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Although classical music may not be your jam, you can still listen to the types of music you enjoy without the lyrics. The lyrics might affect the words that you are actually studying.

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Listening to music for relaxation is common among students to counter the effects of stress or anxiety while completing difficult academic tasks. Some studies supporting this technique have shown that background music promotes cognitive performance while other studies have shown that listening to music while engaged in complex cognitive tasks can impair performance. This study focuses on the impact different genres of music, played at different volume levels, have on the cognitive abilities of college students completing academic tasks.

Many students listen to music to alleviate the emotional effects of stress and anxiety when engaged in complex cognitive processing, such as studying for a test, completing homework assignments, or while reading and writing. This practice is so common that it would be beneficial for college students to understand the role that music plays on cognitive performance. Research demonstrating the effects of music on performance is well documented, but have shown ambiguous evidence on this matter. In studies conducted to learn about the effects of musical distraction on cognitive task performance, the findings have demonstrated the idea of music improving cognitive performance (Cockerton, Moore, & Norman, 1997), but there has also been research contradicting those results, where music was found distracting for participants performing cognitive tasks (Furnham & Bradley, 1997). However, with the plethora of music genres available to music listeners, it is important to understand how different types of music impact performance. Additionally, very few studies address the interaction between the intensity or volume of the music played and its effect on cognitive processing. The present study aims to understand the effect of listening to different genres of music played at different volume levels on cognitive task performance.

Many students choose to listen to a preferred genre of music when they study or do their homework without understanding the potential harmful effects of such practice. A study conducted by Smith and Morris (1977) addressed this question by studying the effects of sedative and stimulative music. The study focused on the influence these two distinct genres of music have on performance, anxiety, and concentration. Participants had to indicate their preferred genre and were requested to repeat a set of numbers backwards while listening to either the stimulative, sedative, or no music. The results indicated that participants performed worse while listening to their preferred type of music. Additionally, in the no music condition, participants performed best. These results indicate that a preferred type of music can serve as a distracting factor when one is engaged in a cognitively demanding task perhaps due to the fact that less cognitive resources are available when the attention is drawn to the lyrics, emotions, and memories that such music can evoke. Participants who listened to sedative music performed better than participants who listened to simulative music and worse than those who listened to no music at all. These results indicated that stimulative music is a stronger distractor and obstructs cognitive processing more than sedative music does.

Photo: Flickr/Nickolai Kashirin CC-2

The influence of music on cognitive performance has also been linked to personality types. A study conducted by Furnham and Bradley (1997) illustrated pop music as a distracter on the cognitive performance of introverts and extraverts. They predicted that extraverts would outperform introverts in the presence of music. The participants were required to perform two cognitive tasks: a memory test with both an immediate and a delayed recall and a reading comprehension test. The two tasks would be completed in the pop music condition as well as in silence. The results determined that immediate recall on the memory test was severely impaired for both introverts and extraverts when the pop music was played. In the delayed recall component of the memory test, introverts showed significantly poorer recall than did extraverts in the pop music condition as well as introverts in the silent condition. Also the introverts' performance on the reading comprehension task in the pop music condition was impaired when compared to extraverts in the same condition and to introverts who performed the task in silence. Overall, the researchers determined that pop music served as a distractor for the cognitive performance of both extraverts and introverts; however, introverts seemed to be most affected. Interestingly, this study revealed some evidence that overall background noise, such as television, music, and chatter could improve performance in complex cognitive tasks for extraverts, although it will significantly impair introverts' performance (Furnham & Bradley, 1997).

