The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013) | Hacker News Reader

The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance (2013)

inquiriesjournal.com

74 pointsbcaulfield55 comments

As a music listener I will point out the obvious flaw in the study: the “choice” of music was from pop genres. I find music with distinguishable lyrics in a language I understand to be distracting while music with no lyrics, or lyrics indistinguishable from noise (cf Rammstein, Björk, Enya) are far less distracting.

I use music to mask open office noise including customer support personnel on phone calls, ops people discussing equipment failures, and political trolls discussing my preferred party.

Industrial, death metal, and recordings of rainfall all work just as well for me. Though in the case of rainfall I find about twenty minutes of the same sound is about my limit before I need more texture in my auditory diet. Silence just makes my ears ring louder until after a few minutes it is physically painful to not have some noise.

The issue of masking background conversations was not covered. I find that wearing isolating earphones, earmuffs, etc only serves to strain me further since I can still hear conversations but I have to listen harder to make out the words.

Perhaps I have some undiagnosed anxiety or paranoia but for me, isolation/silence does not work as well as masking.

I agree regarding music without lyrics. But I never thought of including incomprehensible lyrics in that group. Below is a selection of playlists that I listen to often while working. There are occasional lyrics or talking, but not too often. I also like that the music style has a bit of variation in it.

http://musicforprogramming.net/

These mixes are brilliant! Boards of Canada get in that same type of headspace

https://youtu.be/ksWPFwHwlwY

I listen to this when working sometimes too, especially if I'm struggling to focus because of other distractions.

Episode 33 is my favorite

Here's one more data point:

I enjoy a full range of musical genres and I typically go in cycles. I'll go for a week or two on trance/progressive (A State of Trance Episodes 300-450). Then I might switch to technical death metal for a bit. Even though they typically sing in English, it turns out that the lyrical content of this type of music is hardly discernable. I also happen to enjoy a lot of punk and hardcore music. I find that if I already know the words to the music, then sometimes it's not as distracting as other lyrically-heavy genres.

Also, I'd suggest investing a pair of good over-the-ear headphones (if you can tolerate them) or at least a pair of good in-ear earphones. You might also consider an amplifier as well. With my iPod classic, an amp, and my Beyerdynamic DT-770s, the music sounds so damn good. The seal on my ears is so tight that I'm basically isolated from my environment.

Actual like to listen to a foreign music for this reason. If I can't understand the lyrics it does not distract or I listen to a lot instrumental music. If there are lyrics I can understand I will focus on them.

Software Developer and... I guess I do this Linux Administration thing now? Anyway, I couldn't agree more. I can work in quiet, but more often than not I like to have music playing just to block everything out and focus on what I'm doing. It's immensely helpful in our open office floor plan, or even when I'm just at home and my roommates want to have a lively discussion or play some of their own music.

I don't think this is unusual at all; heck, my musical upbringing tends to mean that if there isn't music playing, my brain fills in the gap with one song on loop. Sometimes I need to switch the mental track, y'know?

I'm the same way. My doctor said it's likely a symptom of my ADHD. It's funny, because as a kid I couldn't deal with small noises (tapping a pen and such) but I was totally fine listening to music while I worked.

Same now, as an adult, although obviously it's much easier to have self-control and ignore noises as an adult :-)

> Industrial, death metal, and recordings of rainfall all work just as well for me

Death metal is surprisingly conducive to productive work. I mostly like music with a heavy repetitive beat and minimal lyrical content.

The music I find effective drowns out surroundings and distracts the mind a bit while being very simple and repetitive so that it does not engage too much mental energy.

I really like classical music but find it to be no good for programming because it is to varied and complex and so i will get distracted in appreciating the musical composition.

I'd also like to point out that giving listeners a new music experience rather than listening to familiar music is a flaw in the study. There's an obvious difference between listening to the same albums or playlists that one always listens to while working or studying, and a new aural experience.

My pet theory for this is that some important parts of your brain are getting co-opted into the code reading/writing process.

