The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
inquiriesjournal.com
The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
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Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
#2Discussed a bit in 2014: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8686072
Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
#3tl;dr: "participants performed better in silence than they did in any music conditions"
Personally, I cannot listen to music and work... I get too caught up in trying to follow the music. I end up just wearing my noise canceling headphones with no music playing and working in relative silence.
That said, I'm interested to know if folks here on HN can relate.
Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
#4tl;dr: "participants performed better in silence than they did in any music conditions" Personally, I cannot listen to music and work... I get too caught up in trying to follow the music. I end up just wearing my noise canceling headphones with no music playing and working in relative silence. That said, I'm interested to know if folks here on HN can relate.
Does all music distract you or just music with lyrics? Do you know music theory?
I'm only distracted by lyrics, but maybe I knew more about music, I'd be distracted by instrumentals.
Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
#5I use my earbuds to calm down sometimes but then after one song I stop the music and then I have silence.
I have started to just use earplugs but the cheap ones I have have less isolation than my earbuds so I generally use those.
Turning off the phone is a great way to not only accomplish the above but also to reduce distractions . Or just invest in good earplugs .
Headphones that do noise cancellation for some reason irritate me more than natural isolation (I guess that might be the fact that there is sound there I just can’t hear it?).
Or if you are lucky find a quiet room and use that.
Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
#6tl;dr: "participants performed better in silence than they did in any music conditions" Personally, I cannot listen to music and work... I get too caught up in trying to follow the music. I end up just wearing my noise canceling headphones with no music playing and working in relative silence. That said, I'm interested to know if folks here on HN can relate.
What about that ambient/"cognitive/aural beats" stuff on youtube? I've been trying that lately and it seems nice. No data to see if better or not, but definitely more relaxing.
I've also started just using earplugs which can also seem to be (subjectively) effective.
Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
#7tl;dr: "participants performed better in silence than they did in any music conditions" Personally, I cannot listen to music and work... I get too caught up in trying to follow the music. I end up just wearing my noise canceling headphones with no music playing and working in relative silence. That said, I'm interested to know if folks here on HN can relate.
What about that ambient/"cognitive/aural beats" stuff on youtube? I've been trying that lately and it seems nice. No data to see if better or not, but definitely more relaxing. I've also started just using earplugs which can also seem to be (subjectively) effective.
Link?
Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
#8As a music listener I will point out the obvious flaw in the study: the “choice” of music was from pop genres. I find music with distinguishable lyrics in a language I understand to be distracting while music with no lyrics, or lyrics indistinguishable from noise (cf Rammstein, Björk, Enya) are far less distracting.
I use music to mask open office noise including customer support personnel on phone calls, ops people discussing equipment failures, and political trolls discussing my preferred party.
Industrial, death metal, and recordings of rainfall all work just as well for me. Though in the case of rainfall I find about twenty minutes of the same sound is about my limit before I need more texture in my auditory diet. Silence just makes my ears ring louder until after a few minutes it is physically painful to not have some noise.
The issue of masking background conversations was not covered. I find that wearing isolating earphones, earmuffs, etc only serves to strain me further since I can still hear conversations but I have to listen harder to make out the words.
Perhaps I have some undiagnosed anxiety or paranoia but for me, isolation/silence does not work as well as masking.
Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
#9There should also be a comparison of type of cognitive task vs type of music.
Once I have the solution to a problem in my head, I do great writing code while listening to instrumental music with a lot of repetition (some progressive electronic fits this, but it is not the only style).
Under no circumstances I can listen to music with lyrics while performing any type of cognitive task.
Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)
#10I use my earbuds to calm down sometimes but then after one song I stop the music and then I have silence. I have started to just use earplugs but the cheap ones I have have less isolation than my earbuds so I generally use those. Turning off the phone is a great way to not only accomplish the above but also to reduce distractions . Or just invest in good earplugs . Headphones that do noise cancellation for some reaso…
Its important to find earplugs that fit correctly. My
favorites are Howard Leight Max, and many come in different sizes (regular or small).