THE EFFECT OF MUSIC ON MEMORYJACOB CRANE

10RED

BACKGROUND RESEARCHListening to music is a common pastime amongst many people, more so for students and younger people who listen to music while they are studying. This raises the question, does listening to music aid your memory and if so, what genre is the most effective. It has been tested that music is a pleasurable experience which increases dopamine levels in the brain can help the brain respond to reward based incentives and this could help the brain remember and recollect information. On the other hand, it has also been suggested that music is harmful to memory as it separates the brains focus onto different tasks, a problem less prevalent with people who are musically trained as they have experience working with music in the background when they’re are learning a song for example, as they will be focusing on individual aspects and ignoring the rest of the song There is also a theory known as the “Mozart Effect” which does not necessarily target memory, but has been tested to show results of improved spatial reasoning in subjects while listening to Mozart’s music in comparison to silence and other forms of music, meaning there may be evidence to suggest classical music may be the best genre of music when producing better memory.

The research that was undertook when designing to actual test, in which subjects will have a minute to memorise as many words from a list and then another minute to write down as many as they can, showed that the average human’s short term memory can memorise seven words for around fifteen seconds up until one minute. However, due to the nature of the experiment and the subject knowing they will be required to recall the information, the working memory will also be a factor, as it will be used to try and resist distraction and retain the information, meaning a lager list of twenty words is necessary to provide a challenge where any beneficial or detrimental effect from the music can be observed.

It is also important to make sure the word lists are randomised to maintain fairness between subjects and each test as well as having words of the same difficulty, so each word is assigned a number value based on its length, each list will have a total of 50 points across twenty words.

PLANNING LOGSeveral steps went into the creation of this experiment, the first of which was the background research into the investigation. This research helped me create the idea for the experiment and ensured that the right genres of music were used based on pre-existing information about the music’s helpfulness in memory and recollection. This research also gave a solid foundation for the hypothesis that classical music would be the most effective for memory and recollection. This research also looked into developing the word lists that the subjects would memorise and helped develop a points system which would ensure the fairness of all the lists between tests.

The independent variable in this experiment is the genre of music being played during the time in which the subject is memorising and recalling the words in the test. The dependent variable will be the amount of points the subject scores based on the amount of words recalled and the difficulty of the words that were recalled. Other variables are controlled, as the subjects are all male and are sixteen years of age, eliminating any variations based in age and gender. All subjects will listen to the same songs in each genre category and will listen to the same section of the song at the same volume in the same environment with no one else present, ensuring all controlled variables are constant.

The experimental control in this test will be each subject performing the test with one minute to memorise and then one minute to recall in silence with no music playing. This will be used as the standard for that subjects tests and any improvements or reductions in score while listening to a certain genre of music will be compared to the control test. This control test is done without the independent variable and so should be used to reflect a normal score for that particular person.

PLANNING LOGThere are few risks to take into account when undertaking this experiment, as it involves very little physical input from the subject or anything around the subject; however the risks that are associated have been dealt with thoroughly and properly to avoid permanent injury. The major risk is hearing damage while listening to the music, which will be played from a loudspeaker one metre away from the subject to simulate a speaker in the room of a student who is studying. This is considered to be in close proximity, and so all music will be played at a volume lower than 75 decibels, well below the volume at which hearing loss starts to occur. This is equivalent to being in a slightly louder than normal conversation which takes part at around 60 decibels.

The reliability and validity of this test was ensured in multiple ways. Reliability was ensured by having the same tests with the different genres of music being retested with multiple subjects, narrowing the margin of error and nullifying discrepancies between individuals memory ability. The validity was ensured as the results will be quantitative data which can be compared to other number data of the control to determine improvements in memory based on genre of music. It is done using established memory tests that have been used in other experiments and will yield similar results to similar experiments that tested the effect of a particular genre of music, for example classical, and has proven that music does have an effect on memory.

PHOTOS OF EXPERIMENT

EXPERIMENTAL METHODAim:

To determine the effect of music on recollection and memory and to distinguish the most beneficial and most detrimental genres of music on memory and recollection.

Hypothesis:

My hypothesis is that music will have an overall beneficial result on memory compared to no music and that classical will be the most effective for increasing memory and recollection in comparison to the other genres.

