Psychology Commons^™

Music’S Influence On Focus And Concentration: A Puzzle-Solving Task Study, Daniyal Kheradmand, Alison Sloat

Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal

This research investigates the effect of preferred music on enhancing focus and concentration during puzzle-solving tasks. Conducted with a diverse group of 50 participants at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the study examined the influence of individual musical preferences on cognitive performance. Participants were tasked with solving puzzles under two conditions: listening to their favorite music and in silence. The findings reveal that 68% of the participants demonstrated improved performance in puzzle-solving when listening to music they preferred. This suggests a significant positive correlation between preferred music and enhanced cognitive task performance. The study contributes to the understanding of …

Hearing Productivity: Music And Productivity Study, Sydney Beins

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The current study explored the research question which music genre increases one’s productivity the most? Methods: Data was collected from 45 participants from social media (Reddit, Instagram, Twitter) and the Lindenwood Participant Pool. An online Qualtrics survey was created to test participants productivity through typing tasks and a few demographic questions were asked at the end. Participants were asked to type as many nonsense words as they could in a minute while having one of the four music genres: R&B, classical, Latin, and rap playing in the background. The task was completed four times so all participants were exposed to …

Okay! (The Asd Band Film), Michele M. Desmarais

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of OKAY! (The ASD Band Film) (2022) directed by Mark Bone.

The Minor Fall, The Major Lift? College Students Do Not Report Listening To Mood-Congruent Music, Hannah N. Leonhardt, James Bunde, Andrew Beer

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

Music has become an integral part of daily life in Western culture. Individuals use music for various purposes including emotion regulation, and each individual has different tendencies and preferences for how they use music. Previous research indicates that people are likely to listen to mood-congruent music and that personality characteristics--specifically those of the Big 5 personality inventory-- may predict music preference and how people choose to use music for emotion regulation.

To further address these questions, we assessed personality and music usage in a sample of undergraduate students. We predicted that affect-related traits like Neuroticism and Extraversion would predict both …

How Music And Art Affect Compassion And Perspective Taking: A Collaboration Between Ucf Restores And Opera Orlando, Kathryn Sunderman

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

The ability of music and art to impact emotions and behavior is well understood based on studies conducted in a laboratory. However, research in a laboratory setting does not always generalize well to a natural environment. In this pilot study, we investigated how attending an opera that portrayed a wartime Christmas truce affected the audience’s levels of empathic concern and perspective-taking. Paired samples t-tests were conducted on data from 63 adult participants (M = 52.17 years). The results indicated that attendance at this operatic performance positively changed both empathic concern and perspective-taking, suggesting that even in a naturalistic setting, music …

And The Stars Look Very Different Today, Amy Rogin

The STEAM Journal

A personal reflection about synesthesia

1990s Grunge And Its Effect On Adolescents, Bailey Gomes

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Music Therapy On Individuals Suffering From Psychiatric Disorders: A Literature Review And Look Into Future Prospects, Zachary J. Krauss

Musical Offerings

Music therapy is a field of psychology and psychotherapy that exists under the broad field of study known as expressive arts therapy. This form of therapy is experiential in nature, and it gives participants vehicles through which they can tell their stories and share their emotions while actively exploring their thoughts. Music therapy has proven to be an effective treatment for a myriad of psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and schizophrenia. In order to grant a base level of understanding, research was conducted examining the methods and approaches used in music therapy, along with the psychological and …

Perceived Differences In Pitch By Musicians And Non-Musicians, Kristine Garrett

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This experiment was conducted to analyze pitch perception in musicians and non-musicians. Previous researchers found that musicians had better pitch perception than non-musicians. Furthermore, violinists were found to perform best on pitch perception tests, whereas pianists and percussionists did not perform as well. Among non-musicians, music listening has been reported to affect the frequencies people are able to hear. Based on these findings, I tested three hypotheses: (1) Musicians will be able to detect small changes in frequency more accurately than non-musicians, (2) Classical musicians who play self-tunable instruments will outperform other musicians and singers, and (3) In non-musicians, the …

Individualized Music Improves Social Interaction Of Women, But Not Men, With Dementia, Emily Farrer, Diana Hilycord

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Dementia is tragic both for patients with the disease and for their family members. As this neurodegenerative disorder progresses, cognitive functions deteriorate, agitation and aggression increase, and mood worsens (McDermott, Orrell, et al., 2014; Spiro, 2010; Vasionyté & Madison, 2013). Non-pharmacological approaches, such as active music therapy or passive music listening, can be effective in reducing these symptoms. However, no past studies have examined how music listening affects the social interactions of patients with dementia. As such, this study examined whether nursing home residents with dementia are more engaged and interactive if they listen to individually selected music for 15 …