Studies involving noise as a distraction have demonstrated the same ambiguous results regarding their effect on cognitive processing as studies involving background music. Dobbs, Furnham, and McClelland (2011) conducted a study that tested the effect of distracters, specifically background noise and music, on cognitive tasks for introverts and extraverts. The researchers hypothesized that performance, for both introverts and extraverts, would be worse in the presence of music and noise than it would be in silence; specifically, for all the cognitive tasks, performance would diminish in the presence of background noise, improve with only background music, and be optimal in silence. The findings supported their predictions and showed that cognitive performance in silence was better than performance with background music, which in turn was better than performance with background noise. The results also demonstrated that, overall, performance in silence was best when compared to performance in background noise and music (Dobbs, Furnham, & McClelland, 2011). In contrast, a study conducted by Pool (2002), monitored the distracting effects of background television on homework performance and did not find any significant impairment on homework assignments when students were distracted by television while working on those assignments. These findings indicate that background noise, just like background music impacts cognitive performance in ways that have not been fully understood by researchers.

Although previous research has established that music can either distract or facilitate cognitive task performance, improved performance in the presence of music might be directly related to the type of music listened to (Cockerton, Moore, & Norman, 1997). A study conducted by Hallman, Price, and Katsarou, (2002) supported this argument. In fact, they tested the effect of calming and relaxing music on arithmetic and memory performance tests in children ranging from ages ten to twelve. They found better performance on both tasks in the calming and relaxing music condition when compared with a no-music condition. They also tested these children in an arousing, aggressive, and unpleasant music condition, and the results showed that their performance on both tasks was heavily disrupted and led to a lower level of reported altruistic behavior by the children (Hallman, Price, & Katsarou, 2002). Although these data did not find that calming music enhanced performance, one might imply that this type of music can provide a soothing environment that puts students at ease, facilitating cognitive processing.

The present study considers the effects of two different types of music at varying intensities on cognitive task performance and compared them to tasks performed in silence. It was predicted that tasks performed in silence would yield better results than tasks performed both in the soft music and the loud music conditions, demonstrating that music is a distracter to cognitive performance. Additionally, performance scores were expected to be significantly lower in the presence of loud music at a high intensity, suggesting that both the type of music and the volume at which the music is played are contributors to the distracting effect of music. Finally, performance was predicted to be significantly higher in the presence of soft music compared to loud music.

Thirty-two undergraduate students (twenty-five females, seven males), ranging in age from 20 to 41 years from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) at Shady Grove participated in this study. Participants were selected from a psychology class and received extra credit for their participation as agreed on by the class's instructor. All students participated on a voluntary basis.

This study used five different arithmetic tests to measure cognitive performance (Appendix A). The tests consisted of 20 different operations: 5 multiplication, 5 division, 5 addition, and 5 subtraction problems. The order of operations was randomized throughout the tests. No question involved operations with more than a three-digit number. The five tests were similar in difficulty. Loud music was defined as heavy-rock metal music, and the song used in that condition was "Not Ready to Die" (Demon Hunters, 2004). Soft music was defined as classical piano-only music, and the piece that was used in that condition was "Morning Light" (Beeson, 2004).

The study was conducted in rooms assigned by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) at Shady Grove. Participants were given informed consent forms to fill out at the beginning of the experiment and a research participation credit sheet. A repeated-measure design was used in this study. All thirty-two participants were exposed to all five conditions. The researcher explained to participants that music would be played while they solved the questions on the tests. The volume at each music condition was adjusted as the experiment progressed.

The participants were asked to solve five arithmetic tests with twenty different questions on each test. The first test was conducted in the soft music condition at low intensity (Test 1- SM-LO), and the second test, in the loud music condition at low intensity (Test 2-LM-LO). The third test was performed in complete silence (Test 3- SIL). The fourth and fifth tests were conducted in soft music and loud music conditions, respectively, both at high volume intensity (Test 4-SM-HI and Test 5 LM-HI). The participants were allowed sixty seconds to complete each test. There was a twenty second waiting period between each test. The participants were not allowed to use a calculator or any other electronic device to complete the questions on the tests.

This study was conducted in a repeated-measured design; therefore, a paired sample t-test was used for the analysis. An alpha level of .05 was used for the analysis. The independent variable was the type of music played at two different levels of intensity: high intensity and low intensity. The dependent variable was the performance score, which was measured in terms of accurate answers obtained in each of the tests. The tests were not graded for completion but for accuracy only.

