if you listen to music while doing your homework

M usic is an indispensable part of our life and you will hardly meet a person who doesn’t like listening to it. Of course, it can be a music of different genres, with or without lyrics, modern or classical, but people enjoy listening to music and can combine a variety of activities with it.

Young generations are also fans of music and every second student has always his headphones. Students listen to music everywhere: on-the-go, in public transport, in the shower and even when they do their homework. However, the last habit is quite controversial as scientists have different opinions about the effect music produces on studying. Let’s analyze the viewpoints of different scholars and decide whether pros or cons of listening to music while you do your homework will outweigh.

How can music be beneficial?

It is not surprising to see different studies about the influence of music on learning and their results are sometimes opposite to each other. Some scientists claim that music can influence the brain work positively as well as provide a learner with some huge advantages including:

• Useful for creative and reflection activities The study done at John Hopkin’s University confirms the viewpoint that music can be a great boost in writing , brainstorming, project work, problem-solving activities. It can improve productivity as well as be a perfect solution for several minutes of rest to recharge for the next activity.

Negative impact of music on doing homework

At the same time, many students still call music a distraction. Why does it happen? The answer is simple, students speak about absolutely different styles of music.

It goes without saying that listening to the song with words you will be more likely to distract from studying by repeating the words of the singer. This fact was confirmed by the University of Phoenix where researchers have proved that lyrics activates language-processing centers of the brain and that results in a lack of concentration and difficulties to recall the memorized information .

The last fact was described in the book “ Educational Psychology ”. Context-dependent learning means that people will recall information better in the same environment how they were memorizing it. If it was a music background at home, there are few chances that this background will be at school too, so information recalling will suffer greatly as well.

One more apparent point is a huge difference in people’s learning styles. Some people will have a much better productivity studying in silence, the others chewing a burger and one more group watching a TV. Music can be beneficial only to some of the students as any sound can affect the performance of others negatively. Consequently, it is impossible to make the only right conclusion about the ultimate benefit or the toughest negative impact of music on student’s performance of the home assignment. The only conclusion is apparent: everything depends on the person and his study environment .

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March 3, 2020

Does Music Boost Your Cognitive Performance?

The answer depends on your personality

By Cindi May

Getty Images

Music makes life better in so many ways. It elevates mood , reduces stress and eases pain . Music is heart-healthy , because it can lower blood pressure , reduce heart rate and decrease stress hormones in the blood. It also connects us with others and enhances social bonds . Music can even improve workout endurance and increase our enjoyment of challenging activities .

The fact that music can make a difficult task more tolerable may be why students often choose to listen to it while doing their homework or studying for exams. But is listening to music the smart choice for students who want to optimize their learning?

A new study by Manuel Gonzalez of Baruch College and John Aiello of Rutgers University suggests that for some students, listening to music is indeed a wise strategy, but for others, it is not. The effect of music on cognitive functioning appears not to be “one-size-fits-all” but to instead depend, in part, on your personality—specifically, on your need for external stimulation. People with a high requirement for such stimulation tend to get bored easily and to seek out external input. Those individuals often do worse , paradoxically, when listening to music while engaging in a mental task. People with a low need for external stimulation, on the other hand, tend to improve their mental performance with music.

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But other factors play a role as well. Gonzalez and Aiello took a fairly sophisticated approach to understanding the influence of music on intellectual performance, assessing not only listener personality but also manipulating the difficulty of the task and the complexity of the music. Whether students experience a perk or a penalty from music depends on the interplay of the personality of the learner, the mental task, and the music.

In the study, participants first completed the Boredom Proneness Scale , which is a personality test used to determine need for external stimulation. They then engaged in an easy cognitive task (searching for the letter A in lists of words) and a more challenging one (remembering word pairs). To control for practice and fatigue effects, half of the subjects completed the easy task first, while the other half completed the challenging one first. Participants finished both tasks under one of three sound conditions: (a) no music, (b) simple music or (c) complex music. All of the music was instrumental, and music complexity was manipulated by varying the number of instruments involved in the piece. Simple music included piano, strings and synthesizer, while complex music added drums and bass to the simple piece.

The data suggest that your decision to turn music on (or off) while studying should depend on your personality. For those with a high need of external stimulation, listening to music while learning is not wise, especially if the task is hard and/or the music is complex. On the simple task of finding A’s, such subjects’ scores for the music condition were the same (for simple music) or significantly worse (for complex music) than those for the silent condition. On the complex task of learning word pairs, their performance was worse whenever music was played, regardless of whether it was simple or complex.

For those with a low need of external stimulation, however, listening to music is generally the optimal choice. On the simple task of findings A’s, such participants’ scores for the music condition were the same (for simple music) or dramatically better (for complex music) than those for the silent condition. On the complex task of learning word pairs, the participants showed a small but reliable benefit with both simple and complex music, relative to silence.

The results suggest that there are substantial individual differences in the impact of music on cognitive function, and thus recommendations regarding its presence in the classroom, study hall or work environment may need to be personalized. Students who are easily bored and who seek out stimulation should be wary of adding music to the mix, especially complex music that may capture attention and consume critical cognitive resources that are needed for successful task completion. On the other hand, students with a low need for stimulation may benefit significantly from the presence of music, especially when completing simple, mundane tasks.

