Transcript Cognitive Affects of Music

Cognitive Affects of Music
Presented by:
Laura Fink, Ashlae Shepler,
Sophia Turczynewycz, Eric
McGary and John Drain
Abstract
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For this project we are looked at the effects that
different types of music had on a individual’s memory
recall. We used different types of music ranging from
Mozart, a very soft piece of music, to Squarepusher, a
hard, dramatic piece of music. When looking at past
studies done on this or related areas of science, we have
found sufficient data to back our hypothesis that
“memory recall is directly affected by different rhythmic
patterns. The shorter the stimuli and beats within the
song, and the slower the tempo, the greater the memory
recall will be.”
Introduction
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Our ability to recall external stimuli is an essential
component for functioning in society. We depend on the
vividness of our memories for everything that we
experience.
What we observe through our senses becomes filtered
through the brain through electrochemical connections
between brain cells that are quick to disappear. To spare
these observations from oblivion we employ certain
mnemonic devices, be it conscious or unconscious, to
resuscitate the fleeting memory.
More Intro…..
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Given that associations of different impulses increase the
rate of remembrance, we propose that coordinating music
with information increases the probability that memories
become triggered.
Kristian David Olson, author of "The Effects of Music on
the Mind," says that music "needs to be implemented
correctly... for if it isn't, it can be very distracting to
the mind." This lab explored the possibility that
particular varieties of music are more conductive to
aiding the acuity of ones memory than others.
And Even More Intro….
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The music of Mozart for example, with it's sonorous and
slow paced rhythmic structure, has been reputed to be
exceptionally beneficial to enhancing cognitive abilities.
Gordon Logan and Geoffrey L. Collier observed the
effects of rhythmic stimuli on memory through a series
of experiments in "Modality Differences in Short-term
Memory for Rhythms." A "good rhythm" is one that was
found to be conducive to aiding the memory. They found
that "multimode patterns do not form good rhythms
because they are not heard as single streams."
Relevance
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Everyone listens to music. People listen to it as
they drive on the highway, when they take a
shower, when they wake up in the morning or when
they go to bed at night.
Music is an integral part of our lives affecting
anything from our moods to stress levels to
motivations. For our project, being students
ourselves, we wanted to look more closely at the
effects of music on our study habits.
Questions
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With this information, two questions arise:
what are the other effects of music in our
lives and what else can enhance our study
habits? These questions then lead to a
much broader investigation into the
function of the brain and how it receives
and process information.
Materials
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Dr. Seuss’ Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
A CD player
A compilation of various songs
A stopwatch
25 participants
Methods: How did we test our
subjects?
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First, we asked our participants for
some general information, such as
their age, major and memorization
level, based on a scale of 1-7.
Then, everyday before testing we
asked them what their mood was and
if they had eaten or not.
Methods Cont’d: How did we test our
subjects?
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After answering the questions, participants
then memorized a page of Oh! The Places
You’ll Go! while listening to a piece of music.
Participants were able to take as long as
they wanted, in order to memorize both
the words and the images on a page. We
timed the duration it took them.
More Methods….
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This continued on for 6 consecutive
days. Before a participant memorized
a new page while listening to new
music, they told us what they
remembered from the day before and
we recorded it on our data sheets.
Our Data: Example of General Info
Name
Sex
Age
Grade
Major
Memory
Laura
F
18
Frosh
Western
5
Tina
F
21
Senior
Educa.
4
Vikas
M
21
Senior
MIS
4
Kelby
M
18
Frosh
Undec.
5
Ellissa
F
18
Frosh
Arch.
4
More Data:Example of Daily Records, Day 1
Name
Date
Time
Mood
Eat?
Time
# of
words
Image
Laura
11-11
12:41
pm
Mellow
No
5 sec
14
Boy in
yellow
walking
Tina
11-11
5:46pm
Tired yet
excited
Yes
53 sec
14
Little boy
in yellow
walking
Vikas
11-11
6:35pm
Stressed
Yes
25 sec
14
Boy in
yellow
walking
Day 1
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No Music
Day 2
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Squarepusher
Day 3
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R.E.M.
Day 4
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Heart
Day 5
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Miles Davis
Day 6
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Mozart
What did we discover?
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During our study we observed that most people
would sing, tap their foot, or have some noticeable
reaction to the songs they were familiar with.
Some would even memorize the page by reciting
aloud the words. The songs that our participants
were least familiar with, would have a negative
reaction or no reaction on the participants.
The architect students memorized the detail of
the image and numbers in the image better than
Western students.
More Discoveries!
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While reviewing our statistical data, we discovered
that there was a significant difference in female and
male memorization. Females memorized words and
images faster and retained more information than
males.
The more stressed the participant was that day, the
more they focused on memorizing the page as a
whole. When the participant was happy or tired,
their minds wandered more and were less focused in
general.
Let’s see that data!
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The percent of words memorized vs. the
music and participant’s sex.
More fun data!
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Mood of the participant vs. percentage of
words memorized.
We love data!
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Music and participant’s sex vs. the duration
of the song.
Do you like data too?!
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Percentage of words memorized v.s. the
image recalled.
The End
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“Human beings are inherently and just about
universally musical.” Ellen Goldensohn
From our project, we have learned that our
hypothesis of: the shorter the stimuli, beats
within the song, and the slower the tempo, the
greater the memory recall will be was proven to be
correct.
We had a splendid, groovy, swell, rad, good time
working on the project!
ROCK ON!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Collier, Geoffrey L. and Gordon Logan, “Modality differences
in short-term memory for rhythms.” Memory and Cognitions.
Psychonomic Society, Inc., 2000.
David, Kristian Olson. The Effects of Music on the Mind. 22
February 1996. http://www.bobjanuary.com/musicmnd.htm.
(October 3, 2001).
Goldensohn, Ellen. “Why Music?” Natural History. Vol. 110.
2001. P.8.
Milius, Susan. “Face the Music.” Natural History. Vol. 110.
2001. Pgs. 48-57.