The primary purpose of the research was to investigate whether the distraction condition affected learning and memory. According to the theory of context dependant memory (Tulving, 1983) and music dependant memory (Smith, 1985; Balch, et al., 1992), we hypothesized that participants who listened to their randomly assigned music type at both encoding and retrieval would have higher recall scores than participants who were randomly assigned to only hear the music at encoding. The results did not support this hypothesis as there was not a significant main effect of distraction condition. This is contrary to Balch, et al. and does not support the theory of music-dependant memory as it concerns immediate recall. As we were only able to test participants …show more content…
The biggest limitation, as mentioned above, was the lack of ability to complete a delayed recall test. This caused the experiment to lack the ability provide replicated or contrasting results from Smith’s experiment (1985). The current study also yielded a small number of participants, which limited not only the sample size of the groups, but also the number of groups. If more participants were available, a control group would have been helpful to provide more data and further understand the results. Larger groups may have also made the results more reliable. Additionally, it would have been useful to further subdivide the music type condition. While we utilized popular music and instrumental music, these two conditions differ not only on the type of music but also, as the results showed, on the familiarity with the music. Therefore it would have been useful to include instrumental music with which the participants were familiar in addition to popular music with which the participants were unfamiliar. This would help to tease apart whether the results were due to the music’s type or the music’s familiarity. It would also be useful to use more specific categories of music, instead of simply popular music and instrumental, for instance rock, alternative, reggae, and jazz also need to be further studied in order to determine whether different types of music have differing effects on learning and recall. This was done in both …show more content…
While our study was built only to detect an effect of music-dependant memory on immediate recall, it would be interesting to see if results changed after two days, as seen in Smith (1985) and Balch et al. (1992) or when testing the participants on recall after a week, as can be seen in Roediger & Karpicke (2005), or perhaps longer. When you consider the effect of remembering childhood memories when hearing a song from that time in your childhood, it would be especially interesting to conduct a similar study that spanned many years, to determine if music-dependant memory is applicable over a long period of
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
The study that will be replicated is the study done by Nantais and Schellenberg (1999), which was a follow-up study for Rauscher’s experiment (1993, 1995), who’s aim was to conduct a study in which to test whether music and spatial task performance are casually related. The aim of Nantais and Schellenberg’s study was to replicate and extend the basic findings of Rauscher et al which were that participants who listened to Mozart before taking a spatial ability test did better than those who sat in silence, also known as the Mozart effect. Nantais and Schellenberg expected that the performance on a spatial-temporal task was better after participants listened to a piece composed by Mozart or by Schubert than after the participants sat in
Not all Alzheimer’s’ patients show the same symptoms which makes it difficult to find proper control and test groups to study these effects, in my opinion. Some remaining questions I have would be how to account for the difference in patients’ personalities before being diagnosed, music type, the time of day (some patients with Alzheimer’s are more relaxed during certain days and times) and the stage of Alzheimer’s they are at. When creating a test group you have to be specific to each individual because the certain type of music in this issue has not yet been resolved. You would have to find carefully selected music to support the proposed question. You need to explain why music reaches and impacts patients in an alternative way than medications do. I believe the research done with Alzheimer’s and music therapy lacks mechanical design rigour. With all these issued not yet resolved, I feel that from reading this article, the argument that music impacts Alzheimer’s patients memories in a positive way is strongly
MUSIC AROUSAL ON RECALL 2Effects of Low and High Arousal Music on Recall Music is often used in modern day as an aid for recall and retention with homework, studying, and test-taking. Some professors and teachers utilize certain genres of music during tests to assist students in recall. It is common for individuals to listen to music during certain tasks in an attempt to boost either retention or recall. There are many studies that have found correlations between music and memory recall. Most studies conclude that low arousal music is beneficial for both recall and
The study, “Music Tonality and Context Dependent Recall: The Influence of Key Change and Mood Mediation” by Mead and Ball (2007), discovered that subjects whose learning states were reinstated showed a higher recall rate than those who were in a different context. The participants were randomly placed in four different conditions that manipulated the learning context (major vs. minor key) and the recalling context (major vs. minor key). Two of the conditions tested the reinstatement of the same musical key during learning and recall, as the other two involved key switches between major and minor and vice versa. Each subject was given a four-minute learning period followed immediately by a four-minute recall period in which the conditions may have been changed depending on their group. Mean and Ball’s study showed that there is no significance difference between mood and context dependent memory; however, data did show a higher recall rate when the learning state was reinstated.
