The Effects Music has
on Memory
ISABELLA THOMASON, MARIA DA SILVA, JOANNA HERNANDEZ, AND CELIA TEAGUE
Table of Contents
1) Introduction
Background Information
3) Results
Collected data
2) Procedure
How data was collected
4) Discussion
Explanation of data
1) Research Question
How well can people
remember 2-4 digit
numbers after listening
to an annoying song?
Importance
Music can reactivate parts of the
brain associated with memory
Music links with long-term,
personal memories
Humans can link what they were
experiencing and the lyrics to
help remember something
Hypothesis
Reasoning
If people are played a song then they
will have a better chance at
remembering specific numbers then
those without the music
Music has been clearly linked to assist
people in memory
Variable Definitions
Compounding: Influences the
Independent: What is changed
Dependent: The result of the independent and dependent variable
Control: Held constant, does´nt
independent
change
Variable Definitions 2
Experimental Group: The group that is
being tested
Control Group: The group that the results
are compared to
Variables
Dependent: The numbers people remember
Independent: The song
Control: The numbers, song
Confounding: Outside distractions such as people talking or ADHD
Control Group: Subjects being tested without the annoying song
Experimental Group: Subjects being tested with the song
Testing Instrument: The song
2) Procedure
01.
Subjects are told which group they are in before hand
02.
Give subject the set of numbers
03.
Give them one minute to memorize them
04.
Take the numbers away
05.
Have them rehearse numbers for 3:45s with or without the song
06.
See what numbers they can remember
07.
Record the data
Materials
Spotify
Sticky Notes
Notes App
Pencil
Paper
Headphones/Earphones
Method
Experimental
3) Results
Green: Could remember
Red: Couldn't remember
Number Experimental Group
103
27
81
15
541
Celia Teague
Control Group
Results of people that got
numbers right
Experimental
541
4
Control
541
2
103
4
103
3
15
3
15
3
27
4
27
4
81
3
81
4
2
6
* Means with song
Te
st
er
Te
st
er
Te
st
er
Te
st
er
4
8
7
*
5
*
2
Te
st
er
3
*
1*
Te
st
er
Te
st
er
Te
st
er
Results
5
4
3
YOUR PARAGRAPH TEXT
1
0
Observations
It seems that in multiple people's tests, the control group had
more numbers missed than the people in the experimental group.
Therefore we can conclude that our hypothesis was correct
because the experimental group remembered more
We noticed that our subjects would recite the numbers verbally
repeating the set to themselves
However some of our subjects turned out to have
photographic memory
Discussion
we have pretty consistent data with most of the experimental
group doing slightly better than some of the control group.
Some of our strengths include consistency and the use of minimal
materials.
using minimal materials makes there less room for more
confounding variables.
Something that could have been done differently is shorten the
amount of time they had to look at the numbers to make it harder
Because of our research and data collected it is implied that
studying with music increases chances of remembering the
material
Discussion
If we were to complete this study again, we would all record
which numbers people got wrong more often to see if there
is a correlation between the number and the number of
times it was missed.
Since there wasn't much of a difference between the data
from the control group and the experimental group we do
not have enough significant data for how people should
learn.
Sources
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/music-canboost-memory-andmood#:~:text=Listening%20to%20and%20performing%20music,
us%20lay%20down%20new%20ones.
https://lstnsound.com/blogs/main/the-link-between-music-and-memory
Thanks for Listening!