The Doctrine Of Affections: Where Art Meets Reason, Sharri K. Hall

Musical Offerings

The Doctrine of Affections was a widespread understanding of music and musicality during the Baroque era. The Doctrine was a result of the philosophy of reason and science as it coincides with music. It aimed to reconcile what man knew about science and the human body, and what man thought he knew about music. It was a reconciliation of practical musicianship and theoretical music which had begun to rise in the time. Though it is generally understood as being apart from Enlightenment thinking, the Doctrine is a result of Enlightenment-style philosophy. As the Enlightenment sought to explain why things occurred …

Does Lyrical Music Affect Cognitive Performance?, Andrew Stone

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Many students listen to music while studying or doing homework, and many are looking for ways to maximize this time. Students at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO were asked to take two different basic math tests. One was taken with normal, lyrical songs playing in the background. The other was taken with the instrumental versions of these same songs playing in the background. I hypothesized that students would take longer to complete the test with the lyrical music in the background than with the instrumental music playing. The results showed no significant difference in the completion times between those …

Music’S Effects On Memory, Madyson Carroll

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Many people believe that studying while background music is present enhances their eligibility to remember the criteria better. The effects of music on memory was examined through the completion of a memory card game. Young adults were asked to take part in this task twice. One game included background music, while the other did not include background music. Throughout each game, the amount of time it took the participant to complete the game in seconds, was measured. I hypothesized that the inclusion of background music will have a positive influence on one’s performance when completing a memory card game. However, …

Effects Of Music On Stress And Mindfulness, Brittany Mckenzie

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The possible differential effects that Zen and electronic dance music (EDM) have on stress and mindfulness were analyzed. The purpose of this study is to understand if certain factors of music are more influential on stress levels and mindfulness scores. Factors of music that were analyzed include different genres and the tempo or pace of these music genres. Fifty-six adult participants ages 17-79 completed an online survey. The online survey had participants complete a mental rotation task then rate their perceived state stress levels and mindfulness scores for baseline measures. Participants listened to either a 3 min. audio file of …

Effects Of Music On Puzzle And Math Problem Solving, Roberta Kerosevic

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose of this project is to see how different music genres affect performance on word searches and multiplication problems. The present study consists of four 10 min rounds; each round including a genre of instrumental music: classical, heavy metal, or pop, and silence. Students did four different word searches and four different 100-problem multiplication worksheets; one word search and one multiplication worksheet per round. Lastly, a survey about their daily music use and opinions of the experiment’s music, will take 5-10 min. The results of this study were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA to compare the students’ performances on …

Effects Of Music On Puzzle Solving, Roberta Kerosevic

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose of this study was to see how listening to different genres of music affects performance on puzzle solving, particularly word searches. Students completed puzzles of equal difficulty and under different genres of music and the absence of music. The three genres of music were instrumental and included classical, heavy metal, and pop music. There was also a round where no music was played. Students had four rounds to do four different word searches; each round consisted of a different word search topic and was given to each person in a different order. During each round, all participants listened …

Modulation Of Behavior In Communicating Emotion, Martin Gardiner

Animal Sentience

King discusses many examples where two animals, as they bond, behave in ways we interpret as expressing love for one another. If one of the bonded animals then dies, signs of loving are replaced by signs we interpret as expressing grief by the animal who remains. I propose a pathway for emotional communication between an animal and an observer that can have a central role in these and other observations by King and in our overall ability to interpret observed behavior in relation to emotion. This pathway provides evidence of emotion in an observed animal by communicating evidence of emotion’s …

Musical Creativity And Mindfulness Meditation: Can The Practice Of Mindfulness Meditation Enhance Perceived Musical Creativity?, John Z. Newton

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The relationship between musical creativity and mindfulness meditation is explored through a qualitative study of three composers’ individual experiences of musical creativity and participation in eight guided mindfulness meditation sessions. Through qualitative interviews conducted before and after completion of a mindfulness course, data was analyzed and categorized into themes in order to identify whether the practice of mindfulness meditation had enhanced participants’ perceived musical creativity. Themes from the first set of interviews (Expression, Harmony, Intuition) represent the participants’ subjective experience of musical creativity, while themes from the second set (Enhanced focus and awareness, Nonstriving) outline subjective changes reported by each …