Before students decide to slip in their earbuds, though, they should carefully consider both their musical selection and the nature of the task. All of the music used in the present study was instrumental, and lyrical music will likely be more complex. Complexity appears to increase arousal, and the Yerkes-Dodson law suggests that a moderate level of arousal produces optimal performance. When there is too little or too much arousal, performance drops. Thus, the benefits of music for those with a low need for external stimulation that were observed here could diminish or even disappear with the added complexity of lyrics.

Similarly, increases in the complexity of a cognitive task might also reduce or eliminate the benefit of music. Although the “complex” task used in this study (learning word pairs) was only moderately challenging, the increase in complexity, relative to the simple task, was enough to reduce music’s positive effect. With a highly challenging cognitive task (e.g., text comprehension or exam preparation), even those with a low need for external stimulation may fail to show such an effect with music.

With the right (low-need-for-stimulation) personality, the right (instrumental) music and the right (low-to-moderately-difficult) task, the presence of music may significantly improve cognitive functioning. Given the many other physical, emotional and psychological benefits of music, that subscription to Spotify just might pay for itself!

Cindi May is a professor of psychology at the College of Charleston. She explores avenues for improving cognitive function and outcomes in college students, older adults and individuals who are neurodiverse.

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Is it OK to listen to music while studying?

October 17, 2019

UOW researcher answers this tricky question as NSW students start written exams for the HSC.

It’s a good question! In a nutshell, music puts us in a better mood, which makes us better at studying – but it also distracts us, which makes us worse at studying.

So if you want to study effectively with music, you want to reduce how distracting music can be, and increase the level to which the music keeps you in a good mood.

Read more: Curious Kids: Why do adults think video games are bad?

Music can put us in a better mood

You may have heard of the Mozart effect – the idea that listening to Mozart makes you “smarter”. This is based on research that found listening to complex classical music like Mozart improved test scores, which the researcher argued was based on the music’s ability to stimulate parts of our minds that play a role in mathematical ability.

However, further research conclusively debunked the Mozart effect theory: it wasn’t really anything to do with maths, it was really just that music puts us in a better mood.

Research conducted in the 1990s found a “Blur Effect” – where kids who listened to the BritPop band Blur seemed to do better on tests. In fact, researchers found that the Blur effect was bigger than the Mozart effect, simply because kids enjoyed pop music like Blur more than classical music.

Being in a better mood likely means that we try that little bit harder and are willing to stick with challenging tasks.

Music can distract us

On the other hand, music can be a distraction – under certain circumstances.

When you study, you’re using your “working memory” – that means you are holding and manipulating several bits of information in your head at once.

The research is fairly clear that when there’s music in the background, and especially music with vocals, our working memory gets worse .

Likely as a result, reading comprehension decreases when people listen to music with lyrics . Music also appears to be more distracting for people who are introverts than for people who are extroverts, perhaps because introverts are more easily overstimulated.

Some clever work by an Australia-based researcher called Bill Thompson and his colleagues aimed to figure out the relative effect of these two competing factors - mood and distraction.

They had participants do a fairly demanding comprehension task, and listen to classical music that was either slow or fast, and which was either soft or loud.

They found the only time there was any real decrease in performance was when people were listening to music that was both fast and loud (that is, at about the speed of Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, at about the volume of a vacuum cleaner).

But while that caused a decrease in performance, it wasn’t actually that big a decrease. And other similar research also failed to find large differences.

So… can I listen to music while studying or not?

To sum up: research suggests it’s probably fine to listen to music while you’re studying - with some caveats.

It’s better if:

• it puts you in a good mood
• it’s not too fast or too loud
• it’s less wordy (and hip-hop, where the words are rapped rather than sung, is likely to be even more distracting)
• you’re not too introverted.

Happy listening and good luck in your exams!

Read more: Curious Kids: Why do old people hate new music?

Timothy Byron , Lecturer in Psychology, University of Wollongong

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

UOW academics exercise academic freedom by providing expert commentary, opinion and analysis on a range of ongoing social issues and current affairs. This expert commentary reflects the views of those individual academics and does not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the University of Wollongong.

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4 best music for homework that’ll dramatically improve your productivity

Choosing the right music for homework can help you focus better and learn faster.

Around 60% of students tend to listen to music while studying. Researchers also found that listening to music was the most popular side activity for teens who juggled studying with another task.

While we may prefer different genres of focus music, we can all agree that the right playlist has the magical ability to boost concentration.

This is because music activates the most diverse networks of the human brain. It’s been proven that people with ADHD focus better with the right music.

This is on top of  existing research  that has found listening to music reduces anxiety, blood pressure, and improves sleep quality, mood, and memory.

Johns Hopkins University researchers have done work on jazz performers improvising inside an fMRI machine to see which areas of the brain light up as well.

They found that jazz musicians make unique improvisations by turning off inhibition and turning up creativity.

In short, if you find the right music for homework, you can elevate both brain power and creativity.

While there isn’t a one-size-fit-all approach to this, let us help you narrow down some of the best genres for you to try:

Here are the five best music for homework to help you increase your productivity:

Having the right music matters, even for top athletes. Source: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

1. Classical music

When picking music for homework, you’ve probably heard how classical music can increase your focus when studying.

There’s a theory dubbed “The Mozart Effect” that suggests this genre of music can enhance brain activity and arouse your brain to focus.

There are also several studies done where students listening to classical music did better on quizzes than students with no music.