In agreement with the first hypothesis, performance scores were significantly higher in silence ( M= 12.94) than in all four music conditions, intensity levels, and types of music combined ( M= 11.99), t(31)= 2.21, p <.05. The second hypothesis was also supported in the study; participants obtained significantly higher test scores at low intensity ( M= 25.63) than at high intensity of both types of music ( M= 22.34), t(31)= 4.75, p <.001. Performance scores were also significantly higher in silence ( M= 12.94) than in loud music at high intensity ( M= 10.78), t(31) = -2.90, p< .05.

However, there was also no significant difference in test scores between participants in the soft music conditions ( M= 23.75)and performance in the loud music conditions ( M= 24.22), t(31)= -0.56, p= 0.582.

The present study sought to demonstrate the impact of different genres of music played at different volume levels on cognitive performance. In accordance with the first hypothesis, participants performed better in silence than they did in any music conditions. The findings were also in agreement with the second hypothesis. They demonstrated that the performance was significantly worse in the presence of loud music at high intensity. Contrary to the third hypothesis, however, there was no significant difference between the type of music that was played and performance scores. The scores were not significantly higher in the soft music versus the loud music condition. Interestingly, there was no difference when the scores from the soft music at high intensity were compared to scores from the loud music at high intensity.

These results seem to parallel those of Smith and Morris (1977). In their study, they also found that participants performed better on a cognitive processing test while listening to no music than they did while listening to either stimulating or sedative music. They determined that performance is impaired with music and optimized with no music. However, their study revealed that participants performed significantly better while listening to sedative music than they did while listening to stimulating music, whereas the current experiment found no significant difference in test scores between the loud music and soft music conditions.

The third hypothesis suggested that performance would be better in the soft music condition when compared to the loud music condition because it was believed that classical music would provide a positive, soothing, and comfortable environment for the participants due to its relaxing tone that will facilitate information processing. However, that hypothesis was not supported by the results; it is important to note that the overall performance was significantly lower in the loud music at high intensity. Based on these results, the presence of lyrics and the consistent use of louder instruments, such as drums, bass and, electric guitar to the heavy metal rock music can be seen as reasons for its distracting effects.

Interestingly, while the findings of this study revealed that it is the intensity of the music rather than the type of music that matters the most when it comes to cognitive performance, it is still noteworthy to point out that scores were significantly higher when participants completed the tests in the silence condition. Through this process, it can be implied that it is easier to process information in the presence of a minimal level of distraction. It can be implied that students should not listen to any music or allow any auditory disturbance while studying to obtain maximum performance level. Students should strive to study and learn in an environment such as the library or a private study room that is as quiet as possible, especially when the material requires higher cognitive processing.

The sample size was the major limitation of this study. Although two of the predictions were supported with this sample, large samples could have provided more reliable significances that could be generalized to the college student population. Due to the limited availability of participants, this study was conducted in a repeated-measured design, which could also be a limiting factor. The sequence in which the tests were given was not randomized throughout the experiment; as such, learning effects could account for the improvement in later tests as the study progressed. Future research should strive to change the sequence in which the tests are administered to guarantee that the results obtained are those of the treatment effects and to eliminate or reduce possible learning effects.

The design of the room could also be another limitation to this experiment. Where participants were seated in the room could have had an effect on how the music was heard. Hence, for participants sitting closer to the speakers, the music was louder than those who were sitting on the other side of the room. This variance in volume level may have either positively or negatively affected the results. Although, some of the results from this study showed that the arithmetic problems were a sufficient tool to assess cognitive performance; however, they may have been too simple for students on the collegiate level to perform. Besides, there were no mathematical base level assessments conducted prior to the study. Participants with stronger skills could have had a biased advantage, whereas those with lower mathematical skills would have had a biased disadvantage. Future research should plan to design more complex cognitive processing tests, such as memory tests or reading comprehension questions from standardized tests like the GRE or the SAT. This could provide a more accurate depiction of the participants' cognitive processing abilities.