Effects Of Popular Music On Memorization Tasks, Kristin Sandberg, Sarah Harmon

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

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 …

Unforgettable: The Relationship Between Music And Memory, Samantha Beedy

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

For generations, college students have claimed that listening to music helps them to study better. But does research support this idea? Past research on the subject has yielded mixed results. Some studies suggest that music helps enhance cognitive performance, some find no difference, and some studies find that music hinders cognitive performance. The present study explored the relationship between soft background music and working memory. Participants were given lists of words to memorize and recall on a blank sheet of paper. Each participant completed two memorization and recall trials, one with music and one without. Participant’s recall performance was compared. …

The Effects Of Music On Concentration, Logan Rizzo

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This study covered the origins of music and discussed the various implementations of music into our everyday society. We still do not quite understand how one comes to have a preference for music, although through research we have made some really good estimates regarding how one chooses a favorite. Researchers have proposed the ideas that music preference is chosen based on context as well as overall mood of the listener, but suggest maybe there is a more in depth reason. Using the idea of musical preference, we have studied performance on a variety of tasks including, but not limited to; …

The Effect Of Music Preference On Complex Task Performance, Jordan Mcdonald

Global Tides

This study examined the relationship between music preference and extraversion on complex task performance in a sample of 34 college students from a small, Christian, liberal arts university. Separated into two groups of high and low extraversion, these 34 participants were invited to participate in the experimental phase of the study. For the experimental phase, each participant experienced three different music conditions (Preferred, Preset, and Silence) while performing a complex reading comprehension task. The results revealed a significant interaction effect between level of extraversion and music condition. Individuals with higher levels of extraversion performed marginally significantly better listening to preferred …

The Possible Effects Silence And Music Listening Have On Memory, Allisha Rounds

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

College students often can be seen listening to music while studying in the library and around campus. Previous research indicates that some instrumental music can be beneficial to a person’s ability to recall information such as words, while lyrical music can have the opposite effect. Further studies have shown students do poorly on reading comprehension tests when listening to popular music than if they were sitting in silence. The current research aimed to look at music listening compared to memorization abilities. Thirty participants from the Lindenwood Participant Pool were asked to memorize two short passages. One passage was given in …

The Power Of The Beat Impacting Human Emotion, Kelsey Anderson, Mandy Dion

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The main objective of this study was to examine the effects that music would have on emotions when a song has lyrics and when it does not. It was hypothesized that if a song is played without lyrics then it will invoke a different emotion than if the exact same song with lyrics were played. There were a total of 70 participants who were recruited from the Human Subject Pool. After retrieving the data and observing the results, there was a correlation between emotions and songs played with lyrics and there was a different correlation of emotions with the songs …

The Power Of Music, Michelle Bella, Tijana Redzepovic, Kandice Schroeder

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Music can influence one’s mood and alter one’s concentration, either in a positive way or a negative way. Such as classical music tends to soothe and focus one’s mood where as techno seems to excite and distract one’s mood. The main objective of this experiment is to determine whether one’s memory is more efficient and improves when presented with classical music rather than techno while studying a list of words. In this study, 30 participants performed a series of memory test while listening to classical, techno and no music at all. Although, music did not seem to affect performance on …

Effects Of Music On Emotional And Physiological Responses, Jenifer Fritz

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Past research has suggested that music with fast tempos and rhythms have different physiological and emotional effects than music with slow tempos and rhythms. If these beliefs and studies are accurate, an individual will have physiological changes and report different emotions and moods after listening to music, and these changes will depend on the style of music that was heard. Twenty-nine participants were asked to report current emotions, moods, and musical preferences before and after listening to one of four musical selections: rock, rap, classical, and no music. Emotion and mood state were not affected by any of the musical …

The Effects Of Music On Concentration, Jennifer Ip

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

People have long speculated the effects of music on learning. According to the Mozart effect, classical music has a positive effect on learning. Researchers have found that other genres of music, as well as silence, can actually act as distracters rather than stimulators. In the present study, 32 participants were tested under four different conditions. The participants were required to read an excerpt and then answer questions about the excerpt. For three of the excerpts, the participant was required to read and then answer questions while listening to music, while the fourth reading comprehension task was completed in silence. Results …

Trends. Red Blues: The Psychology Of National Anthems, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the political and psychological aspects of music using the Russian national anthem as an example.

Sex, Drugs, And Rock And Roll: Does Science Matter?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the subverted perspective that science has further human knowledge.