Suggestions:

• ClassicFM  (a free radio streaming platform that plays famous classical pieces)
• “Study Playlist: Classical Music” on Spotify
• “Classical Music for When You’re on a Deadline” on YouTube

2. Video game music 

This might surprise you but video game music is actually one of the best music for homework. According to Orion Academy , video game music is designed to keep you absorbed and focused — which is also great for memorising. 

When your brain is focused on just melody, it’s taking a break from trying to break down the lyrics of a song and thus increases your performance .

Video game music tends to stay at a relatively low, constant volume too, preventing you from becoming distracted by sudden increases in volume.

Since video game music is generally fast-paced, your brain will be constantly engaged in the task at hand.

• “Video game soundtracks” on Spotify
• “Video game music for studying” on YouTube
• Choose favourites from this list and create your own playlist!

If you’re someone who easily gets distracted, RnB may not be the best music for homework for you. There’s a high chance that you might spend too much time jamming to the lyrics of the song instead of focusing.

Though music under his genre generally has lyrics, many RnB fans reported feeling more relaxed, focused, and less stressed, which may have a positive impact on their ability to focus and learn.

• “Study R&B Smooth Songs ” on Spotify
• “Chill R&B Beats Mix – Beats to Relax and Study (Vol.1)” on YouTube

4. Nature sounds 

It’s been shown that nature sounds relax our nervous system. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute  have also discovered that natural sounds boost moods and focus.

The study found employees were more productive and had more positive feelings when nature sounds were playing in the background while they worked.

Nature sounds include the soothing sounds of the rain, ocean waves on the beach or even the jungle. Some prefer listening to bird calls and animal noises, so feel free to explore if nature sounds aren’t the right music for homework for you. 

Relaxing Nature Sounds for Sleeping – Natural Calm Forest Waterfall Music Meditation Sound for Study on YouTube

“Nature Sounds For Concentration” on Spotify

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The Ultimate Study Music Playlist

This is a playlist of my favorite study music. It’s great for homework, studying for exams, reading, and generally getting crap crossed off my many checklists.

I’ve been working on this playlist for several years, and it contains music (all non-lyrical) from a wide variety of genres and sources, including video game/anime/movie soundtracks. At the moment, it’s got about 240 songs for you to choose from.

Listening on another app? I’ve worked to mirror this study playlist to other services. Check them out below:

• Spotify Study Music Playlist
• Apple Music Study Playlist

If you’d like, you can study with me in another tab while this plays. You can also listen to the playlist on YouTube instead of on this page.

By the way – I create my own study music as well! If you’d like to give it a listen, here’s a playlist:

You can also follow me on Spotify or on YouTube if you want to be notified when new tracks are released.

Need even more study music?

Here are a few options.

Brain.fm – Music designed specifically to help you focus more effectively. It works really well for me, and I use it for around 50% of my research, writing, and reading sessions – the other half are mostly done with the playlist above.

Piano Study Playlist – If you’re in the mood for a more consistent playlist, check out this one full of solo piano tracks.

Coffitivity – Sometimes I’m in the mood for ambient noise instead of music, and the sounds of a bustling coffee shop are my personal favorite type.

Noisli – An ambient noise generator that lets you create your own mix using sounds like rain, thunder, fan, and white/brown/pink noise.

More Playlists

Work Vibes – My personal playlist of “getting-stuff-done” music. Most of the tracks here have vocals, so I wouldn’t read or study intently with them. But they’re great for crushing emails, working on design projects, or doing other work where I simply need to execute quickly.

Tom’s Workout Playlist – A collection of the tracks that usually accompany me to the gym.

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Listening to Music While Doing Homework and Studying: Is It A Good Idea?

words Al Woods

Image credit

Nowadays, most students go to the library with their headphones and to the study halls. Although, the question is, does listening to music when studying help? Yes, it may help despite the distractions that come your way. Music can put you in a better mood, and in a better position to study.

You can choose to listen to soothing music because it has several advantages, like helping you beat anxiety and beating your stress while doing your assignments. The following reasons show that listening to music when doing your homework is a good idea.

Reduces anxiety  

When you’re studying, anxiety can be a crippling blockade, and some ways can help you beat the heat, especially when you’re writing that extended essay you were given from school as your homework. For example, you were issued a complimentary massage during each study session in your college period. As a result, your anxiety and tension levels may lower when doing your homework. So, the music’s effect on your anxiety levels during your homework time can be similar to the impact you have when getting a massage.

Your favorite music tune can reduce your anxiety as you do your assignment because it helps you feel relaxed. Also, you can opt to listen to rap music when studying or doing your homework because of the uplifting effect it may give you that may help you manage, accept, and know how to deal with your mental health issues. Since there is more than one genre of rap, you can look for the one that gives your brain the extra support it may want.

Increases creativity 

You may be in a situation where you are working on some assignment stressing you, and you don’t want to die of boredom . In that case, you can consider putting on your school headphones with microphone , then set the volume that you think is best for you, go through your playlist and choose your favorite songs, then enjoy yourself with the most soothing music.

It would help if you regulated your music to avoid distraction and concentrate on your work. The background music you put can help stimulate your abstract thinking and tune your brain towards a creative work mode. That’s why most creative people get attracted to the background noise music played in the cafes or the dams.

