Abstract

The purpose of this project is to see how different music genres affect performance on word searches and multiplication problems. The present study consists of four 10 min rounds; each round including a genre of instrumental music: classical, heavy metal, or pop, and silence. Students did four different word searches and four different 100-problem multiplication worksheets; one word search and one multiplication worksheet per round. Lastly, a survey about their daily music use and opinions of the experiment’s music, will take 5-10 min. The results of this study were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA to compare the students’ performances on the two tasks completed under each genre of music. I hypothesized silence will produce better results than music, but with music, classical will be better than heavy metal or pop. Silence would provide sole concentration on the task, while classical is known to be relaxing and is a sign of intelligence if listening or having some other involvement with it. The first hypothesis was shown to be true, while the second was false, since metal music was the best or second best condition for each task.

Recommended Citation

Kerosevic, Roberta (2016) "Effects of Music on Puzzle and Math Problem Solving," Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal: Vol. 1: Iss. 19, Article 12.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/psych_journals/vol1/iss19/12