Does Music really help?

This topic submitted by Andrea, Chris, Jessica, Jessica, and Maureen ( Meh3385@yahoo.com ) on 10/9/03 .

Natural Systems 1 Syllabus---Western Program---Miami University

Does Music REALLY Help?

Introduction:

The purpose of this lab is to study the effects of listening to five different genres of music; country, pop rock, rap, hard rock, and classical and determining their effect on reading comprehension and math skills. Through these studies, it will be possible to determine which genre of music is most conducive to learning. A random sampling of students will be chosen from the Western College Program, who live in Peabody and Mary Lyon Halls. They will then be given a selected article to read while listening to a certain genre of music. Upon completion of the reading and the math sample the student will then be asked to answer a series of two to three questions based upon the given works. Our hypothesis is that the students who listened to the classical music while reading/looking at the selection will show the most thorough and accurate responses to the work with the quickest reading time rather than those students who listened to the other four genres and the control of no music. The research question that we are proposing is, how do these different genres of music enhance or distract the reader's ability to memorize and comprehend a given piece of work or article.
This study is interesting to us as researchers personally because we hope to gain knowledge of how the surrounding environment affects learning ability especially in terms of music. There is often background noise when one is reading or studying but how is the effect of music, an easily recognizable sound, affect the way our brains work? Upon learning the results from this study we can also apply this knowledge into our own lives in the way we study. With college students time tends to be very rare and finding the best use of time and the most effective way to study would be beneficial to most of the community here on Western Campus.

Background Information:

Does music really help students in an educational setting? This is the question that we are posing for our experiment. ÒThere has been considerable interest into how background sounds may influence an individualÕs performance on various cognitive and work tasks.Ó (Furnham and Strbac, Muic is as distracting as noise: the differential distraction of background music and noise on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts) A lot of research has been done that is similar to our study. For instance, getting involved musically seems to better any educational experience. This would include playing a musical instrument. ÒA study by Gardiner and his colleagues in two elementary schools demonstrated that first-graders who received an extra hour per week of music and visual arts training in the classroom showed improved reading skills and were significantly ahead in math skills compared to other students of the same age.Ó (Allegrezza, Mozart, Music, and the Mind). There are many studies that demonstrate that playing a musical instrument will help with raising test scores in such classes.
Another way that music has helped in the educational setting is by using the music to evoke emotions of the students. Using popular music, teachers help guide students to evaluate emotions and to draw parallels with literature, and to introduce and explore less familiar musical genres and artists. (Robert McParland, Music to their Ears)
Teachers are beginning to use this method more and more as they realize the true positive effect music has on learning capabilities.ÒDeep learning has been one of the most influential constructs to emerge in literature on effective learning in education.Ó (Boyle, Duffy and Dunleavy, Learning Styles and academic outcome: The validity and utility of VermuntÕs Inventory of Learning Styles in a British higher education setting)
One of the reasons music has proven to be a useful asset is children can easily identify with music. WeÕre brought up on it. Children can relate to the media and music since most of the students tend to listen to music, watch tv, and sing songs. Music can help in aiding literature reading, writing and memorizing techniques and phrases. These are all common techniques in reading comprehension (Truit and Williams, Music and Reading Comprehension in the Primary Grade) This relates to our study because we are using background music to see whether it will improve a reading time and concentration factor since adults, since childhood, is already use to having music around them daily. While most of the studies our group found were directed at grade-school children, it is necessary to understand that techniques will still apply for college level students as well. ÒMusic may be effective not only at ÔhidingÕ or covering up some of these distractions, but also as a tool for enhancing the learning process.Ó (Levy, The Effects of Background Music on Learning: A Review of Recent Literature)
When taking tests, your brain works in a specific way. It is commonly thought you are using short-term memory when reading an article so that you can answer questions at the end of your reading and keep going on with whatever test youÕre taking without becoming overloaded with information. This may not be the case after-all, Ò..exceptional memory performance is not a short-term memory phenomenon, but is based on rapid storage in long-term memory (LTM).Ó (Anders and Polson, An Experimental Analysis of the Mechanisms of a Memory Skill). It is important in our experiment to realize that what we are testing is the capability of the mind and how effectively information is being stored and used correctly. ÒMusic improves spatial-temporal reasoning, a neurological process needed to understand mathematics.Ó (http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Arts/music/Development/musicleraning.htm) This means that according to this article music can help students when doing math problems, something we hope to prove or disprove without experiment. The brain in a complex organism though, both the working memory and long-term memory share one substrate: a system of broad, partly overlapping and interconnected neocortical networks. (Vollmer and Sommer, Coexistence of short and long term memory in a model network of realistic neurons). The mind is extremely complex and some believe the music will help to stimulate the brain in a way to allow for a quicker process with learning and comprehending certain educational materials. ÒNeurobiologists pinpointed the areas responsible for math and music abilities close together in the brainÕs cortex. Development in this area, the researchers claimed, helps with complex functions like math or logic.Ó (Allegrezza, Mozart, Music, and the Mind) This may mean that whatever effect music has on musical abilities may be correlated to mathematic capabilities as well. Considering the fact we are testing math skills and understanding that memory for visual and verbal material is focused in different hemispheres of the brain (Doty and Savakis, Commonality of processes underlying visual and verbal recognition memory) can be useful information as well when understanding why a process may be slower or quicker when involving background music. So, why does this matter? If the brain and way you memorize certain material is so complex, having an aid to help or inhibit the process, such as music, can lead to a drastic change in test scores and such.
There are many different view points on whether background music can be beneficial to a student. Does hearing anything really help one concentrate more on a given article or set of math problems? ÒMiller reported that the hearing students performed significantly higher than both deaf groups in a measure of reading proficiency.Ó (Moors, Short Term Memory, morphology, and Reading) According to these finding, those of us who can hear sounds at all performed better than deaf students do on these given tests. Our research takes this a step further to see what kinds of sound are most beneficial for those who can hear. Another controversy seems to be the type of music involved. ÒCommon sense tells us, the research has confirmed, that loud, cacophonous background noise impedes learning, concentration, and information acquisition. However, some amount of background music may in fact be helpful in the learning process, both in a structure school setting and under self-directed homework conditions.Ó (Levy, The Effects of Background Music on Learning: A Review of Recent Literature). The type of background music, if any, is where the controversy begins. Most believe that classical music is the most beneficial. Ò..listening to Mozart (compared to relaxation instructions or silence) produced a brief but significant increase in performance of a spatial IQ task.Ó (Http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/music/Development/mozart.htm).
In another experiment, ÒThe observations made by Davidson and Powell (19xx) indicate, as they humbly note, Ôthat the use of easy-listening background music was effective in increasing on-task-performance of children in an elementary science classroom...and may be generalizable to other subjects in the middle grades.ÕÓ(Levy, The Effects of Background Music on Learning: A Review of Recent Literature) it is clear that they believe that a complete genre of music may not be responsible but the sort of style that is present.
There is also data going against music being involved in the educational process what-so-ever. ÒMcFarland and Kennison (1987) assume through their studies that the right hemisphere of the brain processes music. They found that participants require greater effort to successfully learn a task with the presence of music. Therefore, according to their study, music does more harm than good when studying. McFarland and Hanna (1990) found that music inhibited initial learning in a tactual-spatial task. Again showing that music while studying is more damaging than helpful on test performance.Ó While this study is one of many the idea that certain types of music are more damaging than others remains. Fast music, regardless of its appeal, has a negative impact on attention paid to and information acquired from the educational segment. Interestingly, different types of music seem to have no significant effect to the appeal to the children, or their reported interest in the given material. Ò...fast, appealing music, including that the tune appealed to children so much that they tried learning it while the segment was continuing.Ó(Levy, The Effects of Background Music on Learning: A Review of Recent Literature) Testing the effect of music from an academic standpoint is not the only research that is being done. Music introduced into the work area has been proven to increase output therefore does not inhibit learning, but helps someone to focus and repeat tasks. (Parncutt and McPherson, The Science and Psychological of Music Performance: Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning) Researchers have been interested in the possible benefits of music at work. They believe it affected the morale and productivity at work. (Furnham and Bradley, Music While you work: The differential distraction of Background Music on the Cognitive Test Performance of Introverts and Extraverts.)
There is very little support for the other genres that we are presenting in our design and it will be interesting to see how they will affect the students comprehension and mathematical abilities. ÒExisting research seems to support the hypothesis that certain types of instrumental music, especially slow - to medium-paced, non-percussive music, is beneficial in several learning situations. The traditional notion that people, especially young students, concentrate and learn best in a completely quiet environment is being challenged.Ó(Levy, The Effects of Background Music on Learning: A Review of Recent Literature). Along with this challenge come many opinions. ÒListening to music as background can help when people when theyÕre thinking, learning, or working, but the music needs to be implemented correctly. It can be easily understood that if itÕs vocal music, it needs to be somewhat quiet, for if it isnÕt, it can be distracting to the mind. It is logical to conclude then that if itÕs instrumental, it can be somewhat louder than vocal music, but not too loud because any music that is loud enough will make it hard to learn or think. As we will see, the listenerÕs preference to music must also be taken into account, because the primary goal is for the music to affect the personÕs mood and attitude positively, and if they are listening to music that they absolutely deplore, it wonÕt help them think because it will be hard to shut it out of their mind.Ó(Http://www.bobjanuary.com/musicmnd.htm) In the end there hasnÕt really been any final research that helps prove or disprove any theory of one specific genre of music being better than another.

