Does Music Increase Focus while Studying?

Does Music Increase Focus while Studying?

By: Sariah Fox

Everywhere you go, there is music. Whether it is the background music in an elevator, in someone’s headphones, or the radio in the car, music is always around. Most students in high school and college love to listen to music while studying. The debate over whether music helps or hinders focus has been constant throughout the last decades. Some researchers argue that listening to music of your choice can actually increase task focus. On the other side of the spectrum, others claim that music hinders your abilities in cognitive tasks. These two opposing viewpoints showcase how complex and sometimes confusing the debate is. Whether you can listen to music while studying all boils down to the type of music you are listening to, the intensity of the task you are doing, and what type of learner you are. I’m going to break down these two viewpoints in a simple way so we can understand the full scope of both sides of this argument.

Perspective #1: Music improves focus

One of the reasons why this debate is still ongoing is because of the slightly conflicting studies done on

the effect of music on attention or focus. In “The Effect of Preferred Background Music on Task-Focus in Sustained Attention” (Kiss and Linnell), we jump into an experiment that tests focus and distraction while listening to music of personal choice. They gathered 40 participants who were students at schools in the London area. The researchers split the experiment into two 30-minute sessions that were divided by a 10-minute break. The only thing that changed between the sessions was the environment: silence or music that the participants had preselected. During those 30 minutes, they completed 5 rounds of the same task. At the end of every task, they completed a thought probe. A thought probe, in this case, is a series of statements that describe different mindsets. The researchers measured focus and attention based on which option the participants chose in the thought probe. Based on the results, Linnell and Kiss found that when the subjects were listening to music, the number of times the participants reported mind-wandering went down, and the overall focus on the task increased (Kiss and Linnell 9). With this experiment, Linnel and Kiss concluded that music you like can increase concentration by decreasing the number of times your mind wanders.

Perspective #2: Music interferes with focus

While many students agree that music can be helpful for low-focus tasks, others argue that music can hinder the ability to focus while learning depending on the task and type of music. In the research article “Should we turn off the music? Music with Lyrics Interferes with Cognitive Tasks,” Souza and Barbosa set out to run an experiment testing whether background music interferes with productivity in four different domains: math, reading, visual memory, & verbal memory (Souza and Barbosa 3). The authors set up an online survey for students at the University of Porto, and they ended up with 136 volunteers. The participants completed two 30-minute sessions testing those four areas separately.  The soundtrack playing throughout the test included a period of instrumental music, some songs with lyrics, and then a period of silence. The sessions were a few days apart, which led to some incomplete responses. In the end, Souza and Barbosa found a “consistent pattern across tasks: performance was generally best under silence, intermediate in the instrumental condition, and worse in the lyrical condition.” The overall conclusion was that music with lyrics negatively affects task performance.

Similarities and Differences

Other than the biggest and most important difference of whether music improves (Linnel and Kiss) or inhibits (Souza and Barbosa) focus, there are several similarities and differences between both research papers. A crucial difference between the two studies is how they measured focus. Linnell and Kiss use a “thought-probe system” to consistently check in on the state of mind the participants are in throughout completing the tasks. Souza and Barbosa, on the other hand, ‘assessed the objective and subjective impact of background music on four cognitive tasks” (Souza and Barbosa 14). Those objective test scores were used to judge the impact of music. Another notable difference was the music

type they used in each experiment. Linnel and Kiss asked their participants “to send their preferred background music tracks to [them] prior to the participation in the study.” In Souza and Barbosa’s study, they did not allow the participants to select their music. Instead, they chose four songs that contained lofi instrumental music and “four songs [that] were popular songs with lyrics in European Portuguese” (Souza and Barbosa 5). The university that Souza and Barbosa teach at is in Portugal, so they just used mainstream pop music that was popular in their country. In addition to not using music of the participants’ choice, Souza and Barbosa also completed their sessions on “separate days.” (Souza and Barbosa 5). Whereas Linnel and Kiss only had a “10-min break between the conditions” (Linnel and Kiss 5). 

