Effect on Brain Activity while Programming with (without) Music

Abstract

In this study, I investigate the effect of programming with (without) music on electromagnetic waves in software developers' brain and analyzing how music influences the overall result of their tasks. For this research, I used an EEG device to measure the brain activity of the programmer and analyzed electromagnetic waves by calculating the arousal-valence coefficients & using pre-processing techniques (EEG studio). The experiment was performed with 8 students who were also software developers (5 undergraduates and 3 graduates). As a result, when programming with music, I discovered that the mean valence was greater while the mean arousal was lower. These early results suggest the feasibility of the technique.