![\"major_musicbusiness\"](\"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/files\/2013\/04\/major_musicbusiness.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn their 2011 study, Avila, Furnham & McCelland examined the effects of familiar music on test performance. The authors also explored whether the effects of music are different for people with certain personalities. They did this by comparing the effects of music on introverts (quiet, shy types) to that of extroverts (louder, more outgoing types). The experimenters believed that music would have a more negative impact on the test performance of introverts than it would on extroverts. This was hypothesized since previous studies have shown that introverts work best in less stimulating environments than extroverts do. Stimulating environments are ones that include possible distractions (things that could grab your attention). For example a public venue such as a train station would be seen as a much more stimulating environment than a quiet library.<\/p>\n
To test this hypothesis, 58 British students with a mean age of 16.78 took three separate tests in silence, while listening to instrumental music, or while listening vocal music. For the instrumental condition, the same songs were used as in the vocal condition, just minus the lyrics.\u00a0The songs used in the experiment were chosen based on the tempo and familiarity ratings of four students, who did not complete the experiment itself. The three songs they ended up using were picked for their high familiarity and median tempo scores. All of the chosen songs were radio hits you are most likely familiar with \u2013 \u201cUmbrella\u201d by Rhinna ft. Jay-Z, \u201cSo Sick\u201d by Ne-Yo, and \u201cLet Me Love You\u201d by Mario. Before participants took their tests, they completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory\u00a0 (EPI) to determine their level of extraversion. They then completed three 10 minute multiple choice tests. The tests fell into three categories: verbal, numeric, and diagrammatic. The verbal test evaluated the subjects\u2019 understanding of a passage while the numeric test focused on their ability to interrupt the meaning of various tables. So the verbal test would be reflective of assignments you\u2019ve had for English classes while the numeric tests would align much more with problem sets for classes like Statistics. The third type of test, the diagrammatic test, involved following flow diagrams. This type of visually demanding task could be similar to work you may have completed for Biology courses (for example life cycles or family trees).<\/p>\n
The authors found that the participants performed at similar levels for all three music conditions on the numeric test but varied on both the verbal and diagrammatic tests. The results are summarized by the following graph:<\/p>\n
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