Energy motivation

You may be needing a quick pick me up, especially before a marathon writing session, and in this case, one or two stimulating songs can help in boosting your drive in tackling the awaiting drudgery. The music gets to engage the autonomic nervous system of your body, which shows that music can help control your psychological emotions at a certain level. Also, when the music you’re listening to is correct, it can help in serving as a fantastic stimulant that will help your pulse and accelerate breathing. It will help you do your homework well while motivated.

It can help ease your stress

It’s the middle of the semester, and your stress has run high because of the many undone assignments whose deadlines are catching up with you soon. It can be the perfect time to start doing your homework while listening to music. Music can help you reduce stress, especially when it’s not so loud. Even if you may be having some health problems, music can be your stress remover. When you listen to soothing music, it can decrease your heartbeat while reducing your anxiety levels.

Music can also help process your emotions while helping you feel relaxed because of the ups and downs when studying. In addition, you can opt to turn on the theme you can relate to because it will help you deal with your homework stress. So, if your college life has made you feel down or distracted you, then the best idea you should consider is putting some music on. Music will help you concentrate on your assignments and studies and keep your stress at bay while putting you in a learning mood.

Increases your focus 

Music can increase your focus because it can help your brain absorb and easily interpret new information. In this case, when studying, your brain can be processing much information that it receives from the world as it starts separating it into smaller segments. Music can help engage your brain and begin training it to start paying some attention to what you’re learning while making predictions on what may happen. So, it can help you study, especially when you struggle making sense of the new learning materials. Listening to music will make the process better and easier.

Also, it helps in learning where you can link the ability to make better predictions about the reasoning skills events. Of course, improved reasoning may not help pull some answers during exam time. But it’s possible to notice a difference in your reasoning ability based on your information.

Music helps deal with your noisy roommates

You may coexist in space with people who don’t keep quiet. In this case, your roommate may be fond of talking out loud and maybe doesn’t care about the presence of others and the reasons to speak in a composed way. Through this, it’s easy for you to get distracted if your roommate makes endless phone calls and has a lot of conversations. This nightmare can get solved with good noise-canceling headphones and good music. As you do your homework, you can consider music as the only possible way out, especially when you’re not feeling like going to the library.

Helps you memorize new information

When you decide to listen to classical music, it can help you, especially when you want to process some tasks in memory. There is a type of music that may help in boosting your memorization abilities and different cognitive functions. Music will help stimulate your brain, similar to exercising, which promotes your body.

In sum, music can be considered a big part of your daily life because you may need to listen to it, especially when you want to get many things done. In addition, radio or movie music may significantly impact how you understand what you’re learning.

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Is Listening to Music while doing Homework OK: 21 best Songs

Listening to music doing homework

Listening to music while doing your homework has always caused divisions in its effectiveness. Some argue that it is advantageous, while others argue that it does not help.

As long as the music doesn’t affect your concentration, then there is no reason why you should not play several songs as you do your homework.

This will help you if you want to handle assignments well. However, if you have no time for that, you hire an assignment writer to do the job for you.

Need Help with your Homework or Essays?

Is it ok to listen to music while doing homework.

The answer to this question is twofold. Music can help put us in a better mood, which is good for studying. Music can also distract us, which is not good when studying.

It is OK to listen to music while doing homework if it does not distract you from your studies. In fact, if you get used to listening to your favorite songs, you can increase the amount of time you spend doing assignments. However, listening to music can be a distraction from your studies if you are not used to it or if it is not your favorite playlist.

For music to be effective when studying, the rate at which it disturbs you should be reduced, and the rate at which it makes you feel good should be increased. 

Research has shown that listening to music while doing tests can boost your scores.

This is due to the ability of music to stimulate parts of the mind that play a role in mathematical ability.

This theory about maths was debunked, and it was concluded that the main reason music can make you do well in tests is its ability to put you in a better mood.

Kids enjoyed more pop music than classical music.

Children who listened to pop did better in tests, as per the research. When music makes us feel good, we try harder, and our minds are willing to take on challenging tasks. 

Music can distract us when studying. When you are studying, your mind manipulates several types of information at once and music can distract that.

The working memory gets worse when listening to music with vocals. Vocals and music lyrics can decrease reading comprehension. Introverts are easily overstimulated and listening to music while studying can distract them more than extroverts.

Bill Thompson, a researcher based in Australia, found that the performance of people when studying can be decreased by listening to music that is both loud and fast.

Those who listened to slow and soft music were less distracted. The difference was not too big. The decrease in performance was minimal.

Therefore, it is fair to conclude that listening to music while you are studying is fine if it puts you in a good mood and it is not too fast or loud.

If you are not an introvert, listening to music while studying is less distracting. Less wordy music is fine to listen to while studying. 

Why Do Students Listen to Music While Studying?

If you turn on music every time you study, it can become a stereotype that can help trigger your mental activity.

Students listen to music while studying to trigger their mental activity as they study. Some report that they enjoy music playing in the background as part of the studying environment. Students also listen to music as a form of entertainment while doing homework, a task they find boring.

Music can prepare and tune your mind to do assignments.

The following are reasons why students listen to music while doing their assignments:

1. It Helps Students Relax before Learning

Music can help you cope with stress.

In research conducted by the US Department of Homeland Security, it was concluded that soothing music consisted of classical pieces, and it helped reduce the level of cortisol in the blood.

The music had an analgesic and sedative effect, too. Turning on the appropriate music can help you relax after a long day of classes and concentrate on your assignments. 

