Effect of Music on Cognitive Performance in Different Contexts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58445/rars.1051Keywords:
Behavioral and Social Sciences, Cognitive Psychology, Music, Cognitive PerformanceAbstract
Music is a large part of people’s lives, regardless of different sociodemographics or cultural backgrounds. People listen to music in varied contexts, from when one’s attention is focused solely on the music (eg. during a concert) to performing other tasks (e.g., completing homework or scrolling through social media) to moments of inaction or while engaged in difficult tasks. Despite the prevalent use of music in our current world, the cognitive effects of listening to music in different contexts are not well understood and warrant further investigation. This paper examines two theories that provide possible explanations for the varying effects of music (i.e., distraction-conflict theory and mood-arousal hypothesis) and discusses how different elements of music (i.e., monotony and repetition, tempo and valence, and the presence of lyrics), personal characteristics (i.e., introversion, extroversion, sex, age, and musical training), and clinical symptoms (i.e., neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders) can either provide beneficial or detrimental effects. Findings in this body of research support the distraction-conflict theory and the mood-arousal hypothesis, where the combined effects of fulfilling simple tasks and listening to high arousal, positive valence music result in enhanced performance. This paper endorses the necessity to understand the relative effects of music based on different conditions.
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