TESTING THE EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE BRAIN Carson B Cary Academy

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1 TESTING THE EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE BRAIN Carson B Cary Academy ABSTRACT The purpose of this experiment was to test which genre had the most effect on the memory of the brain. It was hypothesized that the students would have greater results while listening to classical music because it would not pull the listener in and tempt them to sing along or move to the beat and those students who listened to rap would have worse results because of the fast beat that pulls people to stomp to the beat. The experiment is conducted by visiting a website called play.vg where the Concentration game will be played. Once arrived at the website begin plug in the headset into the USB port of the computer. Once ready, begin playing the music while the student begins the game. After the experiment was finished, it was concluded that Moonlight Sonata gave the best time taken to complete the game, 112 seconds. Battle Scars ended up having the worst time taken to complete the game, 118 seconds. Chillin It came in the middle taking 116 seconds. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this experiment was to figure out which genre of music had the most effect on the memory of the brain. The three genres of music that were being tested were country, rap, and classical. Both the rap and country and country songs had a fast beat but for the classical song that was chosen it had a slow steady beat. The website in which the game was on was a match two 6x6 grey grid. Moonlight Sonata was the longest song being 5 minutes and 28 seconds long. Chillin It was the shortest song being only 3 minutes 17 seconds. Battle Scars which wasn t the shortest or the longest song being 4 minutes 10 seconds. It was hypothesized that the students would have greater results while listening to classical musical. This was thought because it would not pull the listener in and tempt the student to sing along or move to the beat. It was also hypothesized that when the

2 students listened to rap music they would have worse results because of the fast beat that pulls people to stomp to the beat. Music is heard by the outer ear (or pinna) 'catches' and amplifies sound by funneling it into the ear canal. Interestingly, the outer ear serves only to boost high frequency sound components. The resonance provided by the outer ear also serves in amplifying a higher range of frequencies corresponding to the top octave of the piano key board. The air pressure wave travels through the ear canal to ultimately reach and vibrate the timpanic membrane or, the eardrum. At this particular juncture, the pressure wave energy of sound is translated into mechanical energy via the middle ear. Here, three small bones, the ossicles, vibrate in succession to produce a unique pattern of movements that embodies the frequencies contained in every sound humans are capable of hearing. The middle ear is also an important component in what music humans actually keep out of the 'head'. The muscles grasping the ossicles can contract to prevent as much as two thirds of the sound from entering the inner ear. Without learning and memory, humans lose the capacity to acquire new facts, faces, and places. Individuals with dysfunctional learning and memory are by all accounts, frozen in time, starting each day with no recollection of any activities or experiences. One fundamental tenet of neuroscience is that the ability to store and recall, the memory of a new experience to shape behavior is a direct reflection of brain function. The brain is an organ designed to learn and remember. The nervous system is composed of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system includes the brain and spinal cord, is responsible for coordinating the body's adjustments and reactions to both external and internal conditions. The peripheral nervous system consists of all the nerves that connect the central nervous system with the rest of the body, the organs, sense organs, muscles, blood vessels, and glands. It's also responsible for keeping the central nervous system informed about the environment, a function it performs through the senses, as well as relaying motor commands from the central nervous system to the muscle. The functional unit of the nervous system is the neuron. Neurons vary in their shape and

3 size; however, the unifying characteristic of all neurons, whether they come from the central nervous system or the peripheral nervous system is their ability to send and receive information. A distant memory can be triggered by even smells, sights or sounds. Iconic memory (visual stimuli) is commonly studied in humans and other primates, although haptic memory (touch) and echoic memory (hearing) are also evaluated. In iconic memory tests if one was permitted to responding to answer immediately after the presentation of visuals stimulus rather than being asked after more time passed. Short-term memory resides between ones sensory memory and long-term memory. Long-term memory unlike sensory and short-term memories is able to retain information over extended periods of time. Declarative memory is based on pairing a specific stimulus with a fact. Episodic memory requires where and when humans acquired the information. Procedural memory differs from declarative memories because they're not recalled consciously and are not easily forgotten. Memories are a collection of ones experiences and are an essential component of what makes one unique. A person's ability to recall information can be aided through the use of certain strategies. These strategies include priming, in which clues related to a stimulus help in the recall of the stimulus, and the use of mnemonic devices, which are tricks or shortcuts devised to make it easier to recall specific pieces of information. MATERIALS AND METHOD Computer Headphones A Computer Mouse The experiment is conducted by following this link: Concentration.html to arrive at the game concentration game of play.vg. Place the headphones onto the students head as well as plugging in the USB cord into the port on the computer. Proceed to the website above to arrive on the game page. When ready start playing the music through the headset while pressing the start game button to begin playing. Once completed the game turn off the music and record the time taken to complete the game.

