The Effect of Music on Short-Term Memory and Attention

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effects of dif- ferent genres of music on sustained attention and working memory. The study utilized a randomized controlled be- tween-subject design while utilizing the non-probability sampling method of snowball sampling to collect partici- pants for the study. The participants are 61 adults of vari- ous ages. They underwent two different tasks testing sus- tained attention and working memory while exposed to 3 different music conditions: Metal music, Pop music, and Silence. The researchers used Kruskal Wallis to analyze the data due to the data not being normally distributed. Results showed significant results for SART and the Digit Span Test (p values = 0.038 and 0.003). The significant in- teractions show that sustained attention was the most sus- ceptible to distractions due to various genres of music, namely metal. Digit Span test also showed how silence had the least interference in working memory, with pop music having the most interference.