Hearing other people talking (musically or otherwise) competes for some of the same neurons.

My anecdote. When I was deep in programming I tended not to listen to music I really liked but ones with a fairly steady volume & pace and also quite rhythmic. Dance music such as The Shamen worked well. I wouldn't be actively listening and enjoying the music but if I needed a little mental break I could mentally drop into the music without the risk of losing my thought train.

When concentrating I often listen to classical piano now, composers such as Erik Satie.

I found the modern music was great for coding but if I was writing the classical was better, I suppose the vocals muddled my language train for writing.

tl;dr: "participants performed better in silence than they did in any music conditions"

Personally, I cannot listen to music and work... I get too caught up in trying to follow the music. I end up just wearing my noise canceling headphones with no music playing and working in relative silence.

That said, I'm interested to know if folks here on HN can relate.

Does all music distract you or just music with lyrics? Do you know music theory?

I'm only distracted by lyrics, but maybe I knew more about music, I'd be distracted by instrumentals.

I used to be only distracted by lyrics, but now it's anything. I find myself trying to "conduct" the song with my fingers and focus on the rhythms and chords. I learned music from an early age so maybe you're on to something.

What about that ambient/"cognitive/aural beats" stuff on youtube? I've been trying that lately and it seems nice. No data to see if better or not, but definitely more relaxing.

I've also started just using earplugs which can also seem to be (subjectively) effective.

Link?

sorry -here's one I listened to yesterday

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh-dcCeR-r4&t=6856s

basically, I search for "cognitive enhancement music"- sometimes the "meditation" ones seem nice, too. I have an immediate relaxation response to this stuff, and it's pleasant.

Sorry, for me this just comes off as a hamfisted cliche of "calm". I'm distracted by the constant modulations. Just not my thing, but it probably works great as a constant drone against unwanted noise.

I listen to a lot of classical music/soundtracks at work and that has been pretty good for my concentration. The key seems to be: not pop, no lyrics. Whenever I don't listen to music I tend to get distracted by conversations in my open office or even roped into talking with teammates (to be fair, this isn't a bad thing -- it just happens more with my headphones off).

I can listen to music and work, sometimes I get so focused that I don't even realize there is music, but I usually more effectively in silence. I hate background chitchat beyond a certain level, and when the people talking have to get louder to be heard over the level of noise, it causes me a ridiculous level of frustration.

I have experimented with various volumes and types of music while I'm studying, but overall, silence works for me.

For me, the best option is quite ridiculous: I wear a good set of (class 5) earmuffs. Even traffic just a few yards from me is almost silent. I'm wearing a pair right now, actually.

It's just so peaceful. If I could wear these things to bed, I would.

It's very common for me to put headphones in and have it trigger my 'work mode'. On Friday I had no meetings, put on my headphones, started some album, and hours later realized I was listening to the same song again for the 4-5th time. I just zoned out and went to work.

This might come from years of weight lifting with headphones. There are certain songs, albums, genres that when I hear them it's go time whether it be lifting or working.

I can relate to this. Music only serves as a distraction and prevents me from getting actual work done.

I also only tend to listen to music occasionally, when I 'feel' like it.

For me, it really depends on the type of task. For things requiring high concentration or pinpoint mental focus, music gets in the way. For things requiring flow or invigoration, music can help me get/stay in the zone; and if something requires raw mental stamina (ie, it's something tedious or that I otherwise have to force myself to do), music can help me persist.

So, eg for programming: if it's a problem that's new to me or of notable complexity, music gets in the way. But if I'm hacking together a quick script that's just variations on easy/known problems, I can do it faster with music, and if it's something I'd rather not be working on music can up my productivity by lowering the number of brain-breaks I need to take.

In a completely different direction, for many forms of creative-artistic work, I find music helps massively.

I can do about 75% of my work with music. That is the boring simple boilerplate that barely requires consciousness about sleeping.

