برای دهه ها، پژوهش نشان داده است که گوش کردن به موسیقی اضطراب و افسردگی را کاهش داده، حال و هوای درونی را بهبود داده، و عملکردهای شناختی، مانند آگاهی مکانی، را بالا می برد.

با این حال، تاکنون، پژوهش ها به این موضوع نپرداخته بود که ماچگونه به موسیقی گوش می دهیم.  برای نمونه، آیا اگر ما در حال انجام کاری، به جای قبل از آن، به موسیقی گوش دهیم، سودمندی های شناختی آن همان میزان خواهد بود ؟  به علاوه، ترجیح ما برای نوع های خاصی از موسیقی چگونه بر عملکرد ما تاثیر می گذارد؟

مطالعه جدیدی که در مجله علمی "اپلاید کاگنیتیو سایکالوژی" [روان شناسی شناختی کاربردی] انتشار یافت نشان می دهد که گوش کردن به موسیقی مورد علاقه فرد در حالی که او به کار یادآوردن زنجیره ای مشغول است تاثیری بیشتر از گوش کردن به موسیقی که فرد از آن لذت نمی برد ندارد.

[این مطالعه نشان داد که در عملکرد یادآوری زنجیره ای] ... قابلیت یادآوری [شرکت کنندگان] تقریبا یکسان بود، و ضعیف ترین، برای موسیقی و موقعیت های حالت های متغیر.  دقیق ترین یادآوری ها هنگامی رخ داد که شرکت کنندگان آن کار/وظیفه را در سکوت بیشتر، و محیط های با حالت یکنواخت انجام دادند.  بنابراین، گوش کردن به موسیقی، بدون توجه به آن که افراد به آن علاقمند بودند یا نبودند، در عملکرد همزمان آنها اختلال ایجاد کرد. ...

Background Music Can Impair Performance, Cites New Study

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Anxiety / Stress;  Depression
MNT | Article Date: 28 Jul 2010 - 2:00 PDT

For decades research has shown that listening to music alleviates anxiety and depression, enhances mood, and can increase cognitive functioning, such as spatial awareness. However, until now, research has not addressed how we listen to music. For instance, is the cognitive benefit still the same if we listen to music whilst performing a task, rather than before it? Further, how does our preference for a particular type of music affect performance? A new study from Applied Cognitive Psychology shows that listening to music that one likes whilst performing a serial recall task does not help performance any more than listening to music one does not enjoy.

The researchers explored the 'irrelevant sound effect' by requiring participants to perform serial recall (recall a list of 8 consonants in presentation order) in the presence of five sound environments: quiet, liked music (e.g., Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Stranglers, and Arcade Fire), disliked music (the track "Thrashers" by Death Angel), changing-state (a sequence of random digits such as "4, 7, 1, 6") and steady-state ("3, 3, 3"). Recall ability was approximately the same, and poorest, for the music and changing-state conditions. The most accurate recall occurred when participants performed the task in the quieter, steady-state environments. Thus listening to music, regardless of whether people liked or disliked it, impaired their concurrent performance.

Lead researcher Nick Perham explains: "The poorer performance of the music and changing-state sounds are due to the acoustical variation within those environments. This impairs the ability to recall the order of items, via rehearsal, within the presented list. Mental arithmetic also requires the ability to retain order information in the short-term via rehearsal, and may be similarly affected by their performance in the presence of changing-state, background environments."

Although music can have a very positive effect on our general mental health, music can, in the circumstances described, also have negative effects on cognitive performance. Perham remarks, "Most people listen to music at the same time as, rather than prior to performing a task. To reduce the negative effects of background music when recalling information in order one should either perform the task in quiet or only listen to music prior to performing the task."

Source: Wiley - Blackwell

For Some Tasks, Music Hinders Performance

By Rick Nauert PhD | [PsychCentral] Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on July 28, 2010

Emerging research presents new, and somewhat provocative, findings on how music can help or hinder performance.

For decades research has shown that listening to music alleviates anxiety and depression, enhances mood, and can increase cognitive functioning, such as spatial awareness.

However, until now, research has not addressed how we listen to music. For instance, is the cognitive benefit still the same if we listen to music while performing a task, rather than before it?

Further, how does our preference for a particular type of music affect performance?

The new study, found in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, shows that listening to music that one likes while performing a serial recall task does not help performance any more than listening to music one does not enjoy.

The researchers explored the ‘irrelevant sound effect’ by requiring participants to perform serial recall (recall a list of eight consonants in presentation order) in the presence of five sound environments: quiet, liked music (e.g., Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Stranglers, and Arcade Fire), disliked music (the track “Thrashers” by Death Angel), changing-state (a sequence of random digits such as “4, 7, 1, 6”) and steady-state (“3, 3, 3”).

Recall ability was approximately the same, and poorest, for the music and changing-state conditions.

The most accurate recall occurred when participants performed the task in the quieter, steady-state environments. Thus listening to music, regardless of whether people liked or disliked it, impaired their concurrent performance.

Lead researcher Nick Perham explains: “The poorer performance of the music and changing-state sounds are due to the acoustical variation within those environments. This impairs the ability to recall the order of items, via rehearsal, within the presented list. Mental arithmetic also requires the ability to retain order information in the short-term via rehearsal, and may be similarly affected by their performance in the presence of changing-state, background environments.”

Although music can have a very positive effect on our general mental health, music can, in the circumstances described, also have negative effects on cognitive performance.

Perham remarks, “Most people listen to music at the same time as, rather than prior to performing a task. To reduce the negative effects of background music when recalling information in order one should either perform the task in quiet or only listen to music prior to performing the task.”

Source: Wiley-Blackwell