It is very common to pass by a dorm room and hear someone listening to music while they study for their finals, but can listening to music while trying to concentrate on a specific task be more detrimental than helpful? Toledo University professor Stephen Christman analyzed the psychology of studying. The first thing he says is that the most basic factor of concentration is the arousal level of the person trying to study. While everyone is different and optimal arousal level can vary, it is a general rule of thumb that a low arousal level is key when trying to concentrate. Working out in between and even during study sessions can help lower or calm the person who is trying to concentrate having a positive effect.
While studying with zero distractions would be thought to be the best environment, it is thought that music can help resolve the issues between the two hemispheres of the brain. The left hemisphere is linked to concentration and the right hemisphere deals with complementary attention like when a phone rings. Music can help the right hemisphere not get bored while the left hemisphere studies the material. When it comes to the lyrics of a song, it is suggested that songs with no lyrics such as classical or instrumental music, are ideal during study sessions. This is because the region of the brain that is focusing on reading or solving a math problem is the same region that is listening to the lyrics and distracting you from the important task at hand.
Although the research suggests that classical music does increase concentration, other genres of music should not be neglected for everyone. Everyone is different and have different optimal levels of arousal, so it is important to also say that a persons state of mind or preference should also be factors of concentration.
Do you listen to music while studying? What music do you feel helps you study the best? For me I actually do enjoy listening to Mozart or Beethoven while studying, it does help me study and concentrate better than say AC-DC does.
The research that you are describing sounds almost exactly like my study habits. I find that I have a hard time concentrating on studying if I don't have something else going on. I tend to get bored, or feel like I am missing out on something, and therefore distract myself on the internet or by talking to others, or playing outside. I generally need some other type of stimulus to concentrate well on homework or studying. I can do relatively simple work with music that has lyrics, but that tends to be a bit too much for me. If I know the words to music, or even if I am too familiar with the tune of an instrumental song, I find myself wanting to sing along in my head (or out loud). To find a happy medium, I like to find classical or other instrumental music that I don't know too well yet (I have to rotate some of the songs out of my study playlist every once in a while). This allows me to almost trick my brain into thinking that I am doing something other than studying, but truly lets me concentrate on what I should be working on.
ReplyDeleteSome of my roommates do prefer to listen to their music (quietly) while working on homework. One actually listens to white noise. I can see how instrumental music is best because I know lyrics in music grab my attention more than the words on a page. That why I also can't watch TV while studying, although I still attempt to disprove this, hopelessly. Chatter is really my worst enemy when it comes to studying. Even in silence I can see my mind wandering so I just fight for attention and take small breaks.
ReplyDeleteWhat has helped sometimes is using a timer to allot a chunk of time to studying one subject, followed by a small break, and then allotted time for something else. The time pressure seems to help and organize my studying. Of course this can only take place in silence for me. I continue trying different music but eventually end up frustrated and wasting time.
I have, however, found a simple inharmonious noises tolerable to say the least. For example, the air conditioning, flowing water, and even the loud cooling system of water fountains seem to drown out others around me and help me focus. This may be helpful in the way white noise was to my roommate.
I actually have a very hard time focusing without listening to music or talking to someone. I have actually found that while driving I am a very dangerous driver if I am not because my mind tends to wander and I look and think about random things. Yet when I study or do homework I listen to the same songs on a certain playlist because it keeps me awake and focused.
ReplyDeleteThis was the perfect article to post during finals. Aalok-I'm with you, I can't focus on studying while I'm listening to music, but I tend to get bored/drowsy in complete silence. I like to keep a fan on for a slight background noise to drown out other distractions. I haven't tried listening to classical music during a study sessions, but it seems to be helpful for a lot of people. This is proven to be beneficial by the Mozart effect, which suggests that listening to Mozart "makes you smarter". Researchers have indicated that Mozart's music may induce the improvement of certain kinds of mental tasks. After hearing more and more people confirm this, I think I might have to try it out.
ReplyDeleteI find that music helps me concentrate as well however while trying to find a little more info on the subject I stumbled upon the following article-
ReplyDeletehttp://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2007/july/music.html
It has a video of a brain through MRI while listening to music interestingly enough it shows that the peak brain activity is during the period of rest in the music where there is no sound.