Don’t listen to music—11 people



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Is it Beneficial to Listen to Music while Studying?

EDP 101-B Final Project

Group F:

Will Quay

Casey Wagner

Amanda Uvino

Shaqueta Jackson

Judd Kohn

Courtney Wisenor

Introduction

“By better understanding what music is and where it comes from, we may be able to better understand our motives, fears, desires, memories, and even communication in the broadest sense. Is music listening more like eating when you're hungry and thus satisfying an urge? Why do people seem to get stuck in their musical tastes as they grow older and cease experimenting with new music? This is the story of how brains and music co-evolved - what music can teach us about the brain, what the brain can teach us about music, and what both can teach us about ourselves.” –Daniel Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession (Introduction)

When our EDP 101 group first began brainstorming ideas for this project, we all wanted to better understand music and studying. Since we were not satisfied with the sample topics, we decided to come up with our own. After throwing around a few ideas, our group came to the conclusion that most of us, as students, choose to study with at least some type of music playing in the background. From this thought, we then took it a step further to raise the question of whether or not studying with music is helpful to retaining knowledge, and why? As a group we decided that each of us would branch off from this topic in search of information, studies, or surveys that could provide answers regarding the question: “How does music affect one’s study habits?”

Can music help your studying?

It is a long-time thrown around idea that studying with music can enhance the amount of knowledge you acquire. Most of us have been told that classical music will enhance our studying efforts, while others say that music in general is beneficial. How can we be certain that this is the case? Furthermore, how do we know what type of music we should be studying with? In this paper, our group will attempt to supply answers to these questions. We will cover topics ranging from classical music and studying, listening to music while studying math versus reading, a biological focus on music, and a survey conducted from Miami students to break down studying preferences with music.

Well-developed spatial intelligence is the ability to perceive the visual world accurately, to form mental images of physical objects, and to recognize variations of objects. Spatial reasoning abilities are crucial for such higher brain functions as music and complex mathematics. According to research presented at the 102nd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, simply listening to music can enhance spatial reasoning performance. Dr. Rauscher and Dr. Shaw conducted an experiment on college students, which produced results confirming that after listening to ten minutes of Mozart’s Piano Sonata K 448, increased spatial IQ scores were found. This evidence produced what has now come to be called, “The Mozart Effect.”

The Mozart Effect is the result of an experiment done by Rauscher, Shaw, and Katherine Ky. Their results were published in the article, "Scientific Correspondence," in the October 14, 1993 issue of Nature. In a three-column report, these researchers summarized the findings of an experiment conducted upon thirty-six University of California Irvine students. The students were put into three different test groups subjected to ten minutes of various listening environments. One group spent the ten minutes listening to Mozart’s Sonata in D major for Two Pianos, K488, another group listened to a relaxation tape, and the final group simply sat in silence. The students were then given a paper folding and cutting test. (A piece of paper was folded over several times and then cut. The students had to mentally unfold it and choose the right shape from five examples.) The students who listened to the Mozart sonata showed an 8-9 point increase in their IQ scores, as compared to when they took the test after either a period of silence or listening to the relaxation tape. The bump in IQ was temporary, not lasting beyond about ten to fifteen minutes. Since then, many attempts have been made to reproduce the results of this particular experiment, but none with such luck. Although there is a lot of research out there to say that listening to music while studying is beneficial to retaining knowledge, there isn’t much support to back up this claim. A quote found in the article “The Mozart Effect” by Michael Linton, posted on : The Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life summarized the effects of music well.

“Music is not a drug that incapacitates the listener and produces a predictable result. Particular kinds of music may express things that appeal to the listener, and the listener may select a particular kind of music because he finds that it resonates with his own-pre-musical-emotional condition, but the music itself can never cause the listener to act. Action is a function always of the will, and while music may prod, and it may suggest, it cannot force.”

Studying while multi-tasking

One common reason students have for explaining why they enjoy listening to music while they study is because they believe music helps them concentrate. Many students feel that music helps them get "on a roll”, or helps make studying feel less tedious. An article in the Washington Post from September 5th 2006 discusses this subject.

The article cites a study performed by researchers at UCLA. The researchers found that “60% of students aged 7th through 12th grades listen to music, email, or use instant messaging programs while they study.” Furthermore, they found that doing such things might make students learn less, instead of more. This particular study showed that when students listen to music, they tend to use the wrong part of their brain to store information. This study focused on two specific parts of the brain that are used to store information: the hippocampus and the striatum. Information stored in the hippocampus allows a person to think more creatively, or change the context from which the information was originally learned. Whereas when information is stored in the striatum limits the contexts in which the information can be applied. The striatum prevents information from being used in new situations.

