Does Music Really Help?
Examples of Music that we used in our lab
Quicklinks
Abstract
In our experiment we saw the effects of different types of music, specifically
rock, rap, country, classical, pop and a control of no music on peopleís ability to comprehend materials. We either asked
them math questions or asked them simple questions on a given article. Our
hypothesis was that classical music would have the highest level
of comprehension and accuracy. The importance of this experiment helped us
to determine which type of music helps comprehension, then we,
as college students, can utilize this in our studying and reading habits regularly. We found that there was no significance between genres
according to the Scheffes test, yet there was significance overall. Our conclusion states that we accept the null hypothesis but there
is error that was present through the experiment and our data shows some significance in favor of our alternative hypothesis but not
drastic enough to fail Scheffes test.
Introduction
The purpose of this lab was to study the effects of listening to five different genres of music; country, pop rock, rap, hard rock, and classical and determine their effect on reading comprehension and math skills. Through these studies, it was possible to determine which genre of music is most conducive to learning. A random sampling of students was chosen from the Western College Program, who live in Peabody and Mary Lyon Halls. They were then 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 was then asked to answer a series of two to three questions based upon the given works. The null hypothesis states that there will be no difference in times between the certain genres of music. Our alternative hypothesis was that the students who listened to the classical music while reading/looking at the selection would 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 proposed was, 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 was interesting to us as researchers personally because we hoped 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 does 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.
The music we participants listen to included:
Enya:
Classical:
Piano Minuete by Bach
Country:
Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks
Rap: Air
Force Ones by Nelly
Hard
Rock: Fuel by Metallica
PopRock:
Rock your body by Justin Timberlake
Background Information
Does music really help students in an educational setting? This
was the question we were posing for our experiment. There has been considerable interest into how background sounds may influence
an individuals performance on various cognitive and work tasks. (Furnham and Strbac, Music 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. A 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. (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.Deep learning
has been one of the most influential constructs to emerge in literature on
effective learning in education. (Boyle, Duffy
and Dunleavy, Learning Styles and academic outcome: The validity and utility
of Vermuntís 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. We're 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 were using background music to see whether
it wouldimprove a reading time and concentration factor since adults,
since childhood, were already used 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. Music may be effective not only at hiding
or covering up some of these distractions, but also as a tool for enhancing
the learning process. (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 youíre taking without becoming overloaded
with information. This may not be the case after-all, exceptional
memory performance is not a short-term memory phenomenon, but is based on rapid storage in long-term memory (LTM). (Anders
and Polson, An Experimental Analysis of the Mechanisms of a Memory Skill).
It is important in our experiment to realize that what we were
testing was the capability of the mind and how effectively information was
being stored and used correctly. Music improves spatial-temporal reasoning,
a neurological process needed to understand mathematics.(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 hoped 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. Neurobiologists pinpointed the
areas responsible for math and music abilities close together in the brainís
cortex. Development in this area, the researchers claimed, helps
with complex functions like math or logic. (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 were 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) could be useful information.
A process may be slower or quicker when involving background music. So, why
does this matter? If the brain and the 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.
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?
Miller reported that the hearing students performed significantly higher than
both deaf groups in a measure of reading proficiency. (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. Common 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. (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. Listening to Mozart
(compared to relaxation instructions or silence) produced a
brief but significant increase in performance of a spatial IQ task.(Http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/music/Development/mozart.htm).
In another experiment, The observations made by Davidson and
Powell (19xx) indicate, as they humbly note, that 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.(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. McFarland 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. 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. Fast, appealing music, included that the tune appealed
to children so much that they tried learning it while the segment was continuing. (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 to have 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 was very little support for the other genres that we were
presenting in our design and it would be interesting to see how they affected
the students comprehension and mathematical abilities. Existing
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.(Levy, The Effects of
Background Music on Learning: A Review of Recent Literature).
Along with this challenge come many opinions. Listening to music as background
can help when people when theyíre thinking, learning, or
working, but the music needs to be implemented correctly. It can be easily
understood that if it's vocal music, it needs to be somewhat quiet, for
if it isn't, it can be distracting to the mind. It is logical to conclude
then that if it's 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 observed, the listeners preference to music must
also be taken into account, because the primary goal is for the music to affect
the personís mood and attitude positively, and if they are
listening to music that they absolutely deplore, it wonít help them
think because it will be hard to shut it out of their mind.(Http://www.bobjanuary.com/musicmnd.htm)
In the end there hasn't really been any final research that helps prove or disprove any theory of one specific genre of music
being better than another.
Specific Research
Design
For out experiment we sampled the Western Students. On western
campus there are approximately 250 students. In order to take a sampling of them, we planned to go door to door in the dorms
to collect a sampling of 153 student. The 153 individuals who volunteer for
this experiment would be chosen by each group member. Each student
can only be tested once to avoid possible errors.
For our in class experiment, we took the same steps in questioning
them and used the class as feedback for our experiment. Our subjects were given one piece of music to listen to or be used as the
control group (no music) while reading an article. They would then answerthree questions on the information they absorbed. We started
a stopwatch when they began reading in order to time how long it took them
to read and comprehend the article. We also had students answering
math questions as an experiment to see whether these types of music would affect mathematical capabilities.
The pieces of music they will listen to are "Rock your
Body " by Justin Timberlake to satisfy our Pop rock genre, "Piano
Minuet" by Bach to satisfy our Classical genre, "Air Force Ones" by Nelly to
satisfy our rap genre, "Fuel" by Metallica to satisfy our hard rock
genre and "Thunder Rolls"by Garth Brooks to satisfy our country music genre. We made
sure that the volume level remained the same for each subject so volume is
not a changing variable. The article they were asked to read
is entitled "Dolphin Facts and Interesting Information" and they
will each be asked to answer the same three basic recall questions based
on the facts the article provides. The mathematic questions would be simple
addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
We repeated this process with each person we studied. With the
controlled group however, there was no music playing in their headphones when the article was read or problems were being completed.
