The Effects of Background Auditory Interference and Extraversion on Creative and Cognitive Task Performance (original) (raw)
Related papers
Ergonomics, 2002
Previous research has found that introverts' performance on complex cognitive tasks is more negatively aVected by distracters, e.g. music and background television, than by extraverts' performance. This study extended previous research by examining whether background noise would be as distracting as music. In the presence of silence, background garage music and o ce noise, 38 introverts and 38 extraverts carried out a reading comprehension task, a prose recall task and a mental arithmetic task. It was predicted that there would be an interaction between personality and background sound on all three tasks: introverts would do less well on all of the tasks than extraverts in the presence of music and noise but in silence performance would be the same. A signi®cant interaction was found on the reading comprehension task only, although a trend for this eVect was clearly present on the other two tasks. It was also predicted that there would be a main eVect for background sound: performance would be worse in the presence of music and noise than silence. Results con®rmed this prediction. These ®ndings support the Eysenckian hypothesis of the diVerence in optimum cortical arousal in introverts and extraverts.
Psychology of Music, 2007
A B S T R AC T The study investigated the effects of music with high arousal potential and negative affect (HA), music with low arousal potential and positive affect (LA), and everyday noise, on the cognitive task performance of introverts and extraverts. Forty participants completed five cognitive tasks: immediate recall, free recall, numerical and delayed recall, and Stroop. Ten participants completed each of these tasks in one of four sound conditions: HA, LA, everyday noise and silence. Participants were also assessed for levels of introversion/ extroversion, and reported their music/noise and study preferences.
2019
The researcher in this study intends to focus not only on the effect of music on reading but also on the effects of music on extroverts – introverts personality dimensions. The main question this study tried to answer was whether listening to music as a background might enhance students' reading scores. A total of 68 language learners from Eresk educational group participated voluntarily in this study. They were selected out of 83 students, employing Nelson proficiency test and were randomly assigned to two groups. Before distributing the tests, Fog index was calculated to determine the readability of the texts. The texts were at upper- intermediate level. The participants in experimental group were asked to read three texts accompanying by music background, but the subjects in the control group were asked to read the same texts without background music during three sessions. To see if there is a significant difference between the reading scores of the two groups, Independent Sa...
2017
The question of whether background music is able to enhance cognitive task performance is of interest to scholars, educators, and stakeholders in business alike. Studies have shown that background music can have beneficial, detrimental or no effects on cognitive task performance. Extraversion—and its postulated underlying cause, cortical arousal—is regarded as an important factor influencing the outcome of such studies. According to Eysenck's theory of personality, extraverts' cortical arousal at rest is lower compared to that of introverts. Scholars have thus hypothesized that extraverts should benefit from background music in cognitive tasks, whereas introverts' performance should decline with music in the background. Reviewing studies that have considered extraversion as a mediator of the effect of background music on cognitive task performance, it is demonstrated that there is as much evidence in favor as there is against Eysenck's theory of personality. Further, revisiting Eysenck's concept of cortical arousal—which has traditionally been assessed by activity in the EEG alpha band—and reviewing literature on the link between extraversion and cortical arousal, it is revealed that there is conflicting evidence. Due to Eysenck's focus on alpha power, scholars have largely neglected higher frequency bands in the EEG signal as indicators of cortical arousal. Based on recent findings, it is suggested that beta power might not only be an indicator of alertness and attention but also a predictor of cognitive task performance. In conclusion, it is proposed that focused music listening prior to cognitive tasks might be a more efficient way to boost performance than listening to background music during cognitive tasks. There has been a surge in commercial applications promising to improve their users' concentration and focus by playing specifically designed music in the background. The basic idea is simple: playing background music activates your brain and leads to better performance in cognitive tasks. However, this idea comes with several issues. For example, even if music is specifically designed to set free
Background Music and Cognitive PERFORMANCE1,2
Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2010
The present experiment employed standardized test batteries to assess the effects of fast-tempo music on cognitive performance among 56 male and female university students. A linguistic processing task and a spatial processing task were selected from the Criterion Task Set developed to assess verbal and nonverbal performance. Ten excerpts from Mozart's music matched for tempo were selected. Background music increased the speed of spatial processing and the accuracy of linguistic processing. The findings suggest that background music can have predictable effects on cognitive performance.
