Studying and Music: Favorite artists and their effects on your brain
As students prepare to study for finals, everyone has different habits to help them focus. For some music is essential, others require absolute silence.
“When I study I listen to the sound of the ocean on YouTube,” said Clio junior Thomas Lorentzen. “I just like to have some background noise.”
Both Clinton Township junior Nicole Rieck and Clarkston senior Matt Alexander said they like to listen to film scores.
“I definitely rock out to scores from films like 'Gladiator' and 'Inception' and composer John Williams,” Alexander said.
He said he thinks they’re motivating and likes that there are “no lyrical distractions.”
Rieck said she listens to a film score station on Pandora Radio and other classical stations.
“I like that there’s no lyrics to cause A.D.D. and classical supposedly stimulates the brain,” she said.
Other music artists students said they liked to listen to Frank Sinatra, Kid Cudi, Lights, Owl City and John Mayer.
Byron Center senior Matt Erdmans said he has an eclectic list of music he listens to while studying.
“Three choices: Philip Glass – a brilliant minimalism composer, 'Modest Mouse,' and lastly, once an hour I have to change to Dirt Nasty,” he said.
Columbiaville senior Dustin Himebauch said he prefers to listen to the Pandora Radio station for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He, like many other students, may benefit from a psychological phenomena called “the Mozart Effect.”
This theory resulted from a 1993 study from the University of California, which they assessed the effects of listening to Mozart for 10 minutes and concluded that it increased a person’s spatial reasoning ability.
However, subsequent studies found this research to be flawed and unsubstantial and that though some spatial reasoning may increase, it is only temporarily.
A CNN blog post from 2010 referenced a study done at the University of Wales Institute that found music may be more of a distraction when participants were trying to memorize a list in order.
While another Stanford University study from 2007 found that music may help the brain pay attention.
In conclusion, though music can help stimulate the brain, there is no decisive information or studies that can define whether music can impede or enhance studying.
It's probably best to simply choose silence or the music you enjoy listening while still being able to remain focused.