For all cases, only precisely accurate answers would be accepted as correct.
Thishelped us to gain insight into how long it took them to process
the information given, give a correct answer, and how long they could retain
it while their performance was either helped or hindered by the
playing of music.
Materials and Methods
Our experiment was to test the correlation between the type of music played while reading and the comprehension of the reading. Were using the same five musical samples and the same reading materials on all of the subjects tested. The experiment reflected accurately the relationship between these two variables, however they 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 was statistically sound in the fact that were 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 ensured unbiased results by measuring all subjects on the same variables and over the same material. Were conducting our experiment on Western students and the results showed an unbiased result as it applies to the chosen population. b. The data collected can be trusted because we measured all of the reading times and comprehension uniformly so that there was no chance for change. All conditions presented by our group have been consistent during our data collection. However, there were other factors that played into effect such as tiredness, stress, hunger or business that may have affected the performance of the subject. The materials we used were articles for reading as well as five different songs to listen to during the reading. We also used a set of questions for measuring the comprehension of reading. A timer or stopwatch was used for precisely measuring the amount of time it tookeach subject to read the passage. During our class time we conducted our study on our classmates. We had them read the selected passages while listening to various music selections and collect the data. We kept this data separate from our other data as the conditions are not static.
RESOURCES:
Timeline
Week 1 (Oct. 20): Finish working out the kinks in our experimental
design
Week 2-3: Begin data collection
Week 4-5: Analyze data
Week 6: Present to class
Week 7: Final lab report
Results
Figure 1: Graph of Rough Time Data for Music and Familiarity
Figure 2: Graph of Number Wrong Data for Music and Familiarity
Figure 3: Graph of Final Time Data for Music and Familiarity
Figure 4: Scheffe's test for Rough Time
Figure 5: Scheffe's test for Number Wrong
Figure 6: Scheffe's test for Final Time
Figure 7: Graph of Music vs. Test Type for Rough Time
Figure 8: Graph of Music vs.Test Type for Number Wrong data
Figure 9: Graph of Music vs. Test Type for Final Time
This graph shows Rough Time Data for Music and Familiarity. Overall there is a p-value of .1217. Which is not significant at an alpha level of .05.
This graph shows Number Wrong Data for Music and Familiarity. Overall there is a p-value of .0039. Which is significant at an alpha level of .05.
This graph shows Final Time Data for Music and Familiarity. Overall there is a p-value of .1537. Which is not significant at an alpha level of .05.
This data represents the Scheffe's test for Rough Time data. This is a very conservative test and there is a p-value overall of .0109 which is significant. But, no significance exists between individual genres.
This data represents the Scheffe's test for Number Wrong data. This is a very conservative test and there is a p-value overall of .0032 which is significant. But, no significance exists between individual genres.
This data represents the Scheffe's test for Final Time data. This is a very conservative test and there is a p-value overall of .0130 which is significant. But, no significance exists between individual genres.
This graph represents the music vs. test type for Rough Time data. The p-value of .0001 is significant at the alpha level of .05.
This graph represents the music vs. test type for Number Wrong data. The p-value of .0024 is significant at the alpha level of .05.
This graph represents the music vs. test type for Final Time data. The p-value of .0001 is significant at the alpha level of .05.
Discussion and Conclusions
Our Results proved our alternative hypothesis was incorrect.
Using the Scheffe’s test it showed that there was no statistical significance
proving that
one genre of music enhanced the listening in comparison to the
other genres. Therefore, our data does not prove classical music is better
than the
other genres. Which is what our alternative hypothesis stated.
However, there is a significance overall. The Null hypothesis proposed that
there was
no significance between the music data, no matter what the genre
type was. We accepted the null hypothesis based on Scheffe's test, but due
to the
fact that this test is extremely conservative, we are hestitant
that this conclusion is completely accurate. The reason we state this is because
the graphs
and other data show signifance in other ways. An example would
be country music in number wrong data, this graph shows that the number of
questions that individuals answered wrong is significantly higher
than those answered wrong in other genres of music.
We looked at each part of our experimental data critically
in efforts to calculate a conclusion, but there are many factors that may
have effected
or skewed our results. Some error that was evident in our experiment
includes but is not limited to the fact that some of our subjects may have
been
more distracted than others. this means even this slight variance
in their dedication to the material may have affected our data. Another factor
may
have been the subjects previous knowledge of the material read,
and their reading and math skills. Some students are just faster readers or
better at
math, and the type of music does not have as much of a powerful
effect. This ability may have increased or decreased, not only their raw time,
but
also their number right or wrong and over all time. Another
factor that could have hurt our overall results would be the difference in
what the students
listen to nowadays. As a generation this group of students could
be used to listening to pop rock, hard-rock, and rap. The white noise just
might
distract them because they're not used to studying in this sort
of an environment. This could explain why the genres are so similar according
to
Scheffes test.
Our study is extremely imporant in the overall scheme of things.
The fact that there is significance overall between genres means that the
type of music
that one listens to while studying DOES matter. The type of
music can help you or hurt you to get certain tasks completed. According to
the other
studies that we found, classical music generally is the genre
of music that helps you to work more efficiently. Our data does not help prove
these
other studies conclusions, but more importantly it does not
disprove their theories. We believe if we were to have tested more students
than our
study would have been more significant and helpful in the overall
big picture.
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