THE EFFECTS OF CLASSICAL MUSIC ON MEMORY RETENTION

Jackie Aleman, Hira Billoo, Ray Castro, Karen Nunez

Abstract

In this study, we conducted an experiment on the correlation between classical music and memory retention

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BackgroundIs there a way to facilitate

memory?Previous literature:

◦ The Mozart Effect◦ Rauscher and Shaw study

We expected to find a correlation between music and memory retention

Hypothesis

Classical music has a positive effect on memory retention

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Participants19 CSUN students 4 males and 15 females Ages ranged from 20-23

◦M=21.631, SD=1.116

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Demographics53% Hispanics11% Asian5% Pacific Islander5% East Indian5% African American 16% Middle Eastern 5% Caucasian

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Materials

Two PowerPoint Presentations (One with music and the other without)