2. Improves Concentration

When it is hard for students to concentrate and do their homework, music helps them to find motivation. Music helps create conditions that are right and comfortable for brain activity.

Mozart music, for example, according to scientists, helps improve alertness and concentration. Students can gather information and thoughts as well as process a rich flow of information. Using MRI, scientists concluded that music affects the most active parts of the brain.

3. It Improves Memory

Soft music plays a significant role in activating neural connections that impact cognitive performance as well as improving memory. Soft music increases intellectual indicators.

It enables students to remember new information better and be less biased in solving very unfamiliar problems. Students can rely on soft music to learn faster and improve memory.

4. Helps Increase Creativity

The average noise level is an example of a creative catalyst. If boredom is killing you as you are working on several assignments, you can put on your headphones to your desired volume and set your favorite playlist.

This gives students some pleasure as they work on their assignments. Always note that loud volumes may end up ruining your concentration.

Background noises complicate the process of processing information and stimulate abstract thinking, hence tuning the brain into a creative work mode. 

5. Helps Deal with Noisy Roommates

Most students live together in school hostels. Roommates at many times interfere with each other’s work. A roommate can be a very talkative person and merely cares about the presence of others.

Sometimes, they don’t see the need to keep silent. Music and noise-cancelling headphones can easily help you deal with this problem. Music can be the only way you have to concentrate on your work if the library is closed. 

5. Music Helps Feel Blue Without Any Consequences

Music boosts the psychology of students. Students often think about their problems when they are studying. According to psychologist Stean Kelsch, positively listening to sad music affects emphatic qualities.

A student can then easily cope with problems. Students listen to performers, associate with them, and empathize with them. The brain then can control emotions and allow the student to let out negative emotions.

The sadness that comes with listening to sad music does not cause consequences that are the same as real sadness caused by difficult situations.

6. Music Motivates Students to Study

Students face the challenge of knuckling down to studies. Sticking to studies once you have started is also a problem among many students.

Students’ favorite tunes help them deal with this by creating a playlist of songs that get them in the zone. If you don’t feel like doing your homework , you can use music as a motivator.

They get excited about the assignment they are about to do and focus on the outcomes.

Listening to music helps release dopamine in the brain, which is a feel-good chemical, according to scientists.

Tracing of neural mechanisms using tomography was used by scientists in the study.

It showed that listening to music helps increase blood flow and activate the brain parts that are responsible for emotions, motivation, and excitement. 

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List of 21 Good Songs to Listen to While Doing Homework

The challenge when it comes to selecting music to listen to when doing your homework comes with the type of songs. Do not choose music that distracts your need to stay focused.

Everyone can have a different list of songs depending on their favorite playlists. The music preference can be piano, acoustic guitar, classical music, Jazz, reggae, or any other genre.

The following is an example of a playlist that you can listen to when doing your homework:

• Jelly 292 –Jimi Hendrix
• Don’t play with my heart – India Shawn
• Death bed coffee for your head – Powu t Beabadoobee
• Friends Don’t Look at Friends That Way – Tate McRae 
• Say Something – A Great Big World, Christina Aguilera
• The Birth and Death of the Day –Explosions in the Sky
• What If I Told You I Love You – Alie Gate
• I hate you, I love you – Gnash t Olivia O’Brien
• Ad Astra Per Aspera –Acceptance
• Out of My Mind- John Mayer
• Happier – Olievier Rodrigo
• Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX) –Pink Floyd
• Guilty Cubicles –Broken Social Scene
• Red-Eye –The Album Leaf
• You Don’t Even Know – The Internet ft. Tay Walker
• Open Eye Signal – Jon Hopkins
• Symphony No. 40 in G minor, First Movement – Mozart
• Canon. –Zox
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Josh Jasen or JJ as we fondly call him, is a senior academic editor at Grade Bees in charge of the writing department. When not managing complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In his spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

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Does Listening to Music While Doing Homework Affect Your Grade in School?

• College Life

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Music is a powerful art form that can bring up emotions, inspire motivation and alter your mood. Students frequently listen to music while studying to make the process less painful and, in some cases, because they believe music will help them learn. The effects of listening to music while studying are mixed, however, and depend upon the type of music you listen to as well as the degree to which it distracts you.

Music With Lyrics

Music with lyrics activates the language-processing centers of the brain, and the University of Phoenix advises that this can be distracting. Particularly if you're reading or studying subjects within the humanities, the act of processing musical lyrics as you try to process the words you're studying can make studying more challenging. Students who listen to music with lyrics may have more difficulty concentrating and may struggle more to recall the information they've learned.

Instrumental Music

Robin Harwood, et al. point to the "Mozart Effect" in their textbook "Child Psychology." The "Mozart Effect" is the belief that listening to classical music can improve intelligence; it is based upon a single study that was subsequently refuted. Instrumental and classical music won't make you smarter, according to Harwood, et al. But this music can have a relaxing, soothing effect and is less distracting than music with lyrics.

Staying Focused

A 2005 study published in "Psychology of Music" found that workers who listened to music while working had higher productivity than those who didn't. The study's authors speculate that this could be because music boosts mood, improving motivation. Particularly among students who are struggling to remain motivated to complete their work, music might provide a respite from the stress and exhaustion of studying and inspire them to keep at it.