The Influence of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition and Behavior
ACR North American Advances, 2011
Recent years have seen a rapid shift in consumer markets from being product-and firm-centric to one encouraging consumer involvement in mutual value creation by leveraging consumer creativity (Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2004). In parallel, there has been a surge in research studying various aspects of consumer creativity, such as consumer created content (e.g., Moreau and Herd 2010) and the effects of constraints on consumer creativity (Moreau and Dahl 2009). Our research builds on this research by exploring the effects of an important environmental variable on consumers' creative performance. It is well accepted that consumers' physical surroundings can significantly affect their decisions, whether it is color, aesthetics or ambient scents. We focus on one aspect of physical surroundings that has received less attention-ambient noise. Although ambient noise is always present in consumption contexts, its effects on cognition and behavior are not well-understood. Our research contributes to this literature by exploring the underlying process through which noise may affect creative cognition. Specifically, we examine how different levels of background noise may affect consumer creativity and behavior. We propose that moderate compared to low levels of noise can actually enhance creativity. Based on prior research (e.g., Nagar and Pandey 1987), we theorize that a higher noise level distracts individuals and increases processing difficulty, which causes individuals to process more abstractly (Alter and Oppenheimer 2008). Because empirical work on construal level has shown that abstract construal enhances creative performance (e.g., Smith 1995), we hypothesize that a moderate level of ambient noise may increase processing difficulty, activate an abstract construal level, which subsequently may enhance creativity. Our experiments provide systematic support to our theorizing. In our research, we only use moderate (70 dB) and low (50 dB) levels of noise intensity. Although prior research has also used high noise levels (e.g., 95 dB, Nagar and Pandey 1987), such high intensity is (1) unlikely to be sustainable in a consumer environment and (2) has constantly shown negative effects across various studies and variety of tasks (e.g., Nagar and Pandey 1987). Consequently, high noise levels were excluded from our study. In addition to intensity, different types of noises have been used in past research, such as white noise, pink noise, jet engine noises, and incessant ringing of alarm clocks. In the present research, we blend a combination of different types of ambient noises to create a soundtrack of constantly varying background noise. In Study 1, we test our main hypothesis that a moderate (vs. low) level of noise can enhance performance on a creative task. We used Remote Associates Tests as our focal task to measure creativity. Results showed that respondents in the moderate noise condition performed significantly better on Remote Associate Tests compared to respondents in the low noise condition. Study 2 tests our central thesis in a more consumer relevant context. It examines whether a moderate (vs. low) level of noise enhances persuasion when a persuasive message requires creative cognition to comprehend. Results again support our theorizing.
The Effect of Background Music on Cognitive Performance in Musicians and Nonmusicians
there is debate about the extent of overlap between music and language processing in the brain and whether these processes are functionally independent in expert musicians. A language comprehension task and a visuospatial search task were administered to 36 expert musicians and 36 matched nonmusicians in conditions of silence and piano music played correctly and incorrectly. Musicians performed more poorly on the language comprehension task in the presence of background music compared to silence, but there was no effect of background music on the musicians' performance on the visuospatial task. In contrast, the performance of nonmusicians was not affected by music on either task. The findings challenge the view that music and language are functionally independent in expert musicians, and instead suggest that when musicians process music they recruit a network that overlaps with the network used in language processing. Additionally, musicians outperformed nonmusicians on both tasks, reflecting either a general cognitive advantage in musicians or enhancement of more specific cognitive abilities such as processing speed or executive functioning.
The effects of personality and creativity on uses of music
2012
This study aimed to explore the relationships between the Big Five personality traits, creativity, and individual differences in uses of music (i.e. when and why people choose to listen to music). A sample of one hundred and two people (N = 102) completed measures for the above constructs and data were analyzed using bivariate correlations and multiple regressions. Results showed that, in line with the hypotheses, personality traits Openness to Experience and Extraversion were significantly positively correlated, and predicted, Creativity. Neuroticism, in contrast, was found negatively linked to Creativity. Moreover, Openness to Experience and Extraversion were positively associated with Background uses of music. Both variables were also found to be predictive of uses of music for background purposes. Results are discussed with reference to previous findings on personality as determinants of creativity and different uses of music.
Background music stints creativity: Evidence from compound remote associate tasks
Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2019
Background music has been claimed to enhance people's creativity. In three experiments, we investigated the impact of background music on performance of Compound Remote Associate Tasks (CRATs), which are widely thought to tap creativity. Background music with foreign (unfamiliar) lyrics (Experiment 1), instrumental music without lyrics (Experiment 2), and music with familiar lyrics (Experiment 3) all significantly impaired CRAT performance in comparison with quiet background conditions. Furthermore, Experiment 3 demonstrated that background music impaired CRAT performance regardless of whether the music induced a positive mood or whether participants typically studied in the presence of music. The findings challenge the view that background music enhances creativity and are discussed in terms of an auditory distraction account (interference-by-process) and the processing disfluency account.