This is important to note, especially for college students. Many classes in college have exams that require students to think critically. Exams often require students to adapt what they have learned to new situations, or apply their knowledge to real world situations. This can be much easier for the student if the information is stored in the hippocampus. An expert in this article said, “The bottom line is that active distractions involved in multi-tasking are going to reduce one's ability to learn…even if standard performance measures, like grades, show otherwise.” Another expert believes that learning while listening to music results in a superficial understanding of what was studied. David E. Meyer, from the University of Michigan, said in this article that he believes: “studying with distractions limits a student’s ability to remember things long-term.” He also compared studying with music to eating dessert instead of a proper meal, in that a person is foregoing nutrition for enjoyment. On the contrary, some people believe that if music makes studying more enjoyable, it is acceptable. Since people’s brains work differently, it may be possible for individuals to learn with distractions. As long as the student knows what they are capable of, researchers believe that studying with music is ok if students keep the volume on the low side.

Listening to music while studying math as opposed to reading

At the library, at home, or even at the local coffee shop, it is inevitable that one will find avid studiers focused and engaged in their work while listening to music. What are these people listening to? How are they studying while listening to music? What genre do people listen to while studying? Can it get distracting? These are a few examples of the endless questions that are pondered about listening to music while studying. No matter what the studying entails, either practicing calculus problems or reading a novel for history class, music seems to be an integral part of the studying process for a wide variety of individuals.

Some individuals find that they cannot study with music if their lives depended on it. Some could not imagine studying without music, however, finding the boundary between the two can be very difficult, but worth the effort. For many, listening to music while studying math, accounting, or other numerical based subjects, go hand in hand. However, the point where this line is drawn occurs when listening to music begins to interfere or even harm studying certain material, such as retention and comprehension of material. Listening to music while you read can be very distracting due to the volume or the lyrics. Music can become a procrastination aid if they begin to listen to the music rather than study. Much of this distinction is based solely on the individual. By listening to instrumental music (no words) while reading, the likelihood of retention is much higher than if the music contains lyrics.

The difference between listening to music during numerical-based studying and conceptual-based studying seems irrelevant, but much of it depends on the preference of the individual. Many students use music as a background noise to distract their minds from external noises such as traffic, conversations, or the television. According Dr. Levitin in an article from the New York Times, published on December 31, 2006: “music triggers the reward centers in our brains.” He discusses how this triggers a positive reinforcement after hearing a song, which brings retention while listening to that particular song. People should all try to listen to instrumental music to discover how it can improve your studying efficiency. Many individuals find an extreme difficulty while listening to music and reading, as opposed to listening to music while studying math-type subjects. This can be due to many factors including volume level, music type, and lyrical influence. Even though a difficulty for many is prevalent for listening to music while studying, it is worth the time and effort to teach oneself to do so because of the potential benefits.

Biological Perspective on Listening to Music

Some people prefer absolute silence, while others prefer loud and upbeat music to accompany them in studying. But the true question is: Can a person listen to music and study at the same time? Some believe that it depends on the person who is studying, while others, such as Daniel Levitin, believe that it depends on the genre of music that is being listened to. Although there isn’t a direct answer to this question, several speculations exist. Discovering an answer to this question may be in the future, yet there must be steps taken in finding evidence that prove differently of the various perspectives.

We must first look at the functioning of the brain. Usually a person’s purpose of studying is to memorize learned information for later assessment. The brain areas that get activated when you are trying to memorize something depend on what it is you're trying to remember. The Frontal Lobes, the largest lobes of the cortex, are involved in motor function, problem solving, spontaneity, memory of all kinds, language, initiation, judgment, impulse control, and social and sexual behavior. (Davis & Palladino, 2007)

On the contrary, when you listen to music, a part of the brain called the Temporal Lobe becomes very active. The Temporal Lobe is involved in auditory processing and is home to the primary auditory cortex. The Temporal Lobe is also involved in semantics, both in speech and vision. (Davis & Palladino, 2007) Different parts of the temporal lobe seem to be related to different aspects of music. For instance, the temporal cortex on the right side seems to process simple pitch and melody; on the left it processes chords and harmonies. The temporal lobe contains the hippocampus, which plays a vital role in processing, storing, and recalling information.

