Memory and Music: Should you listen to music while studying?
Written by Katie Schmidt
Music is an integral part of most people’s daily lives. From our alarm in the morning to a relaxing playlist after a long day, it is incorporated into so much of what we do. Students often play music in the background while studying and doing homework. Many people claim that this background music helps them focus and complete their work more effectively. Others explain that music provides too much of a distraction from their work. Many researchers have attempted to answer this debate. Does background music promote or inhibit learning? Even within the scientific community, there is still dispute over this.
For those that believe music improves their work effectiveness and focus, there is research that shows background music can be used to promote attention. Certain types of music are better for this than others. Typically, positive or happy instrumental music results in the best attention (Mendes et al., 2021). The preference of the listener is also important. Music that is either strongly disliked or strongly liked does not improve concentration (Yakura et al., 2022). These songs generally take up more attention than the average background music (Huang & Shih, 2011). There is also research with the opposite findings. When there is background music while performing a task, performance across different tasks declines (Christopher & Shelton, 2017; Perham & Currie, 2014). This is often explained as the irrelevant sound effect, where unrelated sounds, like music, draw attention away from the main task. The brain processes this irrelevant information, disrupting the processing of the main task (Barideaux & Pavlik, 2021).
In an effort to explain this variation in results, de la Mora Velasco and Hirumi (2020), examined 30 different studies that tested the effects of background music on learning. While the results were inconclusive, they did identify some factors that affect learning. Firstly, the choice of background music is important. A recent meta-analysis found that classical music (or more generally, music without lyrics) is the best for promoting learning (Velasco et al., 2023). Another factor is the volume of music, with quiet music showing the best results. The presence of lyrics and the volume of the music both contribute to how distracting the music is (de la Mora Velasco & Hirumi, 2020). Coming back to the irrelevant sound effect, music with lyrics requires more processing and attention than music without lyrics (Barideaux & Pavlik, 2021). Also, music with lyrics negatively affects word-based tasks (e.g. reading comprehension) more than it affects tasks like studying concept maps or images. This could be explained by interference. Words from the music and words from the task interfere with each other, leading to a decrease in performance (Barideaux & Pavlik, 2021). There are also individual characteristics that should be considered. People with more musical experience and background might react differently to music than non-musicians. Prior use of music during studying might also be a factor to consider, as people who often study while listening to music might already be accustomed to the background music..
Clearly, more research is needed to truly understand when music is helpful and when it is detrimental. Since music is such an important part of many people’s daily routines, the results of these studies will provide important information and help motivate lifestyle choices. As students listen to background music, they should consider some of these different variables that may affect studying. So, next time you turn music on before doing homework, take a moment to think through what kind of music you are listening to, and if it truly helps you focus.
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References
Barideaux, K. J., & Pavlik, P. I. (2021). Can concept maps attenuate auditory distraction when studying with music? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 35(6), 1547–1558. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3889
Christopher, E. A., & Shelton, J. T. (2017). Individual differences in working memory predict the effect of music on student performance. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 6(2), 167–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2017.01.012
de la Mora Velasco, E., & Hirumi, A. (2020). The effects of background music on learning: A systematic review of literature to guide future research and practice. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68(6), 2817–2837. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-020-09783-4
de la Mora Velasco, E., Chen, Y., Hirumi, A., & Bai, H. (2023). The impact of background music on learners: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychology of Music, 51(6), 1598–1626. https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356231153070
Huang, R.-H., & Shih, Y.-N. (2011). Effects of background music on concentration of workers. Work, 38(4), 383–387. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-2011-1141
Mendes, C. G., Diniz, L. A., & Marques Miranda, D. (2021). Does music listening affect attention? A literature review. Developmental Neuropsychology, 46(3), 192–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641.2021.1905816
Perham, N., & Currie, H. (2014). Does listening to preferred music improve reading comprehension performance? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28(2), 279–284. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2994
Yakura, H., Nakano, T., & Goto, M. (2022). An automated system recommending background music to listen to while working. User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, 32(3), 355–388. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11257-022-09325-y
Disclaimer
The blog posts are for informational and educational purposes only. The posts should not be considered as any type of advice (medical, mental health, legal, and/or religious advice). All blog posts have been researched, written, and edited by the undergraduate students and alumni of the Lifespan Cognition Lab. As a teaching and research-based lab, we encourage all lab members to help make knowledge more accessible to all communities through these posts.
