Is there something that a majority of students are doing that may actually be harming their attempts to study? In our experiment we found that by listening to music while studying students are hampering their ability to recall the information they are reading. We looked at how much of an impact listening to preferred and non-preferred music has on recall ability in college students compared to no music playing. We used two different tests to check recall of words and reading comprehension. We found that reading comprehension is reduced by listening to music and listening to non-preferred music reduces this capacity even more If students had a simple way to improve our grades and quiz scores it may well be worth knowing before the next exam. …show more content…
For instance music can bring back long forgotten memories, or give an athlete the drive to push harder while training in the gym. Brattico and Pearce show that the reason for this lies in the neurological effects that music has on the human mind (2013). The reason for these affects is the way that music affects different parts of the brain like the amygdala, and the auditory cortex (Brattico). By affecting theses parts of the brain music has been shown to have an influence previously thought to only known to be associated with visual stimuli (Brattico). According to Saarkillio, Vuoskoski, and Luck there is even an element of communication in music that is almost like communicating emotions (2014). Silverman states we connect certain tones and tempos with certain feelings, for instance a ballad is almost always played in a minor key with a slowed tempo, and conversely we connect a major key and a quick tempo with feelings of happiness …show more content…
Concurrently we expect to find that listening to music that they would not normally listen to will have an even stronger negative impact on our participants recall ability compared to the control, or silent condition. We believe that given the complexities of how the human mind processes music, that trying to add in the equally complex task of reading or memorizing the human mind will simply be overloaded with information. We believe this overload will cause them to perform worse than they would if they were trying to complete those tasks without the distraction of music. These effects have been demonstrated in younger students in the study by Anderson and Fuller (Anderson 2010) we expect to find that these effects are the same in college
Most people multitask while listening to music in their everyday life. When people vacuum, they don’t forget to vacuum the other half of the room when a certain song comes on. In Mr.Cutler’s article, he tries to use evidence to support, connect, and persuade his audience that music will affect your academic work. That is why Mr.Cutler called the article “Don't Listen to Music While Studying.”
Peynircioglu of American University showed that among visual learners, music while studying increased the subjects ability to retain information better than it did in auditory learners or musicians. When tested to see whether meaningful melodies would be remembered better than non meaningful melodies, Musicians had a harder time remembering melodies that were determined to be meaningless than visual learners/nonmusicians but had a higher rate of
In a study done by Jennifer L. Lilley, Crystal D. Oberle, and Jon G. Thompson, Jr. at Texas State University, they tested the effects of grade consequences and music on test anxiety and performance. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of the participants grades if there were consequences and how music effects the participates anxiety and their test performances. There were previous works cited on how people improve their spatial cognitive task performances after listening to Mozart (Ho, Mason, & Spence, 2007). They also included studies where there were no benefits to people’s spatial cognitive task performances after listening to Mozart (Hui, 2006).
The results from this study show that students who listened to music while studying were less distracted. One possibility for this finding is that listening to music drowns out background noise, since studying in a public place has the potential for being loud. Also, we reject the second hypothesis because the results showed that females became more distracted while studying, in comparison to males. A reason for this is due to the social desire for females to talk and communicate.
The Knowledge of reading music, and playing an instrument has proven to be beneficial to the learning curb in students including those of little to no background in a literary education to students in college. However, there are schools in America where music isn’t offered. Having a music program could create improved grades, memory, concentration, and quicken the learning process of literacy, but it is believed that music isn’t for everybody.
