Study Habits and Music: How They Affect Attention and Academic Performance

Abstract

This thesis examines how the application of different study modalities (deep/surface-level) and stimuli (music) while studying may affect how engaged students are and how well they perform academically. 20 participants studied both long reading comprehension passages and vocabulary words/definitions before being tested on each type of material. Half of the participants listened to self-selected music, as they studied, while the other half of participants studied in silence. Cerebral blood flow velocities (CBFV) while studying, which indicated levels of sustained attention, were obtained for all participants through use of transcranial Doppler sonongraphy (TCD).Results indicated that participants struggled to remain attention as they continued to study. This decremented effect was further shaped by differences between hemispheric CBFV values and the type of studying that occurred. CBFV values remained more concordant between hemispheres during deep-level studying than surface-level studying.