Kayla Mancuso
Need help studying for your upcoming midterms? Well I know some people who might be able to help: Lil’ Wayne, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.
Since 1993 the phrase “the Mozart Effect” has been used quite liberally. Often times it is used as evidence to back up anyone’s claim that music helps in cognitive development. This phrase refers to a study conducted by Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw and Katherine Ky. They discovered that 36 college students who listened to 10 minutes of a Mozart sonata scored higher on standard tests of abstract spatial reasoning than after listening to relaxation instructions or silence.
After the study was published in the esteemed journal Nature, a craze was born. More and more people were making their children listen to classical music hoping that their baby would be the next Einstein. And this gave birth to the “Mozart Baby” generation.
The “Mozart Babies” are now in college or on their way to college. Now the question is how has this theory expanded through the years? After observation, I noticed that music is often an element that students use while studying. So does music affect an individual while they study?
A Professor of Psychology at NYU and Yale University School of Music graduate, Ted Coons, believes there are both positives and negatives to listening to music while studying.
Professor Coons believes that if a student feels sleepy or lonely, music can act as a “tonic stimulation” while studying. Also, he feels that music can help a student drown out what’s going on around them. “Music can serve as a masking stimulus to keep some other more distracting stimulus from interfering with one's study,” explains Ted Coons.
Caile Brennan, a sophomore at Manhattan College with an undeclared major, always listens to music while studying. “Music helps me focus more, it puts me in my own little world,” Caile explained. Her “own little world” is enclosed by her headphones. The headphones offer a boundary between her work and the world around her.
She feels that music is not as distracting as some other elements: such as people having conversations in her room. To solve this problem, Caile usually puts herself in a quiet room or goes to the library. Caile Brennan believes that music tunes out the “more distracting stimulus”.
She often just puts her iTunes on shuffle, but she does occasionally prefer to listen to classical music. “Usually my music goes from Drake to Rascal Flatts, but for the subjects that might need more of my attention I might listen to classical music. Since there are no words, I can give my full attention to studying,” clarified Caile.
David C. Nofer, professor of psychology with a specialty in cognitive understanding, further expands on the idea of music with lyrics vs. music without lyrics. David believes that it all depends on the subject of study. Going along with Caile’s claim, the more difficult subjects need more attention therefore music without lyrics would be ideal.
On the other hand, music can also hinder studying. Usually, what you’re studying needs your full attention. When you add music to the equation it can divide your attention, which may impair your studying. Ted Coons believes that this problem can be related to other activities like texting while driving.
In Caile Brennan’s case, her work load is a little less demanding considering she hasn’t declared a major. As for Katie McGovern, a Biology major at Manhattan College, studying is a part of her daily routine. When asked how often she studies her response was “pretty often”. She usually alternates what classes she studies for, but everyday she does study at least two subjects twice a day.
“My ideal studying environment would be in my room that is so silent you could hear a pin drop,” declared Katie.
Katie McGovern is also very easily distracted. If she gets the opportunity to push aside her studies, even just for a casual conversation with her roommate, she will. Therefore adding music into the mix would not be to her benefit.
“Listening to the people sing distracts me from what I’m trying to read,” Katie explains. When listening to music, she feels that she pays more attention to the music than to her work.
After taking a deeper look at this theory, it is hard to make a blanket statement that music helps a students study. “I'd say it's helpful though likely not for all students,” Professor David C. Nofer believes.
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