The Effect of Different Genres of Music on One s Memory. Izzy Rubin October 27, 2013

Transcription

1 The Effect of Different Genres of Music on One s Memory Izzy Rubin October 27, 2013

2 Abstract: This experiment tested the question, What effect does the genre of music have on one s ability to memorize information? Twenty individuals were tested for this experiment. A subject was handed a sheet of paper for one minute with ten different vocabulary words on it, and was asked to remember as many words as they could. After this period of one minute was up, the piece of paper was taken away from the subject and the subject was asked to recite as many words as they could recall. The words were recorded, and the process was repeated while the subject listened to jazz music, then reggae music, and finally classical music. It was hypothesized that classical music would help the subject remember the most words, but after the results of the experiment were analyzed, this was not supported. Instead, the results showed that the subject remembered the greatest number of words, an average of 7.95 per person, while listening to no music at all. In contrast, subjects recalled the lowest number of words while listening to classical music, with an average of 7 words per person correctly remembered. Background Information: Memory is vital to one s life. Without it, no development, improvements, or achievements can occur as there is no way to access prior events. Memory refers to the way that one stores information, and later recalls it. The process of memory occurs in three main steps: encoding, storage, and retrieval. In order for one to store a memory of information or experiences, the brain must first encode it. Information entering the memory system from external inputs can be recorded in three main ways: visual, acoustic, and semantic. As a memory is encoded, it passes through the hippocampus, which is a part of the limbic system in the brain. Once the memory is encoded in the hippocampus, it must be stored, even if it is for a very short period of time. The storage of memory takes three different forms: first sensory, then short- term memory, and for some memories, long- term memory. The sensory stage lasts for merely a second. The memory is stored according to its scent, sound, sight, taste, or touch. This creates sensations, and after this first second, the sensations are passed to the short- term memory stage. Short- term memory has a limited capacity, and can only store an average of seven items at a time. Also, the short- term memory stores information for a quick duration of time, usually an average of 30 seconds to one minute. Short- term memory holds information for just the right amount of time to complete a task. For example, the short- term memory is utilized when reading a passage. A prior sentence is stored in the short- term memory for merely thirty seconds, the amount of time necessary to memorize it in order for the next sentence to make sense. Once information is stored for the short period of time, it can either be dismissed or passed to the long- term memory. The more information is repeated or used, the more likely that it will end up in long- term memory. The long- term memory is said to be able to hold infinite memories for an unlimited amount of time. Long- term memory is categorized into three different sections: procedural memory, including motor skills such as driving a car, declarative memory, used to remember facts, and episodic memory, the memory of events that have been gained through experiences. The final stage of memory is the retrieval step. This stage refers to the act of recalling the memories, and being able to accurately remember them. Music is categorized into different genres, based on the style of the song or artist. The three genres of music being tested in this experiment are classical, jazz, and reggae. Classical music is a traditional genre of music that is usually played by an orchestra, and does not usually contain vocals. Jazz music is genre of music originating in America. Jazz can be very upbeat and rhythmic, and is usually performed by a band. Reggae music first began

3 in Jamaica in the late 1960s and is derived from R&B music and ska, an early form of Jamaican music. Reggae music includes vocals, and is usually performed with several instruments, including guitars, drums, and basses. Studies show that aging, emotional and medical problems, and even one s diet can affect memory abilities. Some research has shown that music has a positive affect on one s ability to memorize. It has been documented that patients with Alzheimer disease that cannot recall what they had for breakfast, can sing the words to a song that they hadn t heard in decades, or can play a piano piece that they learned as a child. This indicates that music effects human memory differently than the spoken word does. Focus Question: What effect does the genre of music have on one s ability to memorize information? Hypothesis: If an individual is prompted to memorize a list of ten words, then they will be most accurate in memorizing these words while listening to classical music because this genre of music is most traditional and calm, and will provide less of a distraction. Materials: 20 people An ipod, phone, stereo, or device to play music on 1 classical song: 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky 1 jazz song: Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman 1 reggae song: Three Little Birds by Bob Marley 4 different sheets of paper, each with 10 different typed 2 syllable words on them 1 stop watch Headphones Procedure: 1. Gathered all materials. 2. Handed the subject an upside- down list of ten words. 3. Asked the subject to turn over the list of words and begin to memorize them. Started the stopwatch. 4. Took away the list of words once the stopwatch read one minute. 5. Waited thirty seconds. 6. Asked the subject to recite all the words that they remembered from the list in no specific order. 7. Recorded the number of words that the subject correctly remembered. 8. Allowed one minute to pass. 9. Handed the subject a pair of headphones and asked the subject to put one headphone in each ear. 10. Handed the subject a different upside- down sheet with ten words on it. 11. Began to play the jazz song and told the subject to turn over the list of words and begin to memorize them.

4 12. Stopped the song and took away the list of words once the stopwatch read one minute. 13. Waited thirty seconds. 14. Asked the subject to recite all the words that they remembered from the list in no specific order. 15. Recorded the number of words that the subject remembered correctly. 16. Allowed one minute to pass. 17. Repeated steps twice. Once while the subject listened to reggae music, and again while the subject listened to classical music. 18. Repeated steps 2-17 with all other subjects. Independent Variable: Genre of music being played Dependent Variable: The number of words that the individual remembers Constants: Each subject was shown the list of words for one minute Every subject waited thirty seconds before reciting the words that they remembered There was a one minute break in between each trial There were four different word lists with ten different two syllable words of each of them Each subject was shown a corresponding list of words for each different genre (i.e. word list #1 for no music, word list #2 for jazz music, word list #3 for reggae music, word list #4 for classical music) Each subject was tested for all genres of music. I tested people over a period of two weeks. Each individual was tested after school, or during a study period. Each subject s age ranges from 10 years old to 80 years old.

5 Results: Subjects # of Words Correctly Remembered Average # Of Words Correctly Remembered No Jazz Reggae Classical No Jazz Reggae Classical Music Music 1 Anna Emily Bella Hannah Leslie Ken Katie Jack Arnold Brenda Maggie Ian Chrissy Lily Omar Chris Lauren Ben Kyle Graham

6 Graphs and Charts:

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8 Conclusion: The question asked was, What affect does the genre of music have on one s ability to memorize information? This question tested an individual s ability to memorize vocabulary words while listening to different genres of music. The hypothesis was if an individual is prompted to memorize a list of ten words, then they will be most accurate in memorizing these words while listening to classical music because this genre of music is most traditional and calm, and will provide less of a distraction. Once the testing portion of this experiment reached closure, it was analyzed that the hypothesis was not supported. From Exhibit A, it can be concluded that the subjects remembered the greatest average of correct words while listening to no music at all. With no music present, subjects remembered an average of 7.95/10 words. Classical music, which was hypothesized to help the most with the memorization of the words, failed to do so. Subjects remembered the lowest average number of correct words while listening to classical music, with an average of 7.00/10 words. Although subjects remembered the least number of words while listening to classical music, in Exhibit B it is shown that classical music did not fall far behind reggae or jazz music. Exhibit B shows that the total number of words that all subjects remembered while listening to no music was 159, while listening to jazz music was 145, while listening to reggae music was 141, and while listening to classical music was 140. Although subjects remembered the fewest total number of words while listening to jazz, reggae, and classical music, it cannot be clearly determined which genre of music helped most with memorization because the number of test subjects is so small. For example, subjects listening to reggae music only remembered one more correct word than subjects listening to classical music. Subjects listening to jazz music only remembered four more correct words in total than subjects listening to reggae music. Because this difference is so small, it cannot be defined with certainty which genre of music helps the most with memorization. In Exhibit C, it can be concluded that while listening to no music, subjects were most accurate as no subjects remembered less than five words. On the other hand, subjects were not very accurate in remembering the words while listening to classical music, and 25% of the subjects remembered less than five correct words. Based on these observances, it can be concluded that subjects memorize most effectively when listening to no music at all. To ensure that this was a controlled experiment, an independent variable, a dependent variable, and constants were created. There was only one independent variable that was introduced during this experiment. This was the differing genre of music being played as the subject was asked to memorize the vocabulary words. The dependent variable was the number of words that the subject remembered from the list of vocabulary words. This process was conducted four different times: once while the subject was listening to no music, another time while the subject listened to jazz music, again while the subject listened to reggae music, and finally when the subject listened to classical music. To ensure that each trial was consistent and accurate, several constants were introduced. These constants included each subject listening to a song for one minute, which helped to ensure that no subject was exposed to a list of words for a longer period of time than another. Then the subject was asked to wait for thirty seconds before reciting the words that they remembered. In between each trial of different genres of music the subject was told to wait one minute. Another constant was that the same subject was tested for all four trials, and for each genre of music. Each vocabulary word on the word list was two syllables long, and there were four separate word lists for each genre, and no words were repeated. Finally, another constant was that each subject had the same list of words for the same genre. For example, word list #1 was always used for no music, and word list #2 was always used for jazz music, and so on. It is not possible for an experiment to consist without any errors when being conducted by a human, because inadvertently there will always be a few human mistakes. One error made in the experiment was that not all of the trials were conducted in the same environment. Some subjects were tested outside, while others were tested indoors. Some subjects were tested around other people, while others were tested in an isolated environment. The environment that the subjects were exposed to could greatly affect their performance during the experiment, as noise and people around them could have distracted them. If this experiment were to be conducted again, each subject should be tested in the same environment in order to keep all trials constant. Another error in this

9 experiment was that not all of the subjects listened to each song at the same volume. If the volume of the song was too loud, it could have distracted the subjects, so it is vital for each subject to listen to every song at the same volume. This was not kept constant in the experiment, and should be kept constant if this experiment were to be conducted again. Another possible error in this experiment was that all subjects were asked to remember the word lists in a certain order: first while listening to no music, next to jazz music, then reggae music, and finally classical music. This order was repeated for every subject. Instead, the order of the music should have alternated for each participant so that there would be no possibility that subjects may have gotten tired towards the end of the test, and dropped their performance level during the last test, which was classical. Finally, another possible error was that each subject may have accidentally been shown the list of vocabulary words for over or less than a minute, and waited more than thirty seconds before reciting the words that they remembered. This could have greatly affected each subject s performance during the trials. In the future, one can improve this experiment by more precisely ensuring that the time does not exceed one minute or thirty seconds when a subject is being tested. Exhibit D provides an interesting insight that could be used as the basis for a future experiment. Although it is gathered from the other exhibits that the subjects remembered the most words while listening to no music, Exhibit D shows that the majority of the subjects who were most accurate in remembering the words (in fact 100% accurate), were all listening to music, be it jazz, reggae, or classical music. Only three subjects remembered all of the words while listening to no music, while thirteen subjects remembered all of the words while listening to music (four each with jazz and reggae, and five with classical). This is a very noteworthy insight, as it would be interesting to further investigate why most subjects were 100% accurate while listening to music, while the general population remembered most words while they were not listening to music. As another future experiment, it would be interesting to investigate if one s favorite music genre helps one to memorize most information. Do individuals favor a certain music genre because it is not only enjoyable, but it is also helpful to their studies and memories? Or, do individuals work most accurately and precisely while listening to music that they do not necessarily like?

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