1st Student's Major
Psychology
1st Student's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Students' Professional Biography
Kristin Sandberg and Sarah Harmon are students in the Department of Psychology at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Mentor's Name
Rosemary Krawczyk
Mentor's Email Address
rosemary.krawczyk@mnsu.edu
Mentor's Department
Psychology
Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
This study investigated the effects that popular music has on memory performance. It was proposed that popular music would adversely affect both studying and memory recall. Forty introductory psychology students participated in the study. Subjects were given a list of fifty words to study in 6 ½ minutes, with music either being present or absent. This was termed the learning stage. In this study, four conditions were tested. In all 4 conditions, subjects were assigned to either a “music” pre-period or a “non-music” pre-period and a “music” post-period or a “non-music” post-period. After they had studied the words, subjects were given another 6 ½ minutes to recall the words either with or with out music present. This period was called the recall stage. The researchers hypothesized that music would have a detrimental effect on performance, these expected results were not found. Findings from this study suggested that students who study while listening to popular music performed at the same level as those without music present in either condition. Results indicated that women excelled in recall when the testing condition did not have music present in comparison to men.
Recommended Citation
Sandberg, Kristin and Harmon, Sarah
(2003)
"Effects of Popular Music on Memorization Tasks,"
Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato: Vol. 3, Article 6.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56816/2378-6949.1175
Available at:
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/jur/vol3/iss1/6
Creative Commons License
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