Introduction
Listening to music is what many people do every day. They may listen to relax, or get pumped up for a night out. Whatever the reason music is something that almost everyone in the world does for one reason or another. In college students sometimes listen to music while they are studying. The issue with listening to music when studying is that there is no assurance that this is helping; in fact it might be hindering studying. Knowing that this is such a common occurrence it could be helpful to know if listening to music actually helps students when they’re studying. If the action of listening to music can be helpful then it could be equally important to discover if one type of music would be more helpful than another when promoting healthy studying habits. Research that has been conducted in the past on the effects of listening to music on studying have provided proof that if the act is done before studying it can be very beneficial. The music can have some positive effects on focus, solving problems in your head, remembering things and de-stressing. In the past listening to music to improve learning has been known as “the Mozart effect (Goodwin).” This was labeled because the type of music that helped was in the same genre however, people now listen to newer music and it has researchers pondering whether the effect is still a positive one. Some studies suggest that listening to music produces good results and other studies indicate that there is actually a bad result on memory when people listen to music to help them study. This contradiction in results leaves researchers pondering about the actual effects that music has on students study habits. The type of music may have something to do with whether the music is helpful or hurtful. If researchers can get to the bottom of what it is about music that is helping some students and making it difficult on others than, the choice of whether or not to listen to music while studying will be clear to the students and promote healthy study habits (Goodwin).
Music effects such a vast amount of the brain when it is listened to that it is difficult to think that it does not have an effect on peoples studying abilities. In fact the affected areas of the brain are so scattered that there is an indication that the music we listen to has an effect on our daily lives in general. Research on the effect that music has on the brain does indicate that the effects vary depending on the type of music that is being heard. For instance, if music is generally uplifting it has a different effect than music that is not. Not only does music have the ability to affect how a person’s brain works, it has the ability to take an emotional effect on the listener which can sometimes be visible to those that are watching. Researchers have discovered that two different emotional states result from music “perceived emotion and felt emotion.” The two different types of emotional response mean that music affects people differently depending on their reaction. Some people listen and as a result their emotions are effected, others listen and are not emotionally changed because they are merely listening and not feeling. This suggests that different people can listen to different types of music with different results (Mehta, Zhu and Cheema).
Here is a more direct explanation of the effect that music has on a person’s brain. When listening to music the noise travels down into their ears and directly into every part of the brain. When music is listened to every part of the body shows an effective response to what the brain is reacting to. The first area of the brain that is affected is known as the auditory region, it is this region that sends signals to the rest of the brain individually helping them respond to the music differently. Music can literally affect every area of the brain including releasing chemicals known as dopamine that cause happiness (Barnes).
Distractions and Studying
The reason that it is not good to have anything that can take your focus away from studying is that the amount of information that a person is able to retain depends on how much ability they have to direct their attention at what they are learning. Since this is so important it is equally imperative that a student makes sure that they take anything out of their area of study that would detract their attention from learning. There is a list of things in the world that can be counted as a distraction and among these things is music. In a world full of technology phones and television can be extremely distracting and in some cases music can also be a distraction and should be avoided (Center).
When it comes to musical capability’s researchers have found that the reason that music can be a distraction is due to the words that are in songs. This assertion suggests that there is some evidence that supports the idea that classical music can help people study. This is because classical music has no words. It is merely listening to tones which can help the student by activating areas of the brain responsible for memorizing things that they are studying. Modern music is more about words and this can take the students attention away from what they are trying to learn. It can affect the students emotions and cause them to pay attention to the words in the song rather than what they are trying to learn. Musical distractions like this have been compared to a person attempting to study in a crowded room full of people that are talking. One teacher went as far as playing different types of music while students were learning. The students commented saying that “classical stuff helps the class calm down and focus (Archuletta).”
Conclusion
Listening to music while studying has given researchers proof that, there are both positive and negative effects that can result. The difference between the results of music on studying is what type of music the student is subjected to. Results have shown that classical music does have a positive effect on people’s ability to study better. This is because when a student listens to music it has a specific effect on the brain activating many different areas which can be helpful when retaining information. The reason that other music does not have the same effect helping students is that there are words in the songs that people listen to now. In classical music there were fewer words which meant less of an opportunity for distraction. Listening to only the instrumental is not distracting for most because they are able to pay more attention to their studies than they are to the music. If there are lyrics than the student is likely to start listening to the words in the song which makes it more difficult to also take in what they are reading. Imagine that you are reading a book at the same time a really good movie is on the television. The reality is that no matter how good the book is there will be a point when the movie that is playing takes your attention away from what you are reading. Listening to music with words in it has a similar effect on students. Although they may take in part of what they are studying there is more of a chance that at some point during the song they will stop paying attention to what they are reading and become distracted by the words of the song. This is because the brain although very active during both processes, cannot pay attention fully to just one. In the end it can be concluded that listening to music can be helpful for students and even improve their ability to study. However, this depends on the exact type of music that the student listens to. If it is music that has no words or only instrumental studying will be improved when all of the areas of the brain are activated but the focus and attention remains on what is being studied.
Work Cited
Archuletta, Shelby. "Music In The Classroom: Distraction Or Study Tool?". Centerdigitaled.com. N.p., 2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
Barnes, Tom. "Here's What Happens Inside Your Brain When You Listen To Music, In 3 Mind-Blowing Gifs". Mic. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
Center, Acedemic. "Concentration & Distractions | Academic Success Center | Oregon State University". Success.oregonstate.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
Goodwin, Elana. "Do Or Don't: Studying While Listening To Music". Uloop. N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
Mehta, Ravi, Rui (Juliet) Zhu, and Amar Cheema. "Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring The Effects Of Ambient Noise On Creative Cognition". J Consum Res 39.4 (2012): 784-799. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
