Music Enhances Concentration Necessary for Studying
Nana Y. Jukwakyi Agovi
Cardinal Stritch University Music Enhances Concentration Necessary for Studying
Music is known to be food to the soul. Many studies have investigated the effects of music on attention needed for studying. A great deal of studies conducted was to investigate the effects of music, most specifically the Mozart Piece, on the enhancement of intelligence. Music produce soothing effects on the mind, it increases focus when studying or produces a great deal of concentration required for a task.
Music is utilized to block out external noise and create a background noise beneficial for the task. Negative effects of music are it could be distracting when studying and the words in music piece interfere with concentration: this is known as the dichotomous effect. Jones et al (2006) run a study that investigated the Mozart Effect in terms of Arousal, Preference, and Spatial Performance. They found out their results indicated a positive effect of listening to Mozart. Cˇrncˇec et al (2006) proposes that though background classroom music cannot be reliably shown to enhance children’s cognitive and academic performance, it nonetheless appears to be effective in focusing children and reducing arousal in special education settings. The hypothesis was that there would be an increased observable positive effect of music on studying. The rationale for this hypothesis is that some students prefer music to study whilst others do not. Research shows the Mozart effect to increase spatial ability hence does music enhance or deter with the attention needed for studying?
Method
Participants
Participants comprised of eight people, which was one male and seven females. Participants’ ages ranged from 19 to 24 years and were Cardinal Stritch University students. Participants were treated in accordance with the ethical guidelines published by the