Study Habits and Music: How They Affect studying, in combination with listening to

Attention and Academic Performance music, will be reviewed as well.

APPROACHES TO STUDYING The Effects of Music on Student Psychology
Studying for tests and exams is an activity
which is integral to any college student’s While many would agree that music affects us,
academic success. Students often review class details of the effects of music on intellectual,
psychological, physiological, social, and physical
material prior to taking an exam to ensure that
they are knowledgeable on the key concepts processes of humans are not common
and ideas. Though the need to study is nearly knowledge. Recent studies have shown that the
universal, the exact study habits and methods use of music can enhance or detract from the
utilized by students span a broad range of completion of many tasks, including eating,
techniques. Past research has described several sleeping, exercising, driving, reading, writing,
of these study habits Marton & Säljö, 1984; Hay math, and social interaction. It can also affect
2007). However, the ultimate success of any mood and our abilities to behave, remain on
one technique over another may not entirely be task, and focus. Adolescents naturally seem to
dictated by the material to be studied and the use music to monitor and manipulate mood,
personal study habits of the student. Study motivation, and task completion, but
settings may differ greatly in terms of the understanding the effects of music could enable
external stimuli present in the surrounding them to make appropriate decisions concerning
environment. Some of these stimuli, such as musical choices. It is vital to understand how
music, may be chosen by the student, music is beneficial and avoid the use of music
for situations in which it may be distracting.
depending on his/her personal study
preferences. Students regularly listen to music Also important are the effects of music we do
while studying as a way to help them stay not choose, but are subjected to through our
engaged in studying (Beentjes, Koolstra, & van environment choices such as restaurants and
der Voort, 1996). Although many students view stores. Research in these areas has shown that
listening to music as helpful, it is unclear certain elements of music, especially tempo and
whether listening to music actually helps loudness, have significant effects on tasks in
students sustain their attention while studying. various areas. This article provides practical,
In fact, under some circumstances, listening to research-based information that will assist the
music may actually be a distraction. The reader in meeting K-4 national standard 9c.
purpose of this study is to examine how the
students’ study habits combine with whether or
not they are listening to self-selected music to
predict sustained attention and performance on
academic tasks. 2 An initial investigation of the
past literature on how music affects cognitive
performance, particularly in academic facets,
will first be explored. The use of selfselected
music specifically and any potential benefits of
listening to such will also be examined. In order
to consider how self-selected music may be
used in various study scenarios, a breakdown of
the study habits continuum will be provided.
The role which attention may play while
How music could help you to concentrate this. What has been proven is that listening to
while studying music which is constant in state, has a steady a
repetitive pulse, and is not too loud is better for
It’s fair to to say the majority of students prefer concentration than inconsistent musical styles,
to study while listening to music. Whether meaning you should probably avoid listening to
frantically cramming some last-minute reading anything labelled ‘Mathcore’ when trying to be
to Kanye, or finalising an essay to the sound of productive. The same study also found evidence
the Arctic Monkeys, go to any university or that people perform worse when listening to
college library and the majority of students their preferred, rather than neutral, music.
there will be listening to their music of choice. Personality has also been shown to affect
performance, with introverts more likely to test
Music is a very significant part of our daily lives; worse than extroverts. Similarly, people tested
the image of the quietly-focused student who are bad at multi-tasking have also been
isolating themselves into a personal study zone shown to test worse when listening to
has led to interest into whether listening to background music. For those who feel the
music actually helps studies or not. Research pressure during exams, it has
into the field has proven fairly ambiguous, been observed that calming music, for example
with many studies contradicting each other. a Haydn string quartet, can help to reduce
However this does provide an useful insight for anxiety in an individual.
students who maybe looking into ways to use This highlights the main thing to consider when
music to enhance their exam performance. listening to music while studying: that how you
do so really just depends on you. There is no
The most famous theory linking music and decisive doctrine or absolute piece of research
cognitive performance is the ‘Mozart effect’, which tells you what to do, whether it’s a Four
the popular idea that listening to Mozart makes Tet Boiler Room set or Cannibal Corpse you
you smarter. The research itself was interested think helps you to study, do what you believe
in the relation between Mozart and ‘spatial- helps. Listening to music has been shown to
temporal reasoning’, or knowing how to fit cause the release of dopamine, meaning that it
things into other things, basically. The idea that is a pleasurable, rewarding experience which
music - particularly classical - can improve can relax an individual.
exam results has endured, with websites such On the whole, what a student can take from
mozarteffect.com selling music supposedly research is that using music to create an
designed to “charge the brain.” environment yourself is conducive towards the
However, research has shown that performance task you wish to complete.
in tasks involving memory and concentration
was better in a silent environment, though, Studying for finals? Let classical music help
studying in place often disturbed by talkers, Works by Bach, Brahms, Mozart
 and others
sneezers, or traffic, few students have access to are effective aids that improve sleep patterns
a silent study space. Subjects tested in and reduce stress, studies find
environments with background music were As the season of cramming and finals
found to get better results than those tested approaches, Trojans can get help with a
against background noise. Therefore, taking healthy, easily accessible study aid — classical
along an iPod and a set of headphones may music.
come in handy if you’re looking to avoid being It’s a solution available 24/7 at Classical