Context-Dependent Learning

People recall information more effectively when they're doing so in the same environment in which they initially learned it, according to the textbook "Educational Psychology." Students who listen to music while studying will be better at recalling the information they've learned if they also listen to music during tests -- an opportunity most students don't have. This might mean that listening to music can make recalling information more challenging, particularly for students who transition from listening to loud music to taking a test in a silent classroom.

• Psychology of Music: The Effect of Music Listening on Work Performance
• Mind the Science Gap: Does Music Help You Study?
• University of Phoenix: Should You Listen to Music While Studying?
• USA Today College: Should You Listen to Music While You Study?
• Child Psychology; Robin Harwood et al.; 2008
• Educational Psychology; Anita Woolfolk; 2006

Van Thompson is an attorney and writer. A former martial arts instructor, he holds bachelor's degrees in music and computer science from Westchester University, and a juris doctor from Georgia State University. He is the recipient of numerous writing awards, including a 2009 CALI Legal Writing Award.

The Effects of Music on a Student's Schoolwork

What is evidence-based reading, effects of social promotions on students, the effects of electronics in schools, kids in school with music vs. kids in school without music, music's effect on concentration as a science project, advantages & disadvantages of different learning styles, methods of engaging students during a lesson in kindergarten, what are the positive & negatives of iq testing, most popular.

• 1 The Effects of Music on a Student's Schoolwork
• 2 What Is Evidence-Based Reading?
• 3 Effects of Social Promotions on Students
• 4 The Effects of Electronics in Schools

• T.H.E – Podcasts

Why to Listen to Music While Doing Homework

Music is a proven tool that can help you concentrate. However, it’s not easy for some people to focus when even a light sound reaches their ears. Some people can even forget instantly that they were looking for essay writing help by Essayhub.com and remember about it when it’s too late. It can be also a sign of irritability but can be fixed with the help of music as well. The trick is to test what music your mind perceives better.

Psychologists constantly repeat that a person should adhere to the schedule and strict regime to increase their work efficiency.

It is important to create the same work environment while doing your homework. Your table should be free of distracting things, and you should have enough light not to strain your eyes. Besides, your chair should be comfortable enough not to cause tension in your muscles. And you should turn on classical music in the background if you want to completely focus on monotonous work and immerse yourself in implementing your tasks. Besides, they recommend putting on “special” clothes for homework and making a certain “ritual” before the beginning. All these stereotypical, permanent things allow you to get ready for doing your mental work and increase your efficiency. If you turn on music every time you start doing your homework, it becomes one of these stereotypes that triggers your mental activity. Thus, when I am going to write my essay , I turn on the same musical composition every time, so my brain tunes to exactly this task. So, what benefits can you get from listening to music while doing your homework?

It helps quickly relax before learning

Specialists from the US Department of Homeland Security conducted a musical experiment and confirmed that music helps cope with stress. The study was based on combinations of different frequencies, durations, and amplitudes of tracks, which their test subjects were listening to; they watched their state and ability to relax. Most of the soothing compositions were variants of classical pieces close to Chopin’s music. Such music reduced the level of cortisol in the blood, had a sedative and analgesic effect. Thus, if you want to relax after classes and distract yourself a bit, you can turn on appropriate music for about 10 minutes. Another option to reduce stress is to order an essay paper to meet a deadline.

It helps concentrate

If you find it difficult to force yourself to start doing your homework, you should try to find motivation and create the right conditions for comfortable brain activity. Scientists have found that Mozart music and similar compositions increase alertness and improve concentration. According to a Stanford University Medical Center report, music affects areas of the brain associated with concentration and memory development. Scientists conducted a study using MRI. They tracked which parts of the brain are most active. Experts have concluded that Baroque music, written in past centuries, helps people gather their thoughts and process a rich flow of information.

It improves memory

Mozart music helps significantly improve memory and activate neural connections that affect cognitive performance. Scientists divided the participants into several groups, and each of them was listening to Mozart and Beethoven’s compositions. As a result, it was noted that those who listened to Mozart’s sonatas had increased intellectual indicators. People remembered new information better and were less biased about solving an unfamiliar problem. Another group of participants that was listening to Beethoven didn’t show such obvious changes, so the results of the experiment were called the Mozart effect. Thus, if you want to improve your memory and learn everything faster, play Mozart compositions in the background.

It helps deal with noisy roommates

It often happens that people who coexist in the same space interfere with each other’s work. Thus, you can live with a roommate who is fond of talking and who doesn’t care about your presence and necessity to keep silent. So, you can get distracted by such a person, their endless phone calls, and conversations. Noise-canceling headphones and music can help solve this problem. While doing your homework, music can become the only possible way out if you don’t want to go to the library, of course.

But in addition to homework, students often have to write essays on various subjects. Someone does not have free time, and someone does not have enough writing skills to perform such a creative task. Online services for students write test papers, essays, dissertations, etc. Written papers are interesting to read, they always correspond exactly to the task at hand. But how to choose a proven service? On essaysadvisor.com , you can find detailed reviews of companies that specialize in student help. This way, you will save a lot of time on the search.

It helps increase creativity

Suppose you don’t want to die from boredom while working on some monotonous assignments. In that case, you can put on headphones, set the desired volume, choose your favorite playlist, and immerse yourself into the process with bigger pleasure. Be that as it may, loud music is unlikely to help when it comes to work that requires activation of the right hemisphere. It turns out that the average noise level is a kind of creative catalyst. By complicating the process of processing information, background noise stimulates abstract thinking and tunes the human brain into a creative work mode. That is why public places, such as cafes, dams, and parks, attract creative people.

