Music: Improving Brain Function

[Zubin]

Now I'm sure many of you have heard that it's easier to perform certain tasks when listening to music and etc. I was always a bit unsure about this because I'm someone who doesn't listen to music often and I prefer silence for when I study or read.

What do you guys think about music and its affect on brain function?
For the sake of argument, let's assume I'm talking about classical music only.

 

[mgb_phys]

It does for some people, other people like white noise or a TV in the background.
The trouble is the XXX effect - which says that when you study someone their performance improves, whatever you were doing as part of the study.

XXX - can't remember the name of the psychologist , but somebody will come along in a minute that knows it

 

[waht]

Could depend on the type of learning. For example, memorizing definitions is accomplished by frequent repetition of the material. If you play music at the same time, then you get Pavlov's dog type of classical conditioning, and map the music with the definitions. That way, for best recall, you would have to replay the music. Although for more abstract learning, such as solving problems, music might play a more deeper role.

There was an article in Scientific American describing the impact of room size, wall color, or the ceiling height on thought. Higher ceiling and blue color was associated with more abstract thinking, and lower ceiling and red color with more concrete. So perhaps a certain pitches, and sound repetition can also have some influence.