The Effect of Musical Complexity and Familiarity on Serial Recall

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Students study and do work in different ways. For example, some may prefer to practice flashcards, while another might prefer to create pneumonic devices. One common study aid is to listen to music. One would assume that music would act as a great distractor to the learning process, yet it continues to be a popular way to study. In fact, a common belief is that the music increases focus and eliminates distracting background sounds. However, music’s impact on memory, as opposed to attention and focus, is usually not considered. How does the background presence of auditory stimuli, specifically music, influence memory? One aspect of music that makes it unique is its immediate familiarity and ease to which it can be remembered and engaged with. How does one’s familiarity with the music impact their ability to study? Also how does the complexity of the music impact memory?

The negative effects of irrelevant auditory stimuli on short term memory have been well documented and observed (D. Jones, 1999). Even at very low levels, irrelevant background speech can result in a 30% performance loss during serial recall, where participants must recite a past list in the same order as presented initially (Tremblay & D. M. Jones, 1998) (Beaman & D. M. Jones, 1997). These effects occur even when study participants are specifically instructed to ignore the background audio as these sounds are not part of the experiment (W. J. Macken, Tremblay, Houghton, Nicholls, & D. M. Jones, 2003b) (Tremblay, Nicholls, Alford, & D. M. Jones, 2000c). Participants are often unaware of any affect the background sounds have on their recall ability (Beaman & D. M. Jones, 1997). This overall occurrence is called the “irrelevant sound effect.” ISE appears to occur s...

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...doi:10.1037/0096-1523.29.1.43

Perham, N., & Vizard, J. (2010). Can preference for background music mediate the irrelevant sound effect? Applied Cognitive Psychology, n/a.

Schlittmeier, S. J., Hellbrück, J., & Klatte, M. (2008). Does irrelevant music cause an irrelevant sound effect for auditory items? Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 20(2), 252.

Tremblay, S., & Jones, D. M. (1998). Role of habituation in the irrelevant sound effect: Evidence from the effects of token set size and rate of transition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24(3), 659-671. doi:doi:10.1037/0278-7393.24.3.659

Tremblay, S., Nicholls, A. P., Alford, D., & Jones, D. M. (2000c). The irrelevant sound effect: Does speech play a special role? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26(6), 1750-1754. doi:doi:10.1037/0278-7393.26.6.1750

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