The Effects of Musical Arousal on Adolescence Long-term Memory

Abstract

To examine the effects of different music genres on adolescents' long-term memory. Thirty participants were recruited to take part in the study. First, they were given a list of random letter combinations to memorize while listening to a soothing song or fast-paced rap music. After learning for five minutes, they were given some randomly generated arithmetic questions to complete within two minutes. Then, they did a recognition test on the previously memorized words. Results show that the memory-recalling abilities of the participants while listening to rap or soft music are significantly different. Most participants scored higher in tests with soft music than with rap music. The researcher conclude that it would be beneficial for students to do memorization tasks with relaxing background music because soft music could facilitate the process of information encoding and keep them motivated to study for longer, reducing their stress and anxiety. Students should avoid listening to music with a fast, rhythmic beat while memorizing since this type of music appears distractive. Future research could be conducted with a larger sample size.