A Specific Research Design

For out experiment we are going to take a random sampling of Western Students. On western campus there are approximately 250 students. In order to take a random sampling of them, we plan to go door to door in the dorms to collect a random sampling of 120 people. The 120 individuals chosen for this experiment will be selected by a using a simple random sample generator on a calculator and assigning each student a specific number.
For our in class experiment, we will take the same steps in questioning them and use the class as feedback for our experiment, since they cannot be considered a simple random sample. Our subjects will be given one piece of music to listen to or be the used as the control group (no music) while reading an article. They will then answer around three questions on the information they absorbed. We will start a stopwatch when they begin reading in order to time how long it takes them to read and comprehend the article. We will also have students answering math questions as an experiment to see whether these types of music will affect mathematical capabilities.
The pieces of music they will listen to are ÒI did itÓ by Dave MatthewÕs Band to satisfy our Pop rock genre, ÒMinuetÓ by Bach to satisfy our Classical genre, ÒAir Force OnesÓ by Nelly to satisfy our rap genre, ÒFuelÓ by Metallica to satisfy our hard rock genre and ÒThunder RollsÓ by Garth Brooks to satisfy our country music genre. We will make sure that the volume level remains the same for each subject so volume is not a changing variable. The article they will be asked to read is entitled ÒDolphin Facts and Interesting InformationÓ and they will each be asked to answer the same three basic recall questions based on the facts the article provides. The mathematic questions will be simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
We will repeat this process with each person we study. With the controlled group however, there will be no music playing in their headphones when the article is read or problems are being completed. For all cases, only precisely accurate answers will be accepted as correct. This will help us to gain insight into how long it takes them to process the information given, give a correct answer, and how long they can retain it while their performance is either helped or hindered by the playing of music.