This article tests several hypotheses. The first and second hypotheses states that simple task switching will yield a longer reaction time than repeated task completion and the group with the “popular” music will yield the highest reaction times whereas the classical music group and the no music group will yield similar reaction times. The third hypothesis also includes participants who multitask will complete fewer task compared to the participants who perform single task. The last hypothesis state that the popular music will complete the least amount of tasks in comparison to classical music and the control group, the group without music. This study included 60 college students from a college in the Midwest. The participants were randomly
There have been various studies conducted about testing the memory. The specific idea of testing the memory with music has been studied very extensively. This concept has been used so much, that there is a phrase describing that idea, ‘The Mozart effect’. though that phrase refers specifically to testing the memory while using Mozart’s works, most commonly. Memory, in the conditions it is used now, refers to the systems the brain has for storing information. The brain has three ways of storing information, Long term memory, short term memory, and working memory. Short term memory is for vision, and auditory senses, and it usually lasts s as a way to give them a slightly better memory. That would prevent accidental deaths, as well as a lot of
The research says we can be moved by music at a personal level, to the point that musical melodies evoke autobiographical information associated with it, and we get a strong ‘feeling of knowing’, especially if the music we heard is associated with our past. There seems to be a link between text and music, since we remember the titles of music we listen to better than recalling the melody by reading or hearing the title. In remembering vocals, we remember titles better than melodic cues. This can suggest that music is encoded in semantic memory like text – by the brain’s perceptual memory system, where meaning is encoded. Even if it is not directly related to semantic information, musical information can also be associated with associative memory.
The Music and spatial task performance experiment, the Mozart Effect, proved a positive correlation for increased spatial I.Q. scores of participants after listening to Mozart for ten minutes prior to performing the abstract spatial reasoning tests from the Stanford –Binet intelligence scale. Which were eight to nine points higher than when participants listened to relaxation tapes or sat in silence for ten minutes (Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., Ky, K. N., 1993).
The music was 90’s instrumental and there were from variety of different genres which had 150 musical excerpts that were rated. Then, the participants rated and selected the music from 150 excerpts to 12 final musical excerpts. The participants were given two scales which were mood and arousal. Mood scale was from -3 to +3and where 0 was neutral and the arousal scale ranges from 1 being very low to 4 being moderate and 7 being very high. The participants heard each excerpt twice for 10 seconds, before giving their ratings for either mood or arousal for the music rating part. The manipulation checks instructed participants to rate each musical excerpt according to how the music made them feel, rather than what the music expressed or conveyed. Recalling memory experiment had thirty students and had music from the rating section which were 12 musical excerpts and they had a total of 270 English nouns were used to create 14 study lists. The participants were given 3 min to recall as many 20 words as possible in any order by typing. The second experiment was recognition memory and it has 30 participants as well and had a total of 405 English nouns were used to create 14 test lists the setup and procedure for this experiment was identical to experiment
Research is saying music could be used as treatment for people with memory disorders such as alzheimer 's or someone who suffers from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) (Gholipour). Alzheimers is a disorder in which mental deterioration transpires in an old or middle aged person. It is a common form of dementia and affects over three million a year(Firth). Alzheimer 's can cause a person to forget many things and make daily life a endeavor. Listening to music effects a sick persons brain when nothing else will work. Songs and music can actually bring back memories, places, and people. Researchers describe the effect of music on an ill
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.
Remember a song that came out about 10 years ago, and maybe you haven’t heard it in a while, but as soon as it comes on the radio, you recall all the words and are able to sing along? How about retaking a quiz from last spring, would you be able to just recall the information spoken to you from the lecture pertaining to the quiz content? The second task doesn’t seem as easy, so perhaps the tune of a song triggers something in the brain that makes memorization more simple than just hearing spoken words. Discovering new ways to teach and recall information successfully is an important topic to research and study
With allusion to the previous set of questions (Figures 1 & 2), slightly more than half of the students have answered that they have felt more productive when studying with music, which may reinforce the high retention rate. This may be the contributing factor via the creation of a comfortable environment, thus making it easier for the student to
In addition to the catchy beats of pop music, Dean Burnett’s article entitled, “Does music really help you concentrate?” suggests that music without lyrics are more beneficial to aiding the studying process. This is due to the research that shows that the human brain pays distinct attention to human speech. He implies that songs