The Effect of Music on Working Memory in High School Students

Overview

Music develops a connection to the listener that is unique to that person. The listener then develops their own definition of music that best suits their life. This factor can be especially important during the teenage years. Because music plays such a prominent role in the lives of today’s youth, this study was developed to determine if music has an impact on the working memory in an average high school student. To accomplish this, a variety of willing high school students from the ages 13 to 18 were recruited to assist with the study. To test working memory, variations of lists consisting of 15 relating words were looked at and recalled soon after while the participants listened to music. An individualized playlist was created for use in the testing session. Each playlist contained the participant’s favorite song, an instrumental track, and no music. The study predicted that listening to nothing would be beneficial to the participant. After testing, the data showed that listening to favorite music was beneficial to the participant’s memory and no statistically significant data between listening to nothing and instrumental music was shown. However, with more testing, a more distinct difference may be achieved.

Competition history

• AJAS 2019 Category not listed

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