Music and Study Effectiveness
We know that music can alter your mood. Films have been using musical scores for years to create the right mood for a scene. At times you hardly notice the music at all but you are very receptive to the mood being conveyed. So can we use music to put us in a "productive" mood? The issue whether the use of music while studying is good or not is inconclusive despite of so many and researches about the effect of music while people are studying. Perhaps this is because our learning capabilities are varied: some are auditory learners, while others are visual or spatial learners and so, the impacts of music to us are likewise different.
Approximating several recent studies results, for about 20 percent of students, music seems to be annoyance and they do better in a quite home environment. For these students, the music stays in their head and becomes highly distracting. For the remaining 80 percent, the answer seems to be yes, it can be helpful.
Somehow similar overly positive results were obtained at the workplace trial when 75 out of 256 workers at a large retail company were issued with personal stereos to wear at work. Results after four weeks experiment have showed a 10% increase in productivity for the headphone wearers versus non listeners. Other similar research conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois found a 6.3% increase when compared with the no music control group.
How music helps to learn?
Music activates both sides of the brain. It elicits emotional responses, regulates attentional states, and stimulates the limbic system. The limbic system and the subcortial region of the brain are involved in engaging musical and emotional responses. More important, several researches uncovered the role of the brains hippocampus in long-term memory. This means that when information is imbued with music, there is a greater likehood that the brain will encode it into long-term memory.
Ways to listen music
If you are going to listen to music, while study, there are two ways to go. One is to use music that you like such as a local radio station or your favorite CDs. �The value in this is simple: Music you like keeps you awake. Keeps your spirits up, and help the time go by faster. If you can perceive this audio background in general, while blocking the words of the composition out of your head you just like the rhythm and beat, that might be a good way to go.
The second method is to use music as background sound. However, because most music is composed to be listened to, the trick is to find music that does not "hook in" your mind and invite you to pay close attention to it. In other words, the best background music is highly predictable. Its music that you know is there and it does some good, but it does not occupy your thoughts.
Which music is best?
If your goal is to increase your concentration then music which has a constant, easy beat and light melodies are recommended. These are said to be good for those trying to study as they help you structure your reading to aid focus and memorizing. Typically, it is nature sounds such as waterfalls, ocean waves, or the rain forest sounds or classic music like Baroque the works of Vivaldi, Bach and Handel or smooth jazz such as George Benson, David Sanborn, or Rick Braun.� Get CDs with an orchestra, not one or two instruments. You might create your own custom CD using only music in a major key and a faster pace andante, not adagio or largo.
Rock music can have a similar effect. According to a report in the journal Neuroscience of Behavior and Physiology, the Russian Academy of Sciences discovered that a persons ability to recognize visual images, including letters and numbers, is faster when either rock or classical music is playing in the background.
If you are aiming to be more productive through being more relaxed, then you may be interested to learn that research has shown that music with an upbeat rhythm can reduce stress hormone levels by as much as 41%.
The Mozart effect
Some of the most publicized studies into whether listening to music increases productivity have centered on what has been termed the "Mozart effect". The term got its name after a study showed that college students had performed better solving mathematical problems when listening to classical music.
Sources and Additional Information:
Eric Jensen 2003. Student Success Secrets pp.61-62.
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