(2011) gave a first hint as to why previous results were so mixed. Further studies report that it has a positive impact, especially on students with learning disabilities ( Savan, 1999) or poor spelling skills ( Scheree et al., 2000). While some studies found no effect of background music (e.g., Moreno and Mayer, 2000 Jäncke and Sandmann, 2010) others found that it negatively impacted learning outcomes. Results of studies investigating the relationship between background music and learning outcomes are varied. Learners are intended to listen to this music but there is no relation between the music itself and the main task, namely learning the text. In this study we define background music as music that plays in the background while studying, i.e., when reading a text. To be able to simultaneously deal with the learning material and the background music, the learner’s working memory capacity is a crucial factor to consider.
On the other side, background music could lead to an additional burden on working memory (seductive detail effect e.g., Rey, 2012), thus hindering learning. On the one side, music seems to have a positive (Mozart effect Rauscher et al., 1993) and stimulating effect (arousal-mood-hypothesis Husain et al., 2002), which could improve learning. Due to these advances in music technology, learning with background music has received more and more attention over the last decade (e.g., Schwartz et al., 2017).įor some situations it seems intuitive to think that music would help to enhance our experience – but how do music and learning fit together? At present the effects of background music while learning and the mechanisms behind this are unclear. This makes it possible to select suitable songs for different situations, such as relaxing songs for a cozy evening or activating songs before going out. Furthermore, the choice of available songs is almost endless due to music portals. One influencing factor was the increasing availability of music: whilst in the past one was in need of CDs or tapes and an according player, nowadays music can be played digitally on many different devices such as computers, mobile phones or iPods. Music has become much more readily available to the public in the past decades. This is in line with the seductive detail assumption. However, when considering comprehension we did find an interaction between background music and working memory capacity: the higher the learners’ working memory capacity, the better they learned with background music. In addition, for recall performance there were no main effects of background music or working memory capacity, nor an interaction effect of these factors. We did not find a mediation effect between background music and arousal or mood on learning outcomes. To measure learning outcomes we tested recall and comprehension. Arousal and mood scores before and after learning were collected as potential mediating variables.
We included working memory capacity in the design as a continuous organism variable. We tested 81 college students using a between-subject design with half of the sample listening to two pop songs while learning a visual text and the other half learning in silence. Moreover, as working memory capacity has a crucial influence on learning with seductive details, we also included the learner’s working memory capacity as a factor in our study. However, the seductive detail effect indicates that seductive details such as background music worsen learning. While the Mozart effect assumes a direct influence of background music on cognitive abilities, the arousal-mood-hypothesis assumes a mediation effect over arousal and mood. Both the Mozart effect as well as the arousal-mood-hypothesis indicate that background music can potentially benefit learning outcomes. This study investigates how background music influences learning with respect to three different theoretical approaches. Department of Learning and Instruction, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
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