Results from the current study demonstrated how important it is to consider the effects of distracting music on cognitive performance. It was shown that the volume plays a crucial role and could be more important than the type of music played. However, data from this study has demonstrated that silence seems to be the best environment to maximize performance when engaging in cognitive activity. Classical music was not shown to enhance performance contrary to the study's expectations. Hence, the direct benefits of listening to music on cognitive processing could be more of a fantasy than a reality.

Beeson, Sean. (2004). Morning Light. On Ivory Dreams [CD]. United States: Serenity Studio LLC.

Cockerton, T., Moore, S., & Norman, D. (1997). Cognitive test performance and background music. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 85(3, Pt 2), 1435-1438.

Demon Hunter. (2004). Not ready to die. On Summer of Darkness [CD]. Nashville, United States: Solid State.

Dobbs, S., Furnham, A., & McClelland, A. (2011).The effect of background music and noise on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(2), 307-313.

Furnham, A., & Bradley, A. (1997). Music while you work: The differential distraction of background music on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11(5), 445-455.

Hallman, S., Price, J., & Katsarou, G. (2002). The effects of background music on primary school's pupils' task performance. Educational Studies, 28(2), 111-122.

Pool, M. M. (2002). Distraction effects of background television on homework performance. Noise and Vibration Worldwide, 33(1), 24-28.

Smith, C.A., & Morris, L. W. (1977). Differential effects of stimulative and sedative music anxiety, concentration, and performance. Psychological Reports, 41, 1047-1053.

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The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance

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Listening to music for relaxation is common among students to counter the effects of stress or anxiety while completing difficult academic tasks. Some studies supporting this technique have shown that background music promotes cognitive performance while other studies have shown that listening to music while engaged in complex cognitive tasks can impair performance.

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Listening to music is not for everyone although there have been studies that verify that listening to music while studying helps you retain information.

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Headphones can seem ubiquitous in a college library, a function of responsible students' attempts to isolate themselves from the conversations and noises around them. However, another form of distraction may be coming right up those cables, and for some, it may be time to face the music - or more specifically, the lyrics.

"Music with lyrics is very likely to have a problematic effect when you're writing or reading," said Clifford Nass, professor at Stanford University. "Probably less of an effect on math, if you're not using the language parts of your brain."

Music has a profound impact on our state of being, altering everything from mood to heart rate. It can energize or depress us. Medium levels of arousal are ideal for studying - not too agitated and not too relaxed - and music can also be an effective tool in leading students to that level.

"Imagine trying to learn something while you're on a roller coaster," Nass said. "If you're feeling agitated, you can listen to more calming music, and that will absolutely have a positive effect."

Glenn Schellenberg, a professor in the psychology department at the University of Toronto, published a study that indicates fast, loud background music hinders reading comprehension.

"The reason why it's a mess is you have cognitive limitations. If you're doing two things at once you don't focus as well," he said. "On the other hand, we know that music changes how you feel, and often it can change how you feel in a positive way."

In other words, it seems carefully tailoring the music you listen to while studying, based on the subject matter and your mood, can help keep you focused - so long as you stay away from lyrics while doing language-based work.

Music has always had its place at college, but as it has become more portable and high quality, it is reaching areas where it never used to take up residence.

"In my day, there was no way you could take music to the library," Nass said. "When [today's students] go to the library to study, they bring their noise, and music, with them."

In any case, music is very likely better than Facebook and Twitter, and in a world where multitasking has become extremely common because everything is on one device, some students find music helps keep them focused while studying.

"Especially when music doesn't have words, it can help me get into the reading and stop me getting distracted by other things," said Melanie Fineman, a junior at Brown University. "It makes studying more enjoyable."
Some more modern alternatives to the usual lyric-less Mozart:

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Ramsey Touchberry, University of Florida

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Should you listen to music while you study?