Materials and Methods:

Our experiment is to test the correlation between the type of music played while reading and the comprehension of the reading. We are using the same five musical samples and the same reading materials on all of the subjects tested. The experiment should reflect accurately the relationship between these two variables however may be not accurate because of personal differences of the subjects being tested. We chose five different genres of music so that we could show how certain types of music are more compatible with learning than others.
Our experiment is statistically sound in the fact that we are exploring the relationship among a population of music genres, reading speed and comprehension. We looked at other studies done on the topic to come up with our own ideas as well as found several literary pieces that support that there is statistical evidence to be found in the relationship.
a.We will ensure unbiased results by measuring all subjects on the same variables and over the same material. We are conducting our experiment on Western students and the results should show an unbiased result as it applies to the chosen population.
b.The data collected can be trusted because we will measure all of the reading times and comprehension uniformly so that there is no chance for change. All conditions presented by our group will be consistent during our data collection. However, there are other factors that can play into effect such as tiredness, stress, hunger or busyness that may affect the performance of the subject.
The materials we will be using are articles for reading as well as five different songs to listen to during the reading. We will also use a set of questions for measuring the comprehension of reading. A timer or stopwatch will be used for precisely measuring the amount of time it takes each subject to read the passage.
During our class time we will conduct our study on our classmates. We will have them read the selected passages while listening to various music selections and collect the data. We will keep this data separate from our other data as the conditions are not static.
See attached Data Sheet

Timeline
Week 1 (Oct. 20) Ð Begin taking data
Week 2-3 - Continue data collection
Week 4-5 Ð Analyze data
Week 6 Ð Present to class
Week 7 Ð Final lab report

Work Cited:
Allegrezza, Cynthia M.. Mozart, Music, and the Mind. TodayÕs Parent of Massachusetts:Johnson
String Instrument. September 1999.
Anders and Polson. An Experimental Analysis of the Mechanisms of a Memory Skill. University of
Colorado. Downloaded from web 10/8/03.
Boyle, Elizabeth A and Tim Duffy and Karen Dunleavy. Learning Styles and academic outcome: The validity and utility of VermuntÕs Inventory of Learning Styles in a British higher education setting. University of Paisley, UK. Downloaded 10/7/03.
Doty and Savakis, Commonality of processes underlying visual and verbal recognition memory.
University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester NY. Accepted 14 January 1997.
Furnham Adrian and Bradley Anna. Music While you work: The differential distraction of Background
Music on the Cognitive Test Performance of Introverts and Extraverts. Downloaded 10/9/03.
Furnham Adrian and Strbac Lisa. Music is as distracting as noise: the differential distraction of
background music and noise on cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts.
Ergonomics, Volume 45 No 3, 203-217. 2002.
Levy, Yiftach. The Effects of Background Music on Learning: A Review of Recent Literature.
Department of Educational Technology, San Diego State University. Downloaded from web
10/6/03.
McParland, Robert. Music to their Ears. April 2000. Downloaded 9/15/03.
Moors, Donald F. Short Term Memory, Morphology, and Reading. American Annals of the Deaf, Volume 148, No 1, 2003. Found on Web 10/8/03.
Parncutt, Richard and McPherson Gary E. The Science and Psychological of Music Performance:
Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Xii+ 388
pp. 2002.
Truit and Williams, Music and Reading Comprehension in the Primary Grade. 20 February 2003.
Vollmer and Sommer, Coexistence of short and long term memory in a model network of realistic
neurons. Department of Neural Information Processing. University of Ulm Germany. Elsevier
Science B.V.:2001.

web sites
Does listening to Mozart Affect Spatial IQ. Found online www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Arts/music/Development/Mozart.htm. Downloaded 10/8/03.
Manthei, Mike and Kelly, Steve N. Effects of Popular and Classical Background Music on the Math
Test Scores of Undergraduate Students. Minneapolis MN, Found Online:
http://music.arts.usf.edu/rpme/effects.htm. Downloaded 10/9/03.
Music and Learning. Found online:
www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Arts/music/Development/musicleraning.htm. Downloaded 10/8/03
Olson, Kristian David. The Effects of Music on the mind. Found
online: Http://www.bobjanuary.com/musicmnd.htm. Downloaded 10/8/03.
St. Clair, Angela M. The Effects of Music during apprehension on memory performance. Found online:
http://clearinghouse.mwsc.edu/manuscripts/187.asp?logon=&code= . Downloaded 10/8/03.