Effect of background music in a computer word processing task

BACKGROUND: The relaxing effect of music has been shown to reduce stress induced subjective anxiety and improve the performance of stressful cognitive tasks. OBJECTIVE: This experimental study evaluated the effect of music and induced mental load in a word processing task in terms of correct strokes and accuracy, typing force, variability of typing force and EMG (electromyography) of extensor digitorum muscle. METHODS: Eight subjects participated in the study. A 2 × 2 repeated measure design was adopted, with or without background music, and with or without induced mental load. A computer algorithm detected the shift, drift and fidget patterns of finger and hand movements, which caused the variation of the typing force. RESULTS: Although the overall typing productivity was compromised by music by 3.1%, the beneficial effect of music was the reduction of standard deviation of typing force by 23.2%, indicating a smoother or less erratic hand movement during typing. CONCLUSIONS: The behavior change by music resulted in reduction in hand motions during typing may reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorder related to typing task.