Listening to music while studying: is it beneficial?

Fact Checked

Under review

Many people use music to study. Others, on the other hand, although they like it, say that they cannot do it with it. In this article we talk about what science says.

Music can have great effects on the mind and emotions: it helps modulate mood, improves academic performance, partially compensates for the cognitive loss of aging, and can even help improve physical health. There are many people who choose to listen to music to study. Thus, today we want to ask ourselves if it can really make us learn more and better.

One of the reasons why many listen to it is because it minimizes the impact that other noises in our environment can have. Also because it can infect us with a rhythm that pulls us into routine, repetitive and somewhat boring tasks. In any case, it is a somewhat controversial topic on which today we want to shed a little light.

Pros and cons of listening to music to study

The benefits and disadvantages of listening to background music when studying are various and disparate. To contextualize the debate, here are some plus points:

Music stimulates areas of the prefrontal lobe that are related to attention, concentration and satisfaction. People who listen to music to study report that they concentrate more and solve problems with less effort.Music activates areas of the temporal lobe They also play roles in mathematical thinking and language, so they would help develop them. People who want to learn a language often report great gains in language immersion when they listen to music in that language. In addition, it is also a way to get to know other cultures.Helps combat stress before exams, which promotes relaxation and retention of information.Keeps the brain active which would help combat sleep.

On the other hand, There are also people who prefer not to listen to music to study. They would also have arguments to defend their position:

Read Also: The best phrases of Zeno of Citium, the philosopher of the portico

Depending on the type of music and the time of content, Music can act as a distractor. For example, the lyrics of a song can activate memories that take our mind away from what we are studying. Songs with lyrics, even in an unknown language, produce verbal interference. Music can make reading, paying attention and content fixation are more superficial.

So, is it beneficial to listen to music when studying?

Taking into account a good part of the studies carried out to date, it would be necessary to go beyond an absolute yes or no. It depends on the person, on his mood, but above all on the content and the strategies he is using to assimilate it.

Studying the literature of the Golden Age accompanied by a song by Julio Iglesias is not the same as trying to solve some mathematics problems accompanied by classical music.

Music for repetitive tasks

Before being studied as a complement to study, music has been used to try to improve productivity in factories. They found that For repetitive, predictable and boring tasks, music acted as a stimulant for the mind, helping to cope with the monotony.

For this reason, memorization based on repetition can be benefited by the rhythm of music. For example, you surely remember songs from your childhood that were meant for you to learn.

However, if it is verbal material, you should not use music with lyrics, as it may interfere with your learning.

Interference in complex tasks

On the contrary, When it comes to performing a complex task that requires concentration and mental effort, the sound of music does seem to be a real interference.

Read Also: The 7 most important inventions in history

In research published in Psychological Reports It was evident that people counted backwards much worse when a piece of music chosen by them was played.

It is even worse in the case of catchy melodies: the mind automatically returns to the music, especially if it has lyrics in a language that is understood. This greatly interferes with the concentration needed to perform complex mental operations.

Songs without lyrics and with a not very high rhythm

A general tip for those people who want to take advantage of the positive effects that music can have in the studio is to choose songs without lyrics and that do not have a very high tempo. If what we want with music is to isolate ourselves from the environment, an alternative may be the so-called white noise..

Plus, music can help get us going. We can put it at the beginning, as a handle against the laziness that the horizon of sitting in front of the notes after a day of work can give us. If it bothers us later, we can remove it or move on to another type that stimulates reflection more than activation.

above music yes or music no, there is the art of choosing the music that can help us the most in the circumstances in which we find ourselves at that moment.