It helps feel blue without consequences

Music psychologist Stefan Kelsch has concluded that listening to sad music positively affects empathic qualities and helps a person cope with problems. He believes that the listener associates themselves with the performer and empathizes with them. Currently, the brain regulates emotions, allowing you to let out negative emotions. Such sadness does not cause consequences on a par with real sadness that arises in difficult situations. Thus, sad music promotes the experience of pain without harm to a student’s psychological health.

It helps boost dopamine production

The hormone dopamine is produced as a reward for achieving goals and helps create a good mood. A study with a tracing of neural mechanisms using tomography showed that the subjects experienced an increase in blood flow during the experiment, activated parts of the brain responsible for emotions, excitement, and motivation. Listening to music that you like activates the brain’s reward system on a par with eating sugary, fatty foods, or socializing with loved ones.

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The Best Study Music: What to Listen to While Doing Homework

Students and music cannot be separated because they all love music and some can keep their players on an entire day. Music can help lift mood even when the student is alone in their rooms, relaxing outdoors, or walking. In the study room, not all music will be good when you are doing your homework.

You need to concentrate on getting the answers right because some types of music will just keep distracting you and you might lose an important point. The following music is good to listen to during homework time.

Hip hop is generally called hip hop culture because its lovers believe it promotes a music culture globally. Being one of the oldest music genres, Hip hop blends several tunes and vocals into one piece of a song that is vibrant, confronting, and celebrating life.

This is one of the styles of music a student can listen to while doing homework because it mostly speaks about real-life experiences and encourages a listener when they realize they are not the only ones experiencing a challenging moment. It can help encourage a student do homework even when they feel like the task is too difficult for them.

Other type of Homework help

If you want to do well in college, always make an effort to do all the homework your teacher assigns you. It helps improve learning and you will reap the good fruits of education. Despite your efforts to do your best and complete all academic work, sometimes you feel you need help. You don’t have to worry because Edubirdie can do your homework while you concentrate on your study. You can get help from their professional writers any time because they help every student according to their needs.

Country music

Country hits are mostly associated with things that touch on independence and freedom. The artists sing about situations they went through yet overcame. Some sing about terrible adversities like alcoholism, fighting, rejections, and such incidences and how they eventually overcame. Doing a ton of homework is not always easy because some assignments can be tough and complex. The student might feel it was not meant for them but if they can tune and listen to several country hits, they can start feeling encouraged and go on with their assignments.

Jamaican reggae is characterized by features such as amplified guitars, offbeat quavers, electric guitars, and a large number of drums. It is a genre that is more masculine than feminine and male students love this genre. Although it doesn’t have a unique rhythm, reggae reflects culture, values, and spirituality. Some researchers say listening to reggae can help students do better in math because the spirituality in reggae can help condition the mind to learn. If a student has some math to do in their homework subject, they might consider listening to reggae.

Classical music forms a combination of sophisticated tunes and vocals and this is what makes this genre popular. Researchers believe classical music nurtures the soul and helps grow the mind. Other studies say when a student creates a habit of listening to classical music, their language skills develop fast. They also benefit from improved spatial skills, reasoning skills, and better intelligence. These are benefits that can help a student do their homework better.

Instrumental

Instruments-only music was traditionally used as a substitute for vocals and to create music for dancing. Listening to this genre can help an individual learn better about other cultures and appreciate the expertise of instrumentalists. When used by a student, it can help boost critical thinking and improve development for creativity. These are important skills needed for higher student productivity.

Nature sounds

According to recent data, listening to recorded sounds of nature has many benefits to the mind. It helps reduce stress, pain and increase mood. The study further says listening to natural sounds helps an individual create a sense of safety and they can stop worrying about what is happening outside and concentrate on what is before them. A student can do their homework better when listening to recorded natural sounds.

Music has immeasurable benefits to students while at school, commuting, or relaxing. A student can listen to music to improve cognitive skills and enhance their memory. Students who create a habit of listening to music when doing their homework may enjoy doing their assignments without feeling stressed. Currently, there are over 1,000 music genres in the market and this gives a student freedom to choose which genre is best for them .

Author’s Bio:

Robert Everett is a leading writer and works for a marketing agency where is known for marketing collateral, brochures and PPT designing skills. He’s equally good in his freelancing job, where he helps students do their homework and essays on time and effectively. In his free time, he loves cooking Korean food, watching sports shows and learning digital art.

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• Neuroscience

Why Is Listening to Music So Pleasurable?

Exploring the fascinating overlap between the enjoyment of a melody and a meal..

Posted May 14, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

• The joy of listening to music is shaped by our musical experience as a teen and our cultural background.
• The pleasure of music is processed in the phylogenetically newer frontal cortex.
• Music pleasure also relies on primitive reward-related structures that allow the enjoyment of eating.

Restaurateurs want you to enjoy your dining experience. However, it’s not only about the food: ambiance matters. The music within each restaurant is carefully chosen according to the presumed tastes of their clientele with the goal of enhancing the experience of eating. Scientists know quite a lot about the brain mechanisms that reward us for eating; little is known about how the brain interprets the aesthetic experience of listening to music and whether they activate similar brain regions.

The joy of eating is processed by a set of brain regions that constitute the classic reward circuit. These include the ventral tegmental area, where all our dopamine neurons live, the nucleus accumbens (the most important reward center), the insula cortex, and a small region of cortex on the middle face of the frontal lobes.