The other 25% that requires more mental concentration i need to turn the mute the music.

The 75% typing or something similar is more the bootleneck than anything cognitive so I doubt being musicless would help.

To add a data point: listening to music significantly improves my focus (any kind of music but techno is particularly helpful). However listening to any form of human voice alone (podcasts, Netflix sound only) completely destroys my focus (or the inverse: I focus on my task but totally tune out the voice material).

Permit me to recommend the ambient music of the late Lucette Bourdin [0] [1]. I find it easy to tune out (a few of the tracks are distracting, but not many), yet interesting enough not to be monotonous. She was quite prolific — if you're wondering where to start, Horse Heaven (a free download at [1]) is among her best.

[0] http://www.lbourdin.com/

[1] http://relaxedmachinery.com/earthmantra/artist-detail.php?id...

> Interestingly, this study revealed some evidence that overall background noise, such as television, music, and chatter could improve performance in complex cognitive tasks for extraverts, although it will significantly impair introverts’ performance (Furnham & Bradley, 1997).

Maybe this explains why open offices are so popular with higher-ups? They tend to be extroverts, and if their own personal experience is that distracting noise is positive... I've always wondered why the negative impact isn't completely self-evident.

Also cheaper which could explain popularity with higher ups.

Cheaper shouldn't matter if it hurts productivity.

The problem with this paper is that it ignores ADHD. It can be very difficult or impossible to maintain concentration for periods of time longer than some minutes (or even seconds) for an ADHD person and certain kinds of music can help mitigate this problem in some cases.

BTW amphetamine works alike AFAIK: it induces hyperactivity and harms concentration in healthy people but calms ADHD people down and induces concentration and clarity on them.

Amphetamines don't work like music.

But the results are alike at least in some cases.

> The problem with this paper is that it ignores ADHD.

This isn't really a problem with the paper itself, per se. But probably a subset of the population which should be tested.

> certain kinds of music can help mitigate this problem in some cases.

Is this inferred/anecdotal evidence or rigorously tested? Many of my friends claim that music helps them concentrate, but (as this paper shows) it probably doesn't.

I just tend to loose conscious awareness and feel extreme urge (like the urge to breeze you feel if you stop breezing and wait a minute) to switch to a different task (procrastination usually, that's exactly why I am writing this now :-)) every couple of minutes and focusatwill.com helps a huge lot by putting me in the state of flow. Same story with my GF, she has introduced this app to me in fact.

I've heard that claim about amphetamines before, and I've always doubted it. I know many people who do not seem to have ADHD and who have never been diagnosed who have taken adderall before. They all claim to have used it to study for tests, work on huge projects, etc. with great success.

Besides, if amphetamines worked differently on the healthy/ADHD people, wouldn't you just give someone a small dose of amphetamine if you wanted to "test" them for ADHD? If they act calmer, they must have ADHD, if they get hyperactive, they don't. Right?

Apologies if I"m misunderstanding; I'm just hoping to get to the bottom of a claim that's always bothered me.

That's exactly what I mean. It (I mean racemic street amphetamine, you can't get medical adderall in Europe) makes the majority of those who try it very agitated but makes some of those with ADHD serene and tranquil as a pure water lake surface on a windless day. I doubt it works on everybody this simple though and there hardly is any scientific research on this subject.

If you want a brilliant and lovely person to listen to about the facts of ADHD, look up Dr Russell Barkley.

That factoid is a myth: the difference is that ADHD meds provide those with ADHD the focus needed to function in modern society, and without it they do not function. There's a theory to do with dopamine regulation and the COMT gene which I don't claim to understand. A generalisation might be 'this gives me dopamine in a pill, so I don't disrupt my environment/chase random thoughts for my dopamine'.

> it induces hyperactivity and harms concentration in healthy people

This is wrong. They don't like to talk about it, but air forces around the world have been giving amphetamines to pilots since WWII. They're used to enable pilots to maintain focus for long missions. The US Air Force conducted studies on amphetamines in the 50s and concluded that they do indeed improve pilots' performance.