Looking at both the Frontal and Temporal Lobes, we can see they have something in common: memory. How can both parts of the brain function at the same time without information being decoded wrong, or stored incorrectly into the memory? According to a psychologist from UCLA, “Multi-tasking and learning do not mix. One has to pay full attention for learning to be most affective.” This means that if music is playing as you study and try to learn, the information becomes more specialized, which may cause difficulties in encoding and retrieval of the information for later use.

Survey Results

In order to asses the relationship between studying and music, an anonymous survey was taken at Miami University. The survey focused on studying while listening to music. A random sample was used to take this survey. This was important so that the results can apply to everyone at Miami and similar colleges with the same type of student body. The survey was a paper survey in which students were required to circle either yes or no, or write a short answer to some questions. It was important to leave some of the questions open so that the suggested answers would not sway or influence the person. In eliminating influences, a student’s true answer could be obtained.

From the people surveyed, a little more than half said that they listened to music while they studied. Of the students that said they did not listen to music while they studied, about eighty-two percent said it was because they could not concentrate. Concerning the people that responded yes to these questions, a few more questions were asked. Interestingly, among this half, only seven percent said that they have to study while listening to music, while the rest said that music was not a necessity while studying. Eighty-six percent of these students said that they listen to soft music while they study. Soft music is general, including the genres of country, soft rock, classical rock, and easy listening. The remaining 14 percent said that they listen to other types of music including numerous genres ranging from classical to rap. Amongst the students who do listen to music, fifty-seven percent of them said that they would study any subject, twenty-nine percent said they would only study sciences, and fourteen percent said they listen to music while they write papers. The students that listen to music while they study provided two interesting reasons as to why they do. One, which seventy-one percent agree with, was that they get bored with what they are doing and the music entertains them. The remaining twenty-nine percent said that they listen to music because it relaxes them.

All of the students answered three remaining questions on the survey. One question asked the students what music they thought was the best to study to: forty-four percent of them said classical, forty-eight percent of them said soft music as defined above, and the remaining eight percent had varying music genres. The survey reported that twenty-eight percent of the people thought that when they listened to music, they retained information better, but the remaining disagreed. To touch on a slightly different light, sixty percent of the students surveyed said that they multitasked while studying. Multitasking was defined as eating, text messaging, using the internet for non studying purposes, etc. This survey was important because while studies project many numbers that concern people, these numbers specifically define Miami University students.

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Extended Results:

Don’t listen to music-11 people

Of these 9 don’t listen because they can not concentrate

Listen to music-14 people

12 listen to soft music (including soft rock, country, and easy listening)

2 listen to other

1 can not study with out listening to music

Subjects studied: 6 study all, 4 study science, 2 write papers

10 say they listen because they get bored and it entertains them

4 say they listen to it because it makes them more relaxed

Best music thought to study to: 11 classical, 12 soft music, 2 other

Do you think you retain more information: 7 yes, 18 no

Multitask: 10 no, 15 yes

Conclusion

Through writing this paper, we have all agreed that understanding your brain and its external factors is imperative. As many people listen to verbal music and struggle to store information or focus, one must find out why. By understanding the biological effects of music, music in different circumstances, and music mixed with different content, we have concluded that the positive effects of music depend greatly on the genre of music and the content that you are attempting to study. For example, by looking at the Mozart Effect, classical music can have a positive effect on your studying efficiency. However, listening to verbal music, such as rap or hardcore rock, can hurt one’s memory storage and focus. Through this research and study on Miami’s students, where our sample has 56% listening to music while studying, we learned that before we do something, we must first learn how it affects us. Because of this, many studying habits are lowering the brain’s potential.

“The point for me isn’t to develop a map of the brain, but to understand how it works, how the different regions coordinate their activity together, how the simple firing of neurons and shuttling around of neurotransmitters leads to thoughts, laughter, feelings of profound joy and sadness, and how all of these, in turn, can lead us to create lasting, meaningful works of art.” –Daniel Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession

References

Davis, S.F. & Palladino, J.J. (2007). Psychology (5th Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

iPods and Learning: Not Always a Good Mix. (2006). T+D, Retrieved Wednesday, April 18, 2007 from the Academic Search Premier database.

Jeffrey , Ghassemi (2006, September 5). I said, 'not while you study!'. Washington Post, p. Health.

Levitin, D.J. (2006). This is your brain on music: The science of a human obsession. New York, NY: Dutton.

Linton, M (1999, March). The Mozart Effect. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from First Things: The Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life Web site:

New York Times (2006,December 31). Music of the hemispheres. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from New York Times Web site:

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Don’t listen to music

Listen and study all subjects

Listen while studying sciences

Listen while writing papers

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