Almost everyone has heard the command, “Turn that music off and do your homework!” But could listening to music actually help students do their homework?
According to the online publication MuSICA, the Music and Science Information Computer Archive, Frances H. Rauscher and some colleagues at the University of California at Irvine have reported that, compared to silence, listening to Mozart produced a brief but significant increase in performance scores by college students on a spatial IQ task.
The spatial IQ task would include math problems, putting together a puzzle or anything using mental reasoning.
Rauscher and his team extended the types of music that the students listened to and came to find that Mozart was the only musician whose compositions affected spatial IQ.
However, other reports do not so quickly discount the effects of other kinds of music.
A study by Steven Smith, of Texas A&M University showed that test subjects who viewed a list of words while listening to music in the background, regardless of what type of music, recalled the list more easily and accurately when they were exposed to the same music. In the same study, the subjects who had viewed the list in silence received no aid in the memory process.
Lydia Mackey, a University of Memphis sophomore, said that she usually listens to music when she is reading for a test.
“When I am studying for a test, I mostly listen to slow jams, jazz or even classical. Anything slow. But no hip-hop or anything,” she said.
Other studies suggest making music can be as beneficial as listening to it.
According to Norman Weinberger, editor of MuSICA, making music involves using most of the major components of the human brain and mind and the strengthens the relationships between brain cells and synapses.
The results of his studies conclude, “Making music exercises the whole brain and mind. Making music can strengthen synapses in all brain systems. Making music increases the brain’s capacity and resources by increasing the strength of connections among its neurons.”
Weinberger also said that long-term positive change in the spatial IQ would be due to consistent, active music making, instead of passive music listening. The other conclusions drawn from his study are only short-term results.
Junior Lindsey Massey said that she sometimes listens to music while studying.
“It depends on what the subject is. If I am writing a paper, then I would listen to music, but if I was trying to read or comprehend something, then I probably wouldn’t,” she said.
Most music stores carry CDs containing music specifically for studying. “Better Thinking Through Mozart,” for example, contains 11 different pieces by Mozart for students to listen to while studying, including Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Concerto 21 in C, Sonata No. 11 in A and Serenade No. 10 in B-Flat.
According to a story in The New York Times from October of 1993, after only 10 minutes of listening to the Sonata for Two Pianos in D, by Mozart, 36 students performed an average of 8 to 9 percent better on intelligence tests.
It also included that preschoolers score up to 80 percent better on tests of spatial and temporal reasoning only after a year of daily musical sessions.
Dr. James Catterall at the University of California said, “There are not many studies conducted on college-age students.” He continued to explain that most studies are conducted on younger children because their brains have not fully developed, whereas college-age students’ brains have.
Catterall’s studies show that as children grow older their involvement in the arts decreases, but those with high involvement show a drastic improvement, as opposed to those with low involvement.