The aim of this study was to investigate how exposing subjects to varying auditory backgrounds while they were engaged in a memory task affected later recognition performance. Group A scored high as compared to group B. When the students of group A were asked about their experience most of them said that the music helped them to concentrate while giving the test. When they began writing the test, the music was a little distracting because many students were not used to listening to music as they studied but in the course of time the music starting
In a study done by the Stanford University School of Medicine, they found that “music engages the areas of the brain involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating the event in memory.” The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to see the brain in action while music was playing and they discovered that music helps sort out oncoming information. Another article by the John Hopkins School of Education said that “Music helps us learn because it will—establish a positive learning state, focus concentration, increase attention, improve memory, release tension” and much more. They also said, “Music can also create a highly focused learning state in which vocabulary and reading
An important topic in psychology for many decades now has been the influence of music on the cognitive processing of the brain. Cognitive processes include attention, memory, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Recent advances in technology have revealed that music has a heavy effect on the brain’s affective, cognitive, and motor components. Evidence has been found to support the idea that music can alter the topography of the brain which improves memory and strengthens the skill of understanding language. This fact is something many educators are beginning to take advantage of. Not only does music improve the aforementioned, it also allows for quick access and recovery of information
The article “The effects of music on achievement, attitude and retention in primary school English lessons” by Koksal, Yagisan, and Cekic show the impact music has in the classroom. The Article claims “best learning environment is one that includes music” (Köksal, et al. 1897). Meaning music activates different parts of the brain that coincide with memory. Through an experimental study mentioned in the article shows music has a “increased achievement in English vocabulary learning” (Köksal, et al. 1899). Memory channels are activated and students are able to retain what is being taught through the use of music. Therefore the article suggests music is a method that can be used in primary schools to exercise the mind helping students hold onto what they learn for longer periods of time. The authors argue music brings out a different level of intelligence in the classroom. However the article fails to briefly describe traditional methods, other possible methods, and possible defaults of a music learning environment jeopardizing a overall well conducted study of music used as a source of education.
Seeing that the most liked genre of music among most people is pop (popular music), I think most students I tested have chosen pop music and may have gotten more distracted whilst taking the exam. I believe this may be true because according to Joanne Cantor, a doctor of philosophy who also wrote the article in Psychology Today, “...popular music usually interferes with complex tasks and reading comprehension.” (Psychology Today,
In recent years it’s become noticeable that students are using all different forms of music to help them while studying or doing homework. When listening to music one may notice how that person may tap their foot or drum their fingers, even though they appear to be focused on the task in front of them. The rhythm of the piece, whether it is fast or slow, causes the listener’s heartbeat to synch with it (How Music Affects Our Mood, 2014). The question however is which music to listen to. In some studies, test subjects show that the louder the music the more distracted the subjects became (Manthei, 2014). Doctor Emma Gray, a clinical psychologist in Britain, says, “If you choose the right music for the topic you are
It can be proven, through literary research and personal experiences, that music has a positive effect on learning and memory. It can be concluded that these positive effects have an impact on patients with Alzheimer’s, on the motor skills and auditory memory of mentally disabled children, on students attempting to remember subject manner that they are learning, and on the affectivity of advertisements. On a personal note, music has facilitated my ability to remember things, both positive and negative, a number of times. For example, in high school I memorized the days of the week in French by singing them along with a tune that was already familiar to me. I have also had multiple experiences in which I remember things that I do not want
Thesis: Music is a unique form of sound powerful enough to manipulate mood, feelings, and cognition.
The formation of specific nerve cells, named neurons, allows the brain to learn and store information, communicate, and grow; this ability is called neuroplasticity Urban Child Institute, n.d. & Harvard University, n.d.). Neuroplasticity is impacted by music due to the all-encompassing nature that music possesses (Collins, 2014 & Kent, 2006 & Urban Child Institute, n.d.). Due to this, music can be considered a form of exercise for the brain; as the music passes through the brain, it causes the neuron networks to communicate through synapses (electrical pulses), the more synapses that occur in the brain, the stronger the corresponding neuron network is strengthened (Kent, 2006 & Urban Child Institute, n.d.). Neuroplasticity
Music elicits an emotional and cognitive response in all who listen to it. It is powerful at the individual level because “it can induce multiple responses – physiological, movement, mood, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral” (Francis, 2008,