The Effect Of Background Music On Short Term Memory

Music, one of the many factors that enhance our lives, has been a widely ranged field. From Classical music to Hip Hop, there are listeners of all ages, each having their own preference of music. Through research, it has been discovered that memory can be affected by many different factors, including music. Music has been found to stimulate parts of the brain, alleviating stress and depression. Additional research also shows that music, especially Classical, enhances the storage and recall of memory. Therefore we decided to test the effect of music on memory to evaluate the changes and differences.

There has been extensive research focusing on the various types and attributes of music, and on the types of participants that researchers have studied. Dobbs, Furnham, & McClelland (2010) found that music can be distracting to a person when they are trying to study for an important exam. There has also been research that found that when the therapeutic values of music are applied to those suffering from pain or disease, that music is very beneficial as it releases endorphins and chemicals in the brain that

“Musical is a universal experience. With few exceptions, all humans perceive musical pitch, tone, timbre, and harmony. We listen to music to relax, to help us think, to celebrate, and grieve. Our emotional responses to music have been noted in literature, poetry, and drama. The power of music to evoke an emotional response is used by advertising companies, film directors, and mothers singing their babies to sleep. Early education teachers are familiar with using music and rhythm as tools for learning language and building memory. (Foran, 2009) Several musical melodies are used in grade school to learn information. Music is used in my math classes across the world to enhance the learning process of formulas. English classes use music help children learn prepositional phrases, adjectives, adverbs, noun, and etc. However, after most scholars reached a certain grade level, using music to achieve new heights academically became a technique of the past. Most instructors didn’t bother using music in order to help retain information. It was almost as if it was forgotten about. But, if music is so important why isn’t it allowed in most classrooms today? Many teachers are not fond of music in the classroom. To many, it is seen as a distraction. Is it the type of music a person chooses to listen to? Would it be different if the music chosen by

Elementary schools and high schools across the U.S. have lately suffered from financial strain. Because of this, budget cuts have to be made and music programs often suffer before sports and academics. Although some people believe that music is not a key component in preparing for employment and higher education, yet several others express otherwise, who say music has been shown to stimulate other parts of a student’s mind that can help them excel. Statistics have shown that the correlation between music class and other academia is not only positive for students, but also can improve future scholastic abilities, and thus should not be cut from schools. Through the evaluation of various sources

This study attempts to prove that certain music can be used to improve attention, elicit good mood, which will in turn enhance study environment.

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).

A big controversy of our generation today is concerning of a topic that many of us praise and could not live without. In fact, spin.com claims that the average American listens to four hours of music each day. So is music effective or hurtful to our studying? This may be an eternal topic for we don’t truly have one answer. In numerous ways listening to music is beneficial, belie some studies have come to find out it can also be harmful. Students should be given the option to listen to music in class, but whether they choose to take upon this privilege or not is up to them.

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

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.”

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.

Over the years music education in schools has dropped dramatically for more reasons than one. Now, students are required to take little to no music classes throughout their schooling year which is causing the drive and ambition about school from students to decrease significantly. After analyzing several experiments, documents, and scholarly journals research discovered that the decrease in music education has affected students on all levels of their education. From elementary school all the way through the student’s final years in high school. This decrease has affected students with techniques such as memorization, motivation, self-confidence, and many more. On the other hand, some might say that not everyone likes music and some people’s learning styles don’t require any music education to help them succeed. This is true but the overall majority of the population of students has been affected due to the decrease of music education in schools. Due to the fact that music education is plummeting, the overall education and productivity of students is decreasing.

By employing the use of background music in a classroom, the attention and learning abilities of children can be positively affected to a significant degree. (Davidson C; Powell L, 2001) By playing a selection of “easy-listening music” (using a more classical theme with strings and wind instruments) in the classroom, children showed superior “time-on-task” (TOT) while the music was playing, and when the music was removed, they regressed to their prior behaviors. Davidson and Powell’s results concluded that simply playing the easy-listening music in a classroom setting could positively influence the work tendencies of children.

The motivation that led to this discovery was the overall interest to uphold and further prove what others have found in past studies; that music does indeed have a profound effect on the brain. These effects include memory, emotions and learning to start with.

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

Imagine the day when you see your child’s report card, and all you see are As, and you are speechlessly staring at your child’s grades. Are you still waiting for that moment to come when you will be proud of your child for getting good grades? Have you ever wondered why your child has not been able to do well at school?It is possibly because your child has not been exposed to listening to music while studying. Listening to musiccould be the golden solution for your child. Students definitely need to be granted the freedom to listen music during classes. Listening to music while studying helps to keep one’s mind relaxed. It also helps in finishing work faster and in memorization.