College presentation

Music and Attention

Hannah Oliver, Zachary Strout, Ian Rausch, Tobi Salami

• During the test, participants are shown a color word, but the font color is different.

• Participants are to select the color of the word quickly

• Measures a person's selective attention capacity and cognitive performance when faced with mismatched information

Stroop Test

Background

We wanted to assess how listening to different music genres while taking the test would affect the reaction times of participants

Experiment

Trial 4: Typical Study Music

Trial 3:Classical Music

Trial 2: Heavy Metal Music

Trial 1: Silence

Trial 1: Control

Trial 2: Heavy metal Music

Trial 3: Classical Music

Trial 4: Typical study music

• Conducted 10 experiments
• Accuracy remained consistent through trials
• Heavy metal on average had the longest reaction times
• Typical study music had the lowest
• Silence and classical are roughly the same

Results

• Intense and fast-paced music like heavy metal might be distracting when trying to focus on tasks that require cognitive control
• Participants' "typical study music" might have led to the best results due to mood improvements, motivation, or personal association
• Based on this experiment, silence or soothing tunes are good options for study music
• However personal preference also plays a role.

Conclusions