Despite how different these studies are at their core, they are also alike in various ways. While the authors disagree on whether music has an effect that is positive or negative, they both acknowledge that music does have an effect on studying. Souza and Barbosa lean on the negative side of the argument but concede that “music with lyrics is always perceived as impairing, even when it did not credibly hinder performance.” (Souza and Barbosa 14). Linnel and Kiss occupy the opposing side of the argument, saying that “preferred background music enhanced task-focus.” We can see that they have

opposite viewpoints where their conclusions lie, but they agree that music does not have a neutral effect on focus. The research seems to agree that personal factors may affect how music affects attention. Linnell and Kiss outline this by choosing to allow their participants to select their “preferred background music tracks” (Linnell and Kiss 3). Although Souza and Barbosa didn’t have a variable they tested to cover the personal factors, they conceded “[f]uture studies may need to include not only subjective assessments of performance success (as done here) but also emotional and motivational effects of music listening.” (Souza and Barbosa 13) The authors suggest that only when personal factors are considered should the conclusion of music’s role in learning be decided.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Each side of the argument has its strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to note that both teams of researchers are reputable psychology experts. Not to mention, both experiments are very well thought out and composed excellently. One of the greatest strengths of Linnel and Kiss’s study was that they used a “30-min long playlist containing their [pre-prepared] preferred background music tracks” (Linnel & Kiss 3). By allowing the students to choose their own music, they could better simulate what people

would actually listen to in their day-to-day life. This added a sense of realism to the results. Linnel and Kiss also had a major strong point of figuring out how attention is affected over time and not just one time. Check-ins of ~6 mins throughout the session were able to truly showcase how focus was impacted. The check-ins, or “thought-probes,” in and of themselves are another strength the researchers had. The final thought probes weren’t something they just stumbled upon. The “[t]hought-probes were refined in [a] pilot study based on the participants’ feedback. To ensure a successful study, they did a practice round. Even with all of these points toward the reliability of the test, there are still a few weaknesses that stood out to me and may cast doubt on the conclusion. Out of a pool of volunteers, “only students who normally listen to background music when performing attention-demanding tasks were included in this experiment.” (Linnel and Kiss 3). At first glance, this seems like a good thing, as it’s one more variable that they don’t have to measure. While that is true, the problem lies with the conclusion of the positive impact music can have on focus. It forced me to question whether that overarching conclusion would have changed if the study had included people who usually do NOT listen to music while studying.

Souza and Barbosa, on the other hand, are less picky with participants. They got their sample from “[p]sychology students from the University of Porto,” which made up “[a] total of 136 students.” The large sample size and diverse sample improved the overall reliability and generalizability of their study. It also provided less space for bias of any kind to sneak in. Another strength in Souza and Barbosa’s study is the consistency across several of the domains they tested. In particular, “[m]usic with lyrics

hindered verbal memory, visual memory, and reading comprehension.” (Souza and Barbosa 1) Getting consistent results across multiple different tasks lends credibility, validity, and extra strength to their side of the argument. One aspect of their experiment that teetered on the line between a strength and a weakness was the online format of the exam. While the online format “permitted the recruitment of a large sample” (Souza and Barbosa 3) with more diverse life experiences, it also limited the control they had on the environments while people were completing the surveys. It leaves a large hole in the experiment where students could turn off the volume completely and just do the tasks with no sound.

Compromise

Although the two studies seem to reach opposite conclusions, they both reveal that music’s impact on focus depends on the context. It’s only with that context that the true middle ground can be

found. Learning is unique to every single person who undertakes it. It is not one size fits all. There are aspects of learning that these studies do not even cover that matter in terms of how successful you are going to be with music. Factors like type of learner, whether you have learning disabilities, and how intense the activity is are important to consider in finding the right study environment. Music can be a powerful tool in boosting productivity when you are doing low-demanding tasks, but it can also impede your learning if you are not careful. It’s important to keep in mind that the type of music playing can make a big difference in your focus. The bottom line is it all comes down to what is going to be the most helpful to you. To ensure productivity, self-check how effective a study session has been. 

Works Cited

Kiss, Luca, and Karina J. Linnell. “The Effect of Preferred Background Music on Task-focus in Sustained Attention.” Psychological Research, Aug. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-020-01400-6. 

Souza, Alessandra S., and Luís Carlos Leal Barbosa. “Should We Turn off the Music? Music With Lyrics Interferes With Cognitive Tasks.” Journal of Cognition, vol. 6, no. 1, Jan. 2023, https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.273.