The Effects of Background Music on Neural Responses During Reading
Comprehension (Summary)
By: Meng Du1, Jun Jiang2, Zhemin Li2, Dongrui Man2 & Cunmei Jiang
Studies have shown that auditory inputs can hinder visual processing when both
visual and auditory stimuli are presented simultaneously. This interference can disrupt
recall of visually presented digits and text, proofreading, and sentence comprehension.
Background music, on the other hand, has a unique function of evoking and affecting
listeners’ emotions. Previous studies have primarily focused on the effects of
background music on reading comprehension, with some showing improvement using
Mozart’s music, highly repetitive music with a narrow tonal range, and songs, while
others have shown negative effects using hip-hop music, UK garage-style music, slowtempo music by Bach, fast and loud music, familiar non-lyrical music, and songs. The
effects of background music on reading comprehension depend on music style,
characteristics, and individual factors.
Behavioral studies have revealed no significant differences in brain activity or
physiological reactions during reading comprehension, even with classical and dubstep
music. This stands in contrast a recent study that found no correlation between
background music and inhibitory processes. However, the brain’s function is still
unknown, and further research is needed to determine the impact of background music
on reading comprehension. Music can improve reading comprehension by elevating
mood, boosting alertness, and improving cognitive processing. Phillips and Lau’s study
looks into whether the level of arousal in background music influences brain responses
during reading comprehension. World knowledge is critical for successful language
comprehension, and violations might result in a higher N400, an ERP metric of semantic
processing, indicating that more effort is necessary to integrate stimulus meaning into
preceding contexts.
Lau’s research emphasizes the role of music listening in enhancing
comprehension of texts and cognitive skills. The study looks into whether the level of
arousal in background music influences brain responses during reading comprehension.
It also investigates the significance of global knowledge in effective understanding.
Previous research has found that breaches of world knowledge result in a higher N400,
indicating that more effort is necessary to incorporate stimulus meaning into context.
The investigation focused on the impact of background music on participants’
psychological excitement levels. A nonparametric ANOVA-type statistic (ATS) was
employed to examine the whole-plot factor and sentence type. The results revealed no
significant impacts on the major effects of group and sentence style, or their interaction.
The study also looked at the impact of background music on participants’ arousal levels,
and found no significant effects on group, time, or interaction. These results imply that
background music had no effect on participants’ emotional arousal levels.
The electrophysiological results showed that world knowledge violations elicited
a larger N400 than correct sentences in the 200-450 ms time windows. However, the
magnitude of the N400 effect seemed to differ between the groups with and without
background music. A three-way mixed ANOVA was conducted for the midline
electrodes, taking group as the between-subjects factor and sentence type and
anteriority as the within-subjects factors. A significant main effect was found for
sentence type, with a larger N400 elicited by world knowledge violations than correct
sentences in the silence, low-arousal, and high-arousal music groups. A two-way mixed
ANOVA was conducted to further examine the differences in the magnitude of the N400
effect among the three groups.
The study Investigated the effects of background music on neural responses
during reading comprehension using ERPs. Results showed that a larger N400 effect
was elicited in response to world knowledge violations than correct controls, either with
or without background music. The N400 effect for silence was smaller than for high and
low-arousal music backgrounds, with no significant difference between the two. The
study suggests that background music influences neural responses during reading
comprehension, and musical arousal level does not alter its effects.
The study reveals that background music, which may demand attention
resources, reduces the N400 effect, causing difficulties in sentence integration. This is
consistent with Burkhard’s findings, which showed no difference in inhibitory function
between relaxing and exciting background music conditions. The study also found that
neither high- nor low-arousal background music induced emotional arousal, possibly
due to the characteristics of the music. The competition for attention resources during
cognitive processing may also account for the failure to induce emotional arousal.
The present study explores the neural processing of world knowledge integration
in sentence comprehension using reading stimuli written in Chinese, an ideographic
language. The background music was Western tonal music composed in the Baroque
and Classical periods, allowing both Western and Chinese listeners to process and
exhibit similar neural responses to these tonal structures, potentially applicable to other
alphabetic language populations. Background music influences neural responses during
reading comprehension, regardless of arousal level. It disrupts cognitive processing of
visually based tasks, causing a significant effect on non-music cognitive processing.
However, when presented simultaneously with the reading task, neither high nor lowarousal music increased arousal levels, increasing semantic integration difficulties
during reading comprehension.
The study used Adobe Audition software to analyze background music stimuli,
including fast-tempo and slow-tempo music in major mode. Major mode music tends to
induce a positive mood and increase arousal levels, while slow-tempo music tends to
induce a negative mood and lower arousal levels. A pretest was conducted to assess
the emotional valence and arousal levels of the selected music excerpts. Sixteen
participants, who preferred listening to music during reading, rated each music excerpt
on two 6-point scales. The results showed that high-arousal and low-arousal music
significantly differed in perceived arousal levels and perceived valence.
Participants in a Chinese experiment were asked to rate the reasonableness of
correct sentences based on their knowledge of the subject. The study involved 90
original Chinese sentences, each consisting of three to seven words. The participants
were asked to rate the reasonableness of the sentences on a 5-point scale. The results
showed that correct sentences and sentences with world knowledge violations differed
significantly in reasonableness.
Procedures.
Participants in an ERP experiment were tested on their response timing and
stimulus presentation. The experiment involved four trials, each with a red flashing point
and a blank screen. Participants were instructed to press either the F or J key to
indicate the correctness of a sentence. The response timing was counterbalanced
across participants to control for handedness effects and avoid lateralization of
topographies. Background music was played throughout, and EEG recordings were
conducted. Arousal levels were measured using a 6-point scale, and participants were
asked to report their familiarity with the music and their liking. All participants reported
being unfamiliar with the music and liking it.
Visual inspection and previous studies of language comprehension were used for
statistical analysis, considering a time window of 200-450 ms before the onset of the
critical word. Nine regions of interest (ROIs) were computed, and mixed ANOVA was
performed with IBM SPSS 25 for midline and lateral regions. For midline regions, group
(high-arousal music, low-arousal music, and silence) was considered as the betweensubjects factor, while sentence type (correct vs. world knowledge violation) and
anteriority (anterior, central, and posterior) were considered as the within-subjects
factors. Difference waves were also considered to compare the magnitude of the N400
effect.