The Effect of Different Genres of Music on Your Concentration

Cai, Emma

Many people listen to music while studying or performing daily tasks, but does this actually help boost the productivity of the listener? The objective of our project was to recognize the influence of different genres of music, or no music, on one’s concentration. The ability to concentrate is crucial to being productive and progressing in knowledge. The scientific community could benefit greatly if a way to concentrate better is found. We attempted to gather data by testing a variety of subjects. We gathered 22 subjects and gave each of them six tests to take while listening to a different genre of music. We also had them time each of their tests and write it down. We then organized all of the data into two graphs. One stating the accuracy, and one stating the speed. After gathering all the data and analyzing it thoroughly, it is evident that listening to rock or jazz produced a higher test score than any of the other genres (~89%). However, subjects took the longest time to finish tests while listening to these genres. Unexpectedly, subjects took the least amount of time to finish tests while listening to dubstep and pop, which had some of the lowest test scores. Currently, we have found no correlation between listening to music and one’s level of concentration, but further testing may reveal more information.