Do you have the habit of listening music while you are studying? Well, some people think that music makes study easy and research has proven that listening to music stimulates different parts of the brain. But question is if your favorite music wake up your senses and make study less boring, can music also enhance your learning abilities?
According to Elizabeth Axford, who is a researcher at the University of Phoenix College of Humanities and Sciences, it depends on the individual. Many students can study effectively with music playing but some are also distracted by any outside stimulus.
Recent research at New Jersey Institute of Technology shows that students who studied with music playing had lower average tests scores than those who didn’t. This is not a general rule, the scores varied depending on whether the student routinely played music while studying and by the type of music played.
Effect of Music
Another research by the University of Wales explains the effect of different types of music on a student’s concentration. Groups of students were asked to recall a series of sounds presented in a specific order in different environments with music they liked playing in the background and with music they didn’t like. The results obtained from this research showed no significant difference in the test scores of students who listened to music they liked and students who heard music they didn’t enjoy. Amazingly students who studied in silence scored significantly higher than students in both other groups.
It has been observed that the students who listen to classical music during their studies perform better. Research shows that listening to classical music provides short-term enhancement of mental tasks which includes memorization and the process is known as “spatial-temporal reasoning.”
Trial and Error Approach
Experts have proven that listening to music with lyrics is an especially bad idea when studying languages because lyrics affect the same parts of the brain that comprehend language. Experts believe that students should take a “trial-and-error approach” to determine the best studying environment for you because study results and student preferences vary widely. If you think of yourself as a multitasking person and do better with homework while there’s a music file playing then by all means continue. On the other side if you music distracts your concentration then seek a quiet place with no distraction when you’re studying.
Well my conclusion is that a student is the best judge of his/her studying techniques. He should analyze his performance and adapts according to the results.