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The impact of music on humans.

Music is a fundamental element that has a direct influence in our daily lives. It is hard to imagine a

world without music. Household chores, driving, eating, social gatherings and many others can

efficiently be accomplished while listening to music. Although music is accredited for its positive

influence, many people still pose numerous doubts since this seems a hypothesis that varies from oneperson to another. Claims that music alleviates stress, enhances spatial reasoning and task performance

has prompted several investigations.

According to Hammer (1996), stress is a common phenomenon that if not cared for can ruin ones

health status. He believes that, it is normal for anyone to have stress but it only becomes abnormal in

persistent situations where reducing or alleviating factors will be required. In his studies that involved 60

female undergraduate students, State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was employed in determining

participants perceived level of stress. The students were exposed to classical, hard rock and others to no

music at all for ten (10) minutes. The results showed that, the three groups of students did not have any

significant effect after the ten minutes of the experiment. Hammer challenged that, past results which

hypothesized listening to music as stress alleviating factors are not precise. He further argued that, the

past results might have not followed the right procedures for the experiment and therefore, invalid

which he blamed on various issues such as exposing the participants to music for long durations of time,

use of music therapy other than simply music and relaxation methods and use of salivary recording

(Brennan et al., 2000). Hammer concludes that, whatever sort of music one listens to will never alleviate

the perceived level of stress. He explains that, there is no established correlation between listening to

music and lowering or increasing stress. He however, agrees with the induced emotional state which

requires that, participants take responsibility in alleviating their stress. Hammer is worried that, the

results of his study could inflict a negative impacts on people who already believed in the past results

that listening to music relieves stress. He is however keen to mention that, further research shouldexpose participants to listen to music for a long time with some music therapy techniques amalgamated

into the system if substantial outcomes are expected.

In other studies, Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993) discloses that the effect of listening to music by Mozart

enhances spatial reasoning, and the results were published in nature. Research participants were given

one of three standard tests of abstract spatial reasoning after they had experienced each of three

listening conditions: Mozart, techno version of Mozart, repetitive relaxation music, and silence. They

found a temporary enhancement of spatial-temporal reasoning, as measured by the Stanford-Binet

Intelligence test. Shaw and Rauscher claim that their work has been misrepresented. What they have

shown is that there are patterns of neurons that fire in sequences and that there appear to be pre-

existing sites in the brain that respond to specific frequencies. This is not quite the same as showing that

listening to Mozart increases intelligence in children. Reports imply that brief exposure to music

particularly music composed by Mozart causes temporary increases in spatial abilities while Others

suggest that music have beneficial side effects in making children smarter. In another related study,

undergraduates who listened to Mozart performed better on standardized tests of spatial abilities that

were administered immediately compared with their counterparts who sat in silence or listened to

relaxation instructions before the tests . Rauscher et al demonstrates that the enhancing effect of the

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music condition is only temporary and that no student had effects extending beyond the 10-minutes

period in which they were tested. The study makes no statement of an increase in Intelligence test in

general, but in participants' spatial intelligence scores. While Rauscher et. al. only showed an increase in

"spatial intelligence", the results were popularly interpreted as an increase in general Intelligence test.

This misconception, and the fact that the music used in the study was by Mozart, had an obvious appeal

to those who valued this music which casts serious doubt on the possibility that exposure to music

primes spatial abilities.

One can argue that the brain has more information to process when there is background music

compared to working without music because two modalities are involved instead of one. To prove this,

a study by Halman, Price and Katsarou (2002) reveals that, calming music resulted into quality grades

on an arithmetic and memory tasks compared to any other music. Another investigation where seventy

two (72) students listened to classical, Punk or to no music at all with regards to either timed or untimed

conditions discovered that, students who listened to classical music condition had great performance as

compared to those who listened to Punk or No music environments leave alone the timing factor (Hall

and Watson, 1970). This can further be stated that classical music refreshes ones mind and therefore,provides ultimate conditions to accomplish a task sooner than expected. Hall and Watson hints that,

forthcoming research should focus on how various kinds of classical music influences performance.

It is inevitable to just conclude that music in a real sense relieves one from stress or increase ones

ability to accomplish a task. This is because many studies have centered controversial results which are

not worth convincing. Evidence from a study by Hammer, (1996) proves that, listening to any kind of

music cannot help in alleviating stress. He however convinces that long time exposure to music with

proper music therapy in place can to some extend offer positive results. Other related results from

Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993) however reveals that, music improves performance in spatial reasoning

and a study by Halman, Price and Katsarou (2002) reveals that, calming music impacts on computertasks accomplishment.

References:

Brennan, F.B., &Charnetski, C.J. (2000). Stress and immune system function in a newspaper`s

newsroom. Psychological Reports, 87, 218-222.

Hall, J. & Watson, W. H. (1970).The effects of a normative intervention on group decision-making

performance.Human Relations, 23, 299-371.

Hallman, S., Price, J. &Katsarou, G. (2002). The effects of background music on primary school pupils task

performance. Educational Studies, 28, 111-122.

Hammer, S.E. (1996). The effects of guided imagery through music on state and trait anxiety.

Journal of Music Therapy, 33, 47-70.

Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., &Ky, K. N. (1993). Music and spatial task performance.Nature, 365, 611.

http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/61/music.htm

http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/61/music.htmhttp://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/61/music.htmhttp://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/61/music.htm

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