distracted by any ambient sounds. KUSC in Los Angeles or Classical KDFC in San
The style, volume, rhythm and ‘state’ of the Francisco. Listen either on the radio or live-
music a student listens to, as well as the streamed at kusc.org or kdfc.com. There’s a
personality of the student, can also be new version of KUSC’s free app and one
significant factors. Classical music is generally for KDFC to use on mobile devices.
viewed as the best to listen to whilst studying, A number of academic studies recently zeroed
however there is no decisive research to back in on classical music, showing that 
listening
benefits the brain, sleep patterns, the immune If testing anxiety causes sleepless nights,
system and stress levels — all helpful when 
 classical music can help soothe insomnia. A
facing those all-important end-of-semester team of 
researchers at the University of
tests. Toronto found that tuning into classical music
Face the music before bedtime helped
 people fall asleep
University research in France, published faster and stay asleep longer. Works by Brahms,
in Learning and Individual Differences, found Handel, Mozart, Strauss and Bach
 were
that 
students who listened to a one-hour effective sleep aids because they use rhythms
lecture where classical music was played in the and tonal patterns that create a meditative
background 
scored significantly higher in a mood 
and slow brainwaves, the study found.
quiz on the lecture when compared to a similar (KUSC and KDFC make it easy to access quality
group of students who 
heard the lecture with classical music all
 night, every night.
no music. The California Classical All Night program airs
The researchers speculated that the music put on both stations from midnight to 5 a.m., seven
students in a heightened emotional state, 
days a week.)
making
 them more receptive to information. Cut out the cannons
The researchers speculated that the music put So what selections do classical music experts
students in a heightened emotional state, favor for listeners trying to absorb new
making
 them more receptive to information. information?
“It is possible that music, provoking a change in KUSC host and producer Alan Chapman
the learning
 environment, influenced the suggested pieces that are more restrained to
students’ motivation to remain focused during provide a nice 
aura in the background. Skip
the lecture, which led to 
better performance over large orchestral pieces, particularly those
on the multiple-choice quiz,” they wrote. with a dynamic that 
ranges from whispers to
According to research from the Duke Cancer booming cannons.
Institute, classical music can also lessen anxiety. “The 1812 Overture would not be a good study
Researchers gave headphones playing Bach aid, unless
 you were studying to be a
concertos to men undergoing a stressful biopsy demolitions expert,” he observed — a

and discovered they had no spike in diastolic sentiment echoed by KDFC host and assistant
blood pressure
 during the procedure and program director Rik Malone.
reported significantly less pain. Chapman suggested choosing solo piano pieces,
But make sure you are listening to classical perhaps Mozart sonatas or French piano music
music, because not all music aids blood by Poulenc,
 Debussy or Fauré. Mozart string
pressure, a
 University of San Diego study quartets are also good choices, he said, for the
found. regularity of phrase 
structure in classic period
Scientists at the university compared changes in pieces.
blood pressure among 
individuals listening to Guitar music is gentle enough to study by, as is
classical, jazz or pop music. Those listening to lute music, which has enjoyable, dulcet tones.
classical had significantly 
lower systolic blood Sample 
Bach lute suites, Chapman suggested.
pressure when compared to those listening to Elizabethan consort music from the late 16th
other musical genres or no music at all. century, played on viols, was intended to create


Just relax a 
pleasant atmosphere at court without
Classical music helps you relax even when you demanding attention, Chapman said, and is
don’t pay attention to the music, a Russian another good 
candidate for music to study by.
study 
published in Human Physiology found. So before turning to the books, turn on Classical
Children who listened to classical music for one KUSC or Classical KDFC.
hour a day 
over a six-month period exhibited
brain changes that indicated greater levels of
relaxation — even 
when the children were not
asked to pay attention to the music.
 Lee, S. (2011, March 23). The Effects of Music
on Student Psychology. Retrieved from
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED519172.pdf
 Widerman, M. S. (2013, April 29). Study Habits
and Music: How They Affect Attention and
Academic Performance. Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1e4b/bf8798f
c24ebb35c9a0e0367d2917750c903.pdf
 Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Levine,, L. J.
(1994, August). Music and Spatial
TaskPerformance: A CausalRelationship.
Retrievedfrom
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED390733.pdf