At a concert, the music takes center stage, but only for a short time. In most cases, music plays in the background, turns it off or brightens our day while we work. But is there a style of music that specifically improves productivity? A modern one Published study Research into the relationship between the rhythm of the music listened to and the efficiency of performing tasks.
Most people don't consciously choose the music they listen to while working. The decision could be influenced by the current mood, a recent album review, or even Spotify's algorithm. However, according to a new study, two important factors should be considered: the predictability of music and the strength of novelty.
“Music is a very emotional medium. It can affect not only how you feel in a given moment, but also the memories you remember and how you perceive them.
– He says Yeren Ren is a sixth-year doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at Georgia Tech. Ren, who is both a composer and a scientist, has been studying how music affects our brains for a long time. She recently collaborated with Thackery Brown, a cognitive neuroscientist at Georgia Tech and head of the MAP (Memory, Affect, and Planning) Lab, to investigate how music affects the processing and feedback of new information.
Experiment participants had to learn a series of abstract shapes while listening to different types of music. The results showed that familiar and predictable music improved participants' ability to notice the arrangement of shapes, while non-acoustic music hindered them.
If the predictability of music improves cognition and task performance, it is not surprising that many people turn to their familiar favorites while working. However, listening to new albums also has its benefits.
While predictable music leads to greater cognitive clarity, new music, because it contains unexpected elements, can help you focus on a task for a longer period of time because it can break the listener out of the habit. This was one of the effects observed among some participants.
This side effect made Ren reconsider his passion for jazz. Raised in China, it was only after moving to the United States that he discovered the eclectic rhythms of jazz, which have been a constant in his repertoire ever since. Now you understand why.
“When I discovered jazz syntax, it was a new world for me, and I have been unable to predict it since.” He says. “It gives a new surprise every time, and I think that kind of surprise adds enough uncertainty to keep you happy, focused, and focused on the task at hand.”
However, if we always listen to the same music, we lose the power of novelty. Also, the same music does not always work well in every task. Ren also shared some recommendations, which he compiled based on his own studies and experience, about what type of music is most beneficial for productivity in every business.
- If you want to catch up on unread emails, listen to music with or without lyrics in a foreign language. Song lyrics in your native language can easily get mixed up with what you're reading or writing and hinder your work. On the other hand, words you don't fully understand add another element to the background noise.
- For programming, Ren will choose fast rock music. He says fast beats keep you moving, when you're programming, fast rock never lets you down, it always gives you momentum.
- Scientists have long debated the Mozart effect, which describes how listening to Mozart's symphonies generates better cognitive abilities than other music. “Researchers believe this is because Mozart's music arouses a high level of interest and alertness, but does not cause much confusion or stress,” Ren says. Although the researcher says that classical music is ideal for writing, he personally prefers the works of Beethoven or Chopin.
Of course, as much as music helps increase attention and focus, it's not always necessary. “Sometimes the best music to work with is silence,” Ren says.
