songs that in a growing depressive state could induce emotion, such as Whiskey Lullaby (Brad Paisley and Alison Kraus), have no effect on me. This reactivity seems limited to stimuli that can link to memories, and is not just me listening to too many sad songs. If I had it in my collection, Quiet Riot's "Thunderbirds" might be expected to elicit a stronger reaction, as it would link to my middle school years, and the song sequence from Peaceful Valley, that were sung after campfire by the staph. Nickle Creek's "The Lighthouse's Tale", which I am listening to now, can make me rather moody if I am more solidly in depression mode, but right now it is simply something to sing along to.

Unfortunately, I am not sure this observation is easily universalized by research. I can observe my own patterns easily enough, but I am hyper-aware of my own mental states, which most people are not, and I have a psychology degree to apply to my observations. Plus, most importantly, I have access to me own memories and reactions, to be able to tease apart the differences between my moods and thought processes. Even with very, very articulate and observant test subjects, I have no idea how this sort of information could be gathered accurately and reliably from multiple subjects to establish a pattern and analyze it further. Maybe with simultaneous brain scans and self-reporting I could correlate brain activity with articulated evoked responses while subjects are listening to a randomized audio playlist, including the subject's list of personally evocative songs, a set of other emotional songs, and some other control tracks (patriotic songs, lullabies, and songs the subject has indicated as uninteresting). Now all I need is a brain scanner, all the audio equipment, subjects, and all the necessary documentation for human-subjects research.