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The effects of music on short term and long term memory
Music helps students to study in class and at home
Effect of music in learning
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Konantz's research in 2012 investigated the effect of music on the memory by testing 40 university students in two conditions; music or silence. The participants had to memorise the words in one of the test conditions and were either given music to listen to or in silence to recall and write as many words as they could remember.
The results suggested that music had a negative effect on memory as participants who listened to music had a lower mean result of 10 than the participants who were in silence that scored an average of 18 (Konantz, 2012). This suggests that music has a negative impact on memory and the ability to recall words from a set list.
From this research I have planned to undertake my own research on the vast effect that music
According to Laurence O’Donnell, “Music is thought to link all of the emotional, spiritual, and physical elements of the universe.” This proves that music is more than a simple class teaching random notes. It is a common denominator between mind, body, and learning. One scholar shows that music causes a response that can affect a person’s mood; this is directly related to how a person acts upon their emotional response to music. He later talks about how music can have a positive effect on memorization and brain function (O’Donnell). The Center for New Discoveries in Learning stated, “Learning potential can be increased a minimum of five times by using 60 beats per minute music” (qtd. in O’Donnell). Most of the music that follows these types of beats is classical music such a Mozart and Bach. This is the type of music taught in schools, thus, enhancing a student’s ability to learn.
If one were to look back into the world’s history, one would find that an important and consistent element is the world of music. Music has presented itself in various forms throughout its spread and through our identification of its magical realm, people have been fortunate enough to come across a means of relation. Whether it is blues and reggae or rap and pop rock, there is music out there for everyone. Music can serve as a stabilizer for some, a relaxant to others, and to many a form of inspiration.
Simmons-Stern, (2010). Music as a memory enhancer in patients with alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia, 48(10), 3164-3167. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.04.033
The average brain contains two percent phone numbers, three percent names, five percent knowledge gained in school, and ninety percent song lyrics (source 1). Through music, numerous positive benefits can influence and enhance the effectiveness of a child in and out of school. The most essential benefits that are enhanced, are work ethic, motivation, relaxation, sleep patterns and concentration. A study conducted by the University of California at Irvine in 1993 and again in 1995 was to study the effects of listening to Mozart for ten minutes before taking a test. The results from this study were the students who listened to music before their exams had dramatically improved their scores compared to students who did not participate in heeding to the music
Music produces both emotional and physical responses (Clair & Memmott, 2008). It aids and improves social interaction, and provides effective communication and emotional expression. Music stimulates associations and triggers reminiscence. When experiencing recent inactivity, discomfort, and changes in
The memory systems include: episodic, procedural, semantic memory, classical conditions, priming and non-associative learning (Henke, 2010). All memory systems are independent of each other and are controlled by different regions of the brain (Henke, 2010). It’s very probable that memory systems did not evolve for the purpose of memorizing everything (Nairne, 2010). If all the information ever presented is stored, there could be storage problems (Nairne, 2010). To avoid this, selectivity of memory is required and memory systems can respond to specific fitness-related information that it receives due to the incorporated biases of the various types of memory (Nairne, 2010). This literature review will focus on investigating the mechanism behind procedural memory and examining the effects of music on human
The first thing that music influences is a little thing called “brain fitness.” Your brain, like other parts of your body can be strengthened and manipulated. Have you ever concentrated while working really hard on a puzzle and felt that your problem solving skills had improved? Solving a puzzle is one example of a brain exercise. There are various other exercises you can do. For instance, memory games, solving math problems, or solving various other problems that cause you to have to think outside of the box. But did you know that having musical instruction could also exercise parts of the brain just like a problem solving activity would? Music training can help increase your working memory as well as auditory learning. (Strickland). Music training can help flex a high-working memory load. It helps expand your working memory capacity, and therefore reduces impairing effects of a memory overload (Klemm). An experiment done with second graders from an elementary school showed proof of this. Group A received musical training, while Group B did not. They then were asked to take a quiz. Group A had shown a shift in mental processing to the l...
The idea of the Mozart effect began in 1993 with a study conducted by Rauscher, Shaw & Ky. This study involved 36 university students taking three different IQ spatial reasoning tasks and for each test used either Mozart’s sonata for two pianos in D major and relaxation music was played, silence was also used. The results of this experiment showed that students who had listened to the music of Mozart had better results for the spacial reasoning tests in comparison to silence or relaxation music. The results also showed that the impact of Mozart’s music was only temporary and only lasted for 10-15 minutes. Overall this study was very basic and had numerous flaws such as the sample size and also the variety of tests used to look at the impact of music (Rauscher, Shaw & Ky, 1993). In 1997 Don Campbell’s book The Mozart effect popularised the claim that music makes children smarter. This book created a public interest in music and brain development. The book uses Rauscher’s experiment as an example of what Mozart’s music can do which in this experiment shows a temporary increase in spatial reasoning, this however was misinterpreted by the public as an increase in IQ. The popularisation of the...
Siegfried, T. "Many Curious Scientists Have Music on Their Minds.” Science News 14 Aug. 2010: Research Library, ProQuest. Web. 12 Apr. 2011.
Music helps people remember things like our mother’s voice when she sang you to sleep when we were children. Music takes us back to when we were a little kid. We can hear a song on the radio and it will make us think about that happy moment. Music has a big impact on our memories. (Lyon, Suzanne)
Music has been psychologically tested many times to determine whether or not it is a positive influence on memory. The Mozart effect has become a very popular theory, in which the belief that listening to Mozart’s classical music can improve one’s memory. This well known theory has become very influential, people are listening to Mozart while they study for tests and parents are even purchasing videos for their babies that supposedly use Mozart’s music to improve their child’s metal abilities at an early age. If calming Mozart symphonies can improve cognitive memory then does distracting more upbeat music harm the abilities of the brain to record information? Unpleasant music does effect the outcome of people’s scores on cognitive tasks, compared to people listening to pleasant music, like Mozart, who tend to do much better (Hallam, Price & Katsorou, 2002). The world’s fascination with Mozart and his music’s supposed ability to enrich people’s learning abilities is incredible, if it can ever truly be proven.
It can be proven, through literary research and personal experiences, that music has a positive effect on learning and memory. It can be concluded that these positive effects have an impact on patients with Alzheimer’s, on the motor skills and auditory memory of mentally disabled children, on students attempting to remember the subject in a manner that they are learning, and on the affectivity of advertisements. On a personal note, music has facilitated my ability to remember things, both positive and negative, a number of times. For example, in high school I memorized the days of the week in French by singing them along with a tune that was already familiar to me. I have also had multiple experiences in which I remember things that I do not want to remember, such as advertisements and negative experiences because they were accompanied with specific music.
"Music Influence On Society." SocialPC - Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy etc. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .
Cooper, Belle. " How Music Affects and Benefits Your Brain."lifehacker.come. N.p., 11 22 2013. Web. 3
Music is can be a very complicated and delightful at the same time. Music affects our bodies in several ways when engaging with it. The complicated and delightful apparatus we call music affect people physically, psychologically, and is great with healing emotional affliction, strengthens emotions, and is known to cure illness. Music also plays an influential role in the socialization of teenagers. Mainstream music is available practically everywhere. It is conveniently accessible over the internet, radio, individual recordings and other forms of technology