This circuitry has been conserved by evolution and appears in similar locations, usually similar neurotransmitters, in reptiles, birds, and mammals. Yet, the ability to experience pleasure from music is considered a uniquely human trait (although birds interpret pitch differently than humans do, they will move rhythmically to music). The enjoyment of food is innate and highly preserved across species for an extremely good reason: survival. In contrast, musical preferences are shaped by whatever we listen to as teens and cultural background (Greenberg et al., 2015). Neuroimaging studies suggest that that music-induced pleasure is mediated by the communication between the ancient reward circuitry involving dopamine and higher-order cortical regions.

In a recent study (Mas-Herrero et al., 2020), hedonic responses to food were used as a control condition to determine common and distinct brain responses associated with the pleasure of listening to music. The authors hypothesized that the pleasure of listening to music would be processed in the phylogenetically newer prefrontal cortex as compared to the pleasure of eating. They conducted a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies that investigated brain responses to music- and food-induced pleasure.

Music, as compared to food, appears to have some unique reward circuitry in the brain. These areas are particularly important.

The ventral striatum (and the nucleus accumbens in particular) is often referred to as the brain’s most important pleasure center. The pleasures of eating and listening to music powerfully activate the ventral striatum. One of the main inputs to this region is the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine. When scientists pharmacologically enhanced the function of dopamine in this area, the patients reported significantly enhanced feelings of subjective pleasure described as “music-induced chills” (Ferreri et al., 2019). In contrast, blocking the actions of dopamine completely reduced the music-induced emotional responses.

Learning is also crucial for the experience of musical pleasure. One area called the superior temporal gyrus (located conveniently next to each ear) is responsible for perceiving the characteristics of music, such as pitch, tonal pattern, and musical imagery, and for helping us remember that we like those characteristics.

An area of the cortex called the inferior frontal gyrus is activated while listening to pleasant music, but only on the right side of the brain. This is consistent with a long-held view that the right hemisphere is responsible for processing music rather than language. People who suffer with amusia (a deficit in music perception and production) show significant anomalies in the right inferior frontal cortex.

The ventral-medial prefrontal cortex (located just a few inches behind the bridge of your nose) responds to both food- and music-induced pleasure and then informs the ventral striatum. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown that activation of this brain area consistently correlates with subjective reports that the music they are listening to is considered pleasurable. Recent studies have shown that music activates anterior portions of the prefrontal cortex more reliably than food rewards. Patients with frontotemporal lobe dementia may develop musicophilia, a specific craving for music.

The insula, a region of the brain that tells you whether you like or dislike a particular sensory experience, was consistently engaged across both music and food rewards. This is not surprising, given that the insular cortex is an integration hub involved in sensory, cognitive, motivational and emotional functions.

Overall, recent studies have provided clear evidence that music-induced pleasure relies on the engagement of both higher-order cortical regions involved in auditory cognition and somewhat primitive reward-related structures that are usually associated with the enjoyment of eating. (For more about the effect of eating on the brain, see my book Your Brain on Food .)

Mas-Herrero E, et al., (2020) Common and distinct neural correlates of music and food-induced pleasure: a coordinate-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.12.008.

Ferreri L, et al., (2019) Dopamine modulates the reward experiences elicited by music. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 116, 3793–3798. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811878116

Greenberg DM, et al., (2015) Musical preferences are linked to cognitive styles. PLoS ONE 10, e0131151. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131151

Gary L. Wenk, Ph.D. , is a professor of psychology, neuroscience, molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics at the Ohio State University.

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Use Active Listening to Help a Colleague Make a Hard Decision

• Cheryl Strauss Einhorn

Don’t jump straight to problem-solving.

Imagine a colleague is faced with a high-stakes decision. They’re likely stressed, conflicted, and overwhelmed. In these situations, many of us default to the role of problem-solver. We try to support our colleague by providing our opinion or offering a solution. But to effectively support decision makers in your organization, you need to step back from your own ego and just listen . This article outlines practical strategies for exercising four types of active listening: emotional, informational, analytical, and reflective. Active listening can be hard to do, but it’s a great skill to practice. It allows you to strengthen key relationships while giving decision makers the space to make decisions for themselves.

Arnaldo was the chief operating officer at a successful investment firm. Recently, the firm’s results had been underperforming expectations. This poor performance was due to one large investment that the chief investment officer, Russ, was committed to holding. Arnaldo had fielded several calls from investors who wanted Russ to sell the money-losing investment. So, when Russ asked for a meeting to discuss the fund’s performance, Arnaldo’s instinct was to make a pitch to sell — to solve the problem.

• Cheryl Strauss Einhorn is the founder and CEO of Decisive, a decision sciences company using her AREA Method decision-making system for individuals, companies, and nonprofits looking to solve complex problems. Decisive offers digital tools and in-person training, workshops, coaching and consulting. Cheryl is a long-time educator teaching at Columbia Business School and Cornell and has won several journalism awards for her investigative news stories. She’s authored two books on complex problem solving, Problem Solved for personal and professional decisions, and Investing In Financial Research about business, financial, and investment decisions. Her new book, Problem Solver, is about the psychology of personal decision-making and Problem Solver Profiles. For more information please watch Cheryl’s TED talk and visit areamethod.com .

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