Edit: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphetamine#Enhancing_performa...

I def prefer the quiet. Avid music fan, ears blown from 2 decades of festivals, clubs, and chonic headphoning. Certain beats on the stereo are good but I won't do headphones anymore. Final problem with headphones in office is political, visually implies being closed with a good margin of false positives and negatives.

I've no data, but my life programming with constant music started in offices to cope and I think I am better without the blaring noise. I've made other substantial changes that I think made desire for loud noises generally be negated. I think I am way more sharp now, similar to 17yo self before headphone coping began

Last year I started with the headphones at work to block out the noise, but I got a lot of pushback about being “unavailable”. Amazingly on a team using Slack, where I usually respond instantly.

I’d expect though, that when your brain has to maintain focus actively (w/o headphones) it does a better job overall, than with, and it forces you to prioritize for tasks which are worth focusing on.

Discussed a bit in 2014: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8686072

"In agreement with the first hypothesis, performance scores were significantly higher in silence (M= 12.94) than in all four music conditions, intensity levels, and types of music combined"

For those comparing this to work performance, where do you work that "silence" is an option, and are you hiring?

Yeah I've noticed a big difference in genre too.

I find that I have three main modes:

- I have control over my environment and don't need/want to listen to music or noise

- Creatively I need stimulation, so I listen to sonically interesting music with no lyrics (that I can understand).

- I want to get work done as efficiently as possible but there are too many aural distractions, so I listen to rain.

I do think that I perform the best when not listening to anything, but over time I need to use other parts of my brain so it's nice to do like, idk 80% coding efficiency while getting a "this is an interesting song" fix.

Big fan of video game soundtracks. Thunder Force IV ;)

I have listened to rainymood.com over 1000 hours and am 100% sure I perform better while listening to it vs. not listening to anything. However, pop music would be much more distracting than silence for me.

I use my earbuds to calm down sometimes but then after one song I stop the music and then I have silence.

I have started to just use earplugs but the cheap ones I have have less isolation than my earbuds so I generally use those.

Turning off the phone is a great way to not only accomplish the above but also to reduce distractions . Or just invest in good earplugs .

Headphones that do noise cancellation for some reason irritate me more than natural isolation (I guess that might be the fact that there is sound there I just can’t hear it?).

Or if you are lucky find a quiet room and use that.

Its important to find earplugs that fit correctly. My favorites are Howard Leight Max, and many come in different sizes (regular or small).

http://www.howardleight.com/ear-protection/earplugs

As a counterpoint to this, here's an article citing multiple peer reviewed studies that says largely the opposite, that certain types of music can be quite beneficial to cognitive performance: https://blog.pzizz.com/how-music-can-help-you-focus-and-get-...

I have been listening to the AI-generated music at Brain.fm for about a month now. The focus mode really does seem to help. (I also like the sleep mode, but I need better headphones to wear to bed.)

Before I learned about Brain.fm, I was a fan of the isochronic tone generator at mynoise.net, which I would combine with the "white rain" generator in their iOS app.

There should also be a comparison of type of cognitive task vs type of music.

Once I have the solution to a problem in my head, I do great writing code while listening to instrumental music with a lot of repetition (some progressive electronic fits this, but it is not the only style).

Under no circumstances I can listen to music with lyrics while performing any type of cognitive task.

I think there are several differences on the thought process between examp, learning, programming or other creative processes. Say mathematical examp would need more concentration than writing a poem, which should be has different cognitive impact.

If people are trying to be machines then I guess it makes sense. I wonder what they would discover if they considered enjoyment/flow/creativity as a factor.

How about isotones or binaural beats? I've moved to those. They seem to help. How about the rest of you? Any good?

The big concern I have with students learning in a music enviroment is that the information they store will not be recalled in the same way when they can't listen to the same music, i.e. exams. I wonder how much state-dependent memory is affected on recall.

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