Effects of Popular Music on Memorization Tasks
Location
CSU
Student's Major
Psychology
Student's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mentor's Name
Edison Perdomo
Mentor's Department
Psychology
Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Second Mentor's Name
Rosemary Krawczyk
Second Mentor's Department
Psychology
Second Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Description
This study investigates the effects of popular music on memory performance. Studying and memory recall are adversely affected by the presence or absence of popular music. One hundred twenty introductory psychology students participated in the study. Subjects were given a list of fifty words to study in 61/2 minutes, with music either being present or absent. This was termed the learning stage. In this study, there were four conditions that were tested. In all four 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 studied the words, they were again given 61/2 minutes to recall the words either with music or without. This period was called the recall stage. Findings from this study suggest that students who study while listening to popular music, as many students do, will do poorly on memory performance tasks.
Effects of Popular Music on Memorization Tasks
CSU
This study investigates the effects of popular music on memory performance. Studying and memory recall are adversely affected by the presence or absence of popular music. One hundred twenty introductory psychology students participated in the study. Subjects were given a list of fifty words to study in 61/2 minutes, with music either being present or absent. This was termed the learning stage. In this study, there were four conditions that were tested. In all four 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 studied the words, they were again given 61/2 minutes to recall the words either with music or without. This period was called the recall stage. Findings from this study suggest that students who study while listening to popular music, as many students do, will do poorly on memory performance tasks.