4 The independent variable of this experiment was the different genres of music. The time it took to complete the game was the dependent variable, or what was being measured. The control of this experiment was the country song because country is the most popular genre of the three. Three controlled variables are the background noise, the sound the music was played at, and the headset the song was played through. A second experiment was preformed The experiment is conducted by first shuffling the deck of 52 cards and placing them in a stack in front of the tester. Plug in the headphones into the USB port on the side of the computer and place them on top of the testers head. Press start on the timer and begin playing the music as the student organizes the deck from ace to king. Once the task has been completed stop the timer and make sure the cards are in order. If the student was correct write down the time but if the student was incorrect resume the timer and have them fix their mistake. The independent variable or what was being compared in this experiment was the different genres of music. The time taken to complete the game was the dependent variable, or what was being measured. The control in this experiment very much like the other experiment was the country song because it was the most popular genre out of the three. Three controlled variables in this experiment were the surface the student organized the cards on, the area of space the student had to place their cards, and the volume the music was heard. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

5 Avaerage Time Taken (Seconds) Moonlight Sonata Chillin' It Battle Scars Song Figure 1: Average Time Taken To Complete the Game After the experiment was preformed Moonlight Sonata had the minimum time with 112 seconds or 1:52. Battle Scars had the maximum amount of time with 118 seconds or 1:58. Chillin It which came in the middle took 116 Seconds or 1:56 to complete the game. All of the averages ended up being around the same time, all averaging around seconds. It was observed that the student would flip over one kind of a card than flip over the same kind but forget where the first one was and had to spend time finding it. It was also observed that the student would sometimes give up trying to find the second pair and continue flipping through the cards. A second experiment was preformed

6 Average Time (Seconds) Moonlight Sonata Battle Scars Chillin' It Song Figure 2: Average Time Taken To Order Cards Ace to King After the experiment was preformed Moonlight Sonata had the fastest time, or minimum of 136 seconds. Chillin It, which had the maximum amount of time to complete ordering the cards, completed in 140 seconds. Battle Scars, the song that fell in between took 139 seconds to complete the card ordering. Very much like the last experiment they all ranged close to each other, all within seconds. When this experiment was occurring it was observed that the student sometimes created two piles for the same card forgetting they already had a pile for that card. It was also observed that the student would start singing along to all of the songs. CONLUSIONS The most interesting facts discovered were that all of the averages were around each other never averaging over 6 seconds from each other. Another interesting fact was that the hypothesis was correct in experiment one but not in experiment two. The hypothesis was confirmed in the first experiment but not in the second experiment which gave different results. In the first experiment the Moonlight Sonata gave the best results and Battle Scars gave the worst results just as the hypothesis stated. In the second experiment Moonlight Sonata gave the best results again but this time Chillin It

7 had the worst results. It was inferred that Moonlight Sonata gave the best results because during the experiment the student had no signs of showing emotion to the song. In both of the experiments it was inferred that the other two songs, Battle Scars and Chillin It gave worse results because the student showed signs of singing along and moving to the beat. This experiment could be improved by having each song heard at the same volume so the student can clearly hear each song the same way. Another way to improve this experiment is have the same environment features such as the same temperature and wind speed so the cards wouldn t be affected. A future experiment is to test whether different songs of the same genre give the same results. REFERENCES Cromie, William J. "How Your Brain Listens to Music." How Your Brain Listens to Music. N.p., 13 Nov Web. 11 Feb Hudmon, Andrew. Learning and Memory. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, Print.g "Power and Efficiency from Sound Systems." Power and Efficiency from Sound Systems. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb Sancar, Feyza. "Music and the Brain: Processing and Responding (A General Overview)."Music and the Brain: Processing and Responding (A General Overview). N.p., Web. 11 Feb