Testing, Testing, 1 2 3: Exploring the Mitigating Effects of Sound on Test Performance

Abstract

Due to the amount of pressure put on students to perform well and the growing amount of standardized testing in the American Education system, there has been a dramatic increase in the identification and study of test anxiety and its impact on performance. Treatments of test anxiety are typically preventative in nature and focus on what can be done outside of the classroom on the part of the individual to improve performance. However, it may be more impactful to manipulate the actual testing environment on a larger scale. This study, through a 4 week within-subjects model, sought to explore these environmental manipulations through the inclusion of sound in the environment. Throughout this study participants were subjected to testing in silence, preferred, nonpreferred, and ambient soundscapes. Test performance was significantly improved (by up to 22%) when participants were exposed to preferred music stimuli. However, performance is a complex phenomenon impacted by many different variables and more research should be done exploring how different cognitive factors impact performance.