Risk Assessment:

As discovered in the background research, hearing loss can occur when in close proximity to a volume greater than 85 decibels, and volume under 75 decibels is safe so all music being played will be kept at around 60 decibels, equivalent to that of a normal conversation. All equipment, including paper and pen, will be handled by one person as to reduce the chance of any accidents.

Method:

1. A word list was randomly selected and placed face down in front of the subject. On instruction, this was turned face up and a timer was started, the subject allowed one minute to memorise the words.

2. After one minute, the word list was removed and the subject sat for thirty seconds.

3. At the end of thirty seconds, another timer was started and the subject was instructed to recall as many words in writing on the provided paper.

4. After one minute, the paper was marked and the score calculated and recoded in a table. This was then repeated six more times, each time with a different genre of music being played in the background.

5. After the first subject completed all seven tests, this was repeated with five other subjects.

EXPERIMENTAL METHODVariables:

The independent variable was the genre of music being played for the duration of the memory test. This in turn affected the dependent variable which was the end score based on the length, amount and difficulty of the words that were remembered. The controlled variables included age; all subjects were 16 years old, gender; all subjects were male, musical training; all subjects have received at least basic, environment; every test was performed in the same area, with the same speakers at the same volume with same two minutes and thirty seconds of the same song for each genre.

Validity and Reliability:

To ensure the hypothesis was tested in a valid scientific manner, the test was only based upon the different types of music, as it was the independent variable and the only thing that changed. There was no tangent test performed on any similar ideas based around the differing genres, such as whether musically trained people are affected more than others when testing memory and recollection. To ensure the test was actually completed by myself and other subjects, photographs were taken before the tests began and at random intervals during the tests. Reliability was ensured by the multiple subjects performing the tests with the same exact sections of song for each genre. The words on the word list were randomised and the word lists were randomised and all added up to a total score of 50, ensuring no genre had “easier” or “harder” word lists. All volumes were kept at the same level and the tests were undertaken in the same place for each subject.

TABLE

GRAPH

GRAPH

CONCLUSIONGenres ranked in order of highest average score

1. Classical (45.83)

2. Electronic (39.33)

3. Rock (36.17)

4. Control/No Music (31.83)

5. Pop (31.5)

6. Rap (30.83)

7. Metal (28.5)

It is unclear from the data that whether music is beneficial to memory as half of the average scores with music are below that of the control and half of the average scores with music are above the score of the control test, meaning music is not necessarily beneficial as suggested in the hypothesis, however classical music is the most beneficial as was predicted in the hypothesis.

REFLECTIONThis experiment was not overly difficult, as it could be managed by myself holding a timer and turning on music through an IPod, however it was extremely time consuming, even with the relatively small sample size of subjects that I had. Each test took two and a half minutes to do by itself, the word list had to be chosen randomly beforehand for each test and the score had to be manually calculated after each test, meaning one person doing one test as their control, for example, took closer to five minutes and this had to be done seven times for six people. A better way to do this if the experiment were to be repeated would be have multiple tests going on at the same time, meaning you could test a larger group in the same amount of time, depending on how many of tests you were capable of running simultaneously. Another improvement would be a larger group of subjects, not only to make the average score more accurate and get a better result of what genre of music is most beneficial for memory, but also to reduce the difference in people with better memories than others. From my experiment, it is quite clear that some people, particularly subject 5 and 6 had far better memory than the others, both of them scoring perfect 50 out of 50’s in one genre each and this affected the averages.

DISCUSSIONFrom the data, some very interesting relations can be made about listening to music in real world situation. The situation I was trying to simulate the most with this experiment was of a student listening to music while studying, an activity that involves the memory and recollection ability greatly. As the research I conducted suggested, Classical music, particularly Mozart, was the most effective at helping the memory, however this is most likely not the type of music a high school student would be listening to, and so it is a good thing that Rock and Electronic music are more beneficial than no music, as these two are very popular genres. On the other hand, however, Pop and Rap are on the lower end of the scale along with Metal and are actually detrimental to memory, meaning a lot of students will be listening to music that is not good for their memory.

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