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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)

#11

Post by nni »

aoeusnth1 wrote: post #7
nni wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

sorry -here's one I listened to yesterday

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh-dcCeR-r4&t=6856s

basically, I search for "cognitive enhancement music"- sometimes the "meditation" ones seem nice, too. I have an immediate relaxation response to this stuff, and it's pleasant.

Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)

#12

Post by qwerty456127 »

The problem with this paper is that it ignores ADHD. It can be very difficult or impossible to maintain concentration for periods of time longer than some minutes (or even seconds) for an ADHD person and certain kinds of music can help mitigate this problem in some cases.

BTW amphetamine works alike AFAIK: it induces hyperactivity and harms concentration in healthy people but calms ADHD people down and induces concentration and clarity on them.

Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)

#13

Post by wearesystems »

The big concern I have with students learning in a music enviroment is that the information they store will not be recalled in the same way when they can't listen to the same music, i.e. exams. I wonder how much state-dependent memory is affected on recall.

Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)

#14

Post by swimfar »

manicdee wrote: post #8

As 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…

I agree regarding music without lyrics. But I never thought of including incomprehensible lyrics in that group. Below is a selection of playlists that I listen to often while working. There are occasional lyrics or talking, but not too often. I also like that the music style has a bit of variation in it.

http://musicforprogramming.net/

Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)

#15

Post by WalterSear »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #12

The problem with this paper is that it ignores ADHD. It can be very difficult or impossible to maintain concentration for periods of time longer than some minutes (or even seconds) for an ADHD person and certain kinds of music can help mitigate this problem in some cases. BTW amphetamine works alike AFAIK: it induces hyperactivity and harms concentration in healthy people but calms ADHD people down and induces concen…

Amphetamines don't work like music.

Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)

#16

Post by metaobject »

manicdee wrote: post #8

As 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…

Here's one more data point:

I enjoy a full range of musical genres and I typically go in cycles. I'll go for a week or two on trance/progressive (A State of Trance Episodes 300-450). Then I might switch to technical death metal for a bit. Even though they typically sing in English, it turns out that the lyrical content of this type of music is hardly discernable. I also happen to enjoy a lot of punk and hardcore music. I find that if I already know the words to the music, then sometimes it's not as distracting as other lyrically-heavy genres.

Also, I'd suggest investing a pair of good over-the-ear headphones (if you can tolerate them) or at least a pair of good in-ear earphones. You might also consider an amplifier as well. With my iPod classic, an amp, and my Beyerdynamic DT-770s, the music sounds so damn good. The seal on my ears is so tight that I'm basically isolated from my environment.

Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)

#17

Post by anfilt »

manicdee wrote: post #8

As 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…

Actual like to listen to a foreign music for this reason. If I can't understand the lyrics it does not distract or I listen to a lot instrumental music. If there are lyrics I can understand I will focus on them.

Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)

#18

Post by tylerhou »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #12

The problem with this paper is that it ignores ADHD. It can be very difficult or impossible to maintain concentration for periods of time longer than some minutes (or even seconds) for an ADHD person and certain kinds of music can help mitigate this problem in some cases. BTW amphetamine works alike AFAIK: it induces hyperactivity and harms concentration in healthy people but calms ADHD people down and induces concen…

> The problem with this paper is that it ignores ADHD.

This isn't really a problem with the paper itself, per se. But probably a subset of the population which should be tested.

> certain kinds of music can help mitigate this problem in some cases.

Is this inferred/anecdotal evidence or rigorously tested? Many of my friends claim that music helps them concentrate, but (as this paper shows) it probably doesn't.

Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)

#19

Post by zeta0134 »

manicdee wrote: post #8

As 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…

Software Developer and... I guess I do this Linux Administration thing now? Anyway, I couldn't agree more. I can work in quiet, but more often than not I like to have music playing just to block everything out and focus on what I'm doing. It's immensely helpful in our open office floor plan, or even when I'm just at home and my roommates want to have a lively discussion or play some of their own music.

I don't think this is unusual at all; heck, my musical upbringing tends to mean that if there isn't music playing, my brain fills in the gap with one song on loop. Sometimes I need to switch the mental track, y'know?

Re: The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)

#20

Post by wildrhythms »

nni wrote: post #11
aoeusnth1 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Link?

sorry -here's one I listened to yesterday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh-dcCeR-r4&t=6856s basically, I search for "cognitive enhancement music"- sometimes the "meditation" ones seem nice, too. I have an immediate relaxation response to this stuff, and it's pleasant.

Sorry, for me this just comes off as a hamfisted cliche of "calm". I'm distracted by the constant modulations. Just not my thing, but it probably works great as a constant drone against unwanted noise.
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