Does listening to music enhance studying? (a scientific research)

First, let’s dispel some of the common myths you may have heard regarding music and studying, starting with the Mozart Effect. The Mozart Effect describes a brief 10–15-minute enhancement of spatial-temporal abilities in college students after listening to a Mozart piano sonata. More specifically, this improvement is restricted to a singular abstract mental rotation task, but in the 90’s this took hold as a scientific legend, with lay people convinced that listening to Mozart was going to make their kids more intelligent.

This finding was initially found by Rauscher and colleagues in 1993, but attempts to replicate these findings by other researchers have yielded mixed results. Pietschnig and colleagues in 2010 performed a meta-analysis, meaning they systematically analyzed dozens of studies on the Mozart effect to determine what the culmination of scientific literature had to say on the subject. Interestingly, they found that studies associated with certain labs, like the lab of Rauscher, were much more likely to report favorable results. Additionally, they demonstrated a confounding publication bias, therefore requiring a downward correction of the reported effects. So, their conclusion?

“On the whole, there is little evidence left for a specific, performance-enhancing Mozart effect.” It’s safe to say that the Mozart effect does not improve the intelligence of children, it does not improve academic achievement, and it does not even improve long term spatial skills. To determine if and when you should listen to music while you study, we first need to explore the relevant hypotheses. There are a few hypotheses that hinge on arousal states and its effect on performance. First, the arousal hypothesis states that music leads to an optimal level of arousal in the brain, thus improving performance on cognitive tasks. The mood hypothesis states that music you enjoy is more likely to put you in a positive mood, which ultimately improves arousal states, and therefore enhances performance on spatial tasks. Lastly, the preference hypothesis states that listening to music you prefer improves arousal, thus enhancing cognitive performance. Others have suggested a rhythm theory, whereby the rhythm of music activates the cerebellum and aids in spatial reasoning tasks.

However, none of these hypotheses are robust, each has significant deficiencies in explaining the scientific findings. Rather, we must take a more individualized approach to music and studying, as it appears that three factors are key in determining whether music is beneficial while studying: personality type, the type of work, and the type of music. Christopher and colleagues in 2017 hypothesized that differences in attention and working memory capacity would affect the degree to which music would influence performance.

They concluded that the higher an individual’s working memory capacity, the less likely they were to be affected by music, at least for reading comprehension. Dobbs and colleagues in 2011 found that music had a detrimental effect in performance on introverts, but less so for extraverts. This aligns with Eysenck’s theory of cortical arousal states, stating that extraverts are under-stimulated and desire more stimulation, whereas introverts are already overstimulated and therefore they avoid situations that further increase arousal. Anderson and Fuller in 2010 found an interesting tie with metacognition and music.

Metacognition is essentially thinking about thinking, and includes the ability to regulate one’s own mental processes and activity. Given the substantial evidence that music while studying is not optimal, they believe that those who choose to may have a deficiency in metacognition. They had students choose whether they wanted to study with music or silence, and they found that those who preferred to listen to music while they studied did markedly worse on a reading-comprehension assessment. There has been substantial evidence that the type of work is a key factor in determining whether or not music is appropriate. When it comes to reading comprehension, most studies have demonstrated that music has detrimental effects. Only one study reported that reading comprehension performance was unaffected by music. But when it comes to arithmetic, the results are quite mixed. A handful of studies demonstrate no negative effect, while a handful of others demonstrate a clear decline.

A few studies have demonstrated that vocal music is more distracting that instrumental music. The theory is that with vocals, your brain is multitasking by processing the voices while you are trying to study. Beyond that, there hasn’t been any convincing evidence stating that a certain genre, like classical music, is superior to any other type of music. And now, the moment that you’ve all been waiting for - should you study with music or in silence? As with most things in science, it depends. My advice is as follows: First, if you are going to study with music, be sure to choose music that lacks vocals. Vocals are going to be distracting and ultimately much more likely to have a detrimental effect on your studying. Beyond that, choose music you enjoy. Contrary to popular belief, there’s no evidence that classical music is superior for studying. Finding instrumental music, you enjoy is going to be the most important factor.

Second, experiment with different study scenarios. Unfortunately, the scientific literature is far from conclusive, so self-experimentation becomes very important. You’ll notice that some types of work are more conducive to music than others. This is supported by the changing state hypothesis, which suggests rapidly changing music will distract you from learning and ultimately decrease performance.

From examining the literature, it’s clear that music won’t make you magically perform better or learn faster. The question is finding which type of music is going to be the least distracting and least detrimental. Study after study has examined the effect of silence versus music while doing a variety of cognitive tasks. The issue, however, is that no study has examined the effects of music on prolonged study sessions. Use music as a boost or a pick-me-up when your momentum begins to drop.