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Headphones can seem ubiquitous in a college library, a function of responsible students' attempts to isolate themselves from the conversations and noises around them. However, another form of distraction may be coming right up those cables, and for some, it may be time to face the music - or more specifically, the lyrics.

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Ten Surprising Ways to Beat Exam Stress.

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Ten Surprising Ways to Beat Exam Stress.

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The first thing listed on this list is: Listen to Classical Music.

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Every student who aims to become a high-achiever will experience exam stress. It's an unavoidable part of student life that can be a tough nut to crack. Remember, stress exists for a reason and you can choose to let it be your downfall or use it to drive you to improve your work.

To combat exam stress, firstly you need to understand the reasons behind this heightened anxiety. Then you can establish methods to reduce the pressures you feel. Researchers have uncovered some common explanations for this:

Low motivation levels

Lack of preparation and planning

High expectations from others

Competition from peers

The difference between a student who allows stress to overwhelm them and someone who uses it to push them harder is what they do when they are facing that brick wall mid-study. Admirable students will pause, reflect and choose a path that will help them overcome the impasse, not just wait for the wave to engulf them.

Outlined below are some unexpected ways that you can put those negative feelings to one side and concentrate on your learning goals. If you're not stuck for inspiration at this moment (maybe you're procrastinating by reading this?), you may be looking for this advice before your exams so take note!

10 Surprising Ways to Beat Exam Stress

1. Listen to Classical Music

Listening to music can create a positive and productive environment by elevating your mood and encouraging you to study more effectively and for longer. Classical music is recommended as the best type of music to boost your brain power but ambient music can work too. Check out the playlists on Spotify to easily find what works for you.

Join GoConqr for free and you'll have access to Study Groups in which students from all over the world share their secrets to better academic results

2. Take a Quick Walk

Many students feel as if they should spend their entire time before exams with their books open and their pen poised for action. However, research has proven that exercising such as taking a walk can boost your memory and brain power.

The image below shows the results of a study conducted by Dr. Chuck Hillman of the University of Illinois. It clearly demonstrates the effect exercise can have on your brain's activity. Imagine how this could improve your exam performance!

3. Plan your Study Routine

This may not be a big surprise but what is shocking is the amount of students who discount the benefits of creating a personal study plan. With some initial effort, you can become more productive and motivated each day you approach your study by understanding your learning progress. If you're using our learning platform, the GoConqr calendar tool will help you align your goals with your day-to-day study, get started here.

4. Play with Bubble Wrap & Puppies

Where do puppies come into exam stress? Lots of universities have installed 'puppy rooms' where students can come to relieve stress and anxiety. Pets have also been found to help you focus while studying but we wouldn't recommend dropping into the library with your pet hamster! Popping bubble wrap is another stress reliever you can save for home study.

5. Try to Get Enough Sleep

For some people, this is something that's always put on the long finger especially if you are trying to get the most out of college life. The benefits of a proper night's sleep can never be underestimated. Most importantly, sleep helps your brain to assimilate new knowledge into your long-term memory so that you can recall it when it comes to test day. Anyone who has tried to concentrate with half a night's sleep can also testify to improved focus with better sleep.

6. Use Mobile Apps

There are tons of mobile apps designed to improve your quality of life. Whether you want to get better organised, improve your mental arithmetic or work on your English language skills, there's an app for that. We've even launched our own mobile apps for iOS and Android so you can make the most of your time no matter where you are. Downloading the app will give you access to over 2 million learning resources from around the world. Get the app for free here:

7. Give Your Mind Space

Meditation is one of the most effective ways to take a break and see your stress from a different perspective. Practicing meditation is another way to maintain focus while improving both mental and physical health to reduce pre-exam stress.

8. Eating Dark Chocolate

Believe it or not this is 100% true. Eating dark chocolate which is over 70% cocoa fights the exam stress hormone cortisol and has an overall relaxing effect on the body. Plus chocolate releases endorphins which act as a natural stress fighter.

9. Let it All Out

Sometimes you just need to talk to someone, other times you need to shout it from the rooftop or scream from the top of your lungs. Figure out what you're feeling and then let it out. Speaking to a family member or friend can highlight the bigger picture for you and empower you to rise above the exam stress.

10. Break Free from Distractions

I bet you don't even realise the number of times you check Facebook, Instagram or whatever your vice is? When you add it all up together, it amounts to a significant waste of time. It can be hard to detach from your life outside of studying but keeping the end goal and timeframe in mind will ease the process. We recommend the SelfControl website blocker.

Got any more exam stress tips for our learning community? Share them in the comments below or tweet us.

Here's some motivational tips for students to give you that extra boost:

About the GoConqr Blog

Our blog is part of GoConqr, a Free Learning Platform for Creating, Sharing & Discovering Learning Resources that help students and teachers achieve their learning objectives. Click here to start creating Mind Maps, Flashcards, Notes, Quizzes, Slides Flowcharts & Courses now!

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How to Beat Exam Stress in 10 Easy Ways | ExamTime

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Every student who aims to become a high-achiever will experience exam stress. It's an unavoidable part of student life that can be a tough nut to crack. Remember, stress exists for a reason and you can choose to let it be your downfall or use it to drive you to improve your work.

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Listening to music while you study reduced stress levels in your body.

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The soothing power of music is well-established. It has a unique link to our emotions, so can be an extremely effective stress management tool.

Listening to music can have a tremendously relaxing effect on our minds and bodies, especially slow, quiet classical music. This type of music can have a beneficial effect on our physiological functions, slowing the pulse and heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and decreasing the levels of stress hormones. Music, in short, can act as a powerful stress management tool in our lives.

As music can absorb our attention, it acts as a distraction at the same time it helps to explore emotions. This means it can be a great aid to meditation, helping to prevent the mind wandering.

Musical preference varies widely between individuals, so only you can decide what you like and what is suitable for each mood. But even if you don't usually listen to classical music it may be worth giving it a try when selecting the most calming music.

When people are very stressed, there is a tendency to avoid actively listening to music. Perhaps it feels like a waste of time, not helping to achieve anything. But as we know, productivity increases when stress is reduced, so this is another area where you can gain vast rewards. It just takes a small effort to begin with.

To incorporate music into a busy life, try playing CDs in the car, or put the radio on when in the bath or shower. Take portable music with you when walking the dog, or put the stereo on instead of the TV. A person with clinical depression or bipolar disorder might listen to music to help with their worst, lowest moods.

Singing (or shouting) along can also be a great release of tension, and karaoke is very enjoyable for some extroverts! Calming music before bedtime promotes peace and relaxation and helps to induce sleep.

Research on Music

Music has been used for hundreds of years to treat illnesses and restore harmony between mind and body. But more recently, scientific studies have attempted to measure the potential benefits of music. These research studies have found:

Music's form and structure can bring order and security to disabled and distressed children. It encourages coordination and communication, so improves their quality of life.

Listening to music on headphones reduces stress and anxiety in hospital patients before and after surgery.

Music can help reduce both the sensation and distress of both chronic pain and postoperative pain.

Listening to music can relieve depression and increase self-esteem ratings in elderly people.

Making music can reduce burnout and improve mood among nursing students.

Music therapy significantly reduces emotional distress and boosts quality of life among adult cancer patients.

You can review some of the more recent research on how music helps to relieve stress here.

Meditation

Certain music is appropriate for meditation as it can help the mind slow down and initiate the relaxation response. However, not all peaceful or "New Age" music works for everyone. Music with no structure can be irritating or even unsettling. Gentle music with a familiar melody more often is comforting. But search around to find what produces a sense of calm, familiarity, and centeredness for you as an individual.

The sounds of nature often are incorporated into CDs made specifically for relaxation. For example, the sound of water can be soothing for some people. It can help conjure up calming images such as lying beside a mountain stream on a warm spring day. Birdsong may also be of use as an aid to help your mind slow down and release stressful thoughts.

The Power of Music To Reduce Stress

Related Articles

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The Power of Music To Reduce Stress | Psych Central

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The soothing power of music is well-established. It has a unique link to our emotions, so can be an extremely effective stress management tool. Listening to music can have a tremendously relaxing effect on our minds and bodies, especially slow, quiet classical music.

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Should you listen to music while you study?

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Should you listen to music while you study?

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If you don't feel comfortable listening to music while studying, you can begin by listening to music before you start to study.

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Second semester is well underway, which means midterms and other tests are looming ahead in the not-too-distant future and that it's time to once again question how studying while listening to music can affect a student's studying efficiency.

Researchers and college students have often wondered whether listening to music has negative or positive effects on the student's studying habits and whether studying while listening to music is a "do" or "don't."

Studies have shown that listening to music before studying or performing a task can be beneficial as it improves attention, memory, and even your ability to do mental math as well as helping lessen depression and anxiety.

Many researchers, as well as students, who think listening to music helps memory have called the practice the " Mozart Effect." Of course, nowadays many students are not actually listening to Mozart, but pop or other music, so the effect may not be the same.

These studies and researchers seem to indicate that music can actually help you study and those who listen to music while studying may actually be better off for it.

However, there have also been several studies that have shown that music can actually have negative impacts on your studying effectiveness - particularly when it comes to memorizing something in order.

Dr. Nick Perham's 2010 study, "Can preference for background music mediate the irrelevant sound effect," explored how music can interfere with short-term memory potential.

"We found that listening to liked or disliked music was exactly the same, and both were worse than the quiet control condition," Perham discovered. "Both impaired performance on serial-recall tasks."

Listening to music may diminish your cognitive abilities in these situations because when you're trying to memorize things in order, you can get thrown off and confused by the various words and notes in the song playing in the background, Perham theorized.

Stanford University professor Clifford Nass had similar thoughts.

"Music with lyrics is very likely to have a problematic effect when you're writing or reading. Probably less of an effect on math, if you're not using the language parts of your brain," Nass said. "In my day, there was no way you could take music to the library. When [today's students] go to the library to study, they bring their noise, and music, with them."

Today, it's easier than ever to bring your music with you wherever you go as music has become inherently portable. We listen to music while we walk, cook, drive - when we want to feel happy or relaxed. Music has become a fundamental part of our lives, which is why students are so eager to know whether it will negatively or positively impact their studying.

Because music can impact and regulate your mood and the best mood to study in is a more relaxed mood, choosing music that helps you relax but also with enough beat or rhythm to ensure you don't zone out while studying is crucial. But music that's too loud or with too much of an upbeat tempo can also be distracting, so having a playlist or specific artist you turn to for studying music can really help.

If you're the type of person who has more difficulty multitasking and is easily distracted, listening to music while studying may just cause your attention to drift to the music rather than help you concentrate on your material.

If you're really set on listening to music while studying but know your focus will probably end up divided, choose classical music or more acoustic music with minimal words to distract you. Movie scores, which typically consist of a bunch of orchestral pieces, may also be good background music for you to study to.

So basically, the final decision about studying while listening to music is up to you - do you feel you concentrate better with Taylor Swift or Hozier singing in the background? Or do you find yourself thinking of the lyrics to the song rather than what you're supposed to be studying?

Music's effects on study habits will vary from person to person, and can also be affected by what you're listening to - the genre of the music, how loud it is, etc.

Personally, when I need some background music to study to, I'll usually make a more acoustic playlist consisting of songs by Joshua Radin, Cary Brothers, and Ed Sheeran, with some of The Fray and Goo Goo Dolls thrown in, too.

But in order for you to study the most productively, you need to figure out the effect music has on your studying ability, and then tailor your studying playlist - be it silence or music - to best suit your needs and efficiency.

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do or don't: studying while listening to music

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Do Or Don't: Studying While Listening To Music

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Second semester is well underway, which means midterms and other tests are looming ahead in the not-too-distant future and that it's time to once again question how studying while listening to music can affect a student's studying efficiency.