Exposure to music and cognitive performance: tests of children and adults

Previous research has found that the background auditory distractors (music and sound/noise) have a more severe impact on introverts' performances on complex cognitive tasks compare to extraverts (Dobbs, Furnham and McClelland, 2011). The present study is a part replication of Dobbs et al. (2011) but using Chinese rather than English participants.Ninety-three female Chinese participants carried out three cognitive tasks with the presence of Chinese pop songs, background office noise, and silence. The results did not reveal any differences in performance as a function of the distraction condition, and nor was there a different in performance between extraverts and introverts. The failure to replicate is explained in terms of habituation to noisy environments among Chinese participants.2

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of background music and noise on the cognitive test performance of Chinese introverts and extraverts

Kou

McClelland

Furnham

2017

“…For instance, in Ivanov and Geake (2003), upper-primary school-aged children exposed to musical pieces by Mozart or Bach in a school setting outperformed children in a control class on a Paper Folding Task. Furthermore, children remained engaged for longer in a drawing task when exposed to cheerful, familiar, age-appropriate music rather than classical music including Albinoni's Adagio in G-minor for Strings and Organ (Schellenberg et al, 2007). However, other studies failed to find cognitive benefits resulting from music exposure.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…see Isen, 2008). A series of studies conducted by Schellenberg and collaborators supported the arousal and mood hypothesis (Husain, Thompson, & Schellenberg, 2002;Schellenberg, Nakata, Hunter, & Tamoto, 2007;Thompson, Schellenberg, & Husain, 2001; for a review, see Schellenberg, 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Affect-matching music improves cognitive performance in adults and young children for both positive and negative emotions

Franco

Swaine

Israni

et al. 2014

Three experiments assessed the hypothesis that cognitive benefits associated with exposure to music only occur when the perceived emotion expression of the music and the participant's affective state match. Experiment 1 revealed an affect-matching pattern modulated by gender when assessing high-arousal states of opposite valence (happy/angry) in an adult sample (n=94) in which mood classification was based on self-report, and affective valence in music was differentiated by mode and other expressive cues whilst keeping tempo constant (139 BPM). The affect-matching hypothesis was then tested in two experiments with children using a moodinduction procedure: Experiment 2 tested happy/angry emotions with, respectively, 3-5-(n=40) and 6-9-year-old (n=40) children, and Experiment 3 compared happy/sad emotions (i.e., states differing both for valence and arousal profiles) with 3-5-year-old children (n=40), using music pieces differentiated also by fast vs. slow tempo. While young children failed to discriminate systematically between fast tempo music conveying different emotions, they did display cognitive benefits from exposure to affect-matching music when both valence (e.g., mode) and arousal level (e.g., tempo) differentiated the musical excerpts, with no gender effects. Keywords:Arousal, Central executive, Child development, Mozart Effect 3In music psychology, the beneficial effects of music on psychosocial functioning, and the role played by emotion and mood in producing those effects, are currently important topics of research (MacDonald, Kreutz, & Mitchell, 2012). One area of experimental research that has received particular attention is the study of the 'Mozart effect', a term that refers to findings of temporary improvements in cognitive performance after listening to music (for a review, see Schellenberg, 2012). Doubts about the theoretical underpinnings of the original study that spawned research on the 'Mozart effect' (Rauscher, Shaw, & Ky, 1993) led Schellenberg and collaborators to formulate an alternative theory called the 'arousal and mood hypothesis', which proposed that temporary improvements in cognitive performance were not a direct product of listening to music, but were rather a product of arousal and positive affect induced by listening to music. According to this hypothesis, the 'Mozart effect' is neither Mozart-specific nor music-specific: any piece of music, or any nonmusical stimulus, that induces arousal and positive affect can be used to produce temporary improvements in cognitive performance. This proposal is consistent with a wide range of studies finding that positive affect enhances performance on cognitive tasks (e.g. see Isen, 2008). A series of studies conducted by Schellenberg and collaborators supported the arousal and mood hypothesis (Husain, Thompson, & Schellenberg, 2002;Schellenberg, Nakata, Hunter, & Tamoto, 2007;Thompson, Schellenberg, & Husain, 2001; for a review, see Schellenberg, 2012).A key assumption made by Schellenberg and others is that happy-sounding music ...

“…For instance, Boone and Cunningham's procedure involved a phase of significant modelling by the experimenter, which may be considered a confounding factor when analysing the children's responses. Mote (2011) andSchellenberg, Nakata, Hunter, andTamoto (2007) found superior performance in preschool children's ability to recognise emotion when using music derived from culturally familiar children's songs rather than classical or adultdirected music, thus highlighting an important influence of materials.…”

Section: Type Of Task Materials and Type Of Responses (Explicit Vs mentioning

confidence: 99%

Preschoolers’ attribution of affect to music: A comparison between vocal and instrumental performance

Franco

Chew

Swaine

2016

Research has shown inconsistent results concerning the ability of young children to identify musical emotion. This study explores the influence of the type of musical performance (vocal vs. instrumental) on children's affect identification. Using an independent-group design, novel child-directed music was presented in three conditions: instrumental, vocal-only, and song (instrumental plus vocals) to 3-to 6-year-olds previously screened for language development (n = 76). A forced-choice task was used in which children chose a face expressing the emotion matching each musical track. All performance conditions comprised 'happy' (major mode/fast tempo) and 'sad' (minor mode/slow tempo) tracks. Nonsense syllables rather than words were used in the vocals in order to avoid the influence of lyrics on children's decisions. The results showed that even the younger children were able to identify correctly the intended emotion in music, although 'happy' music was more readily recognized and recognition appeared facilitated in the instrumental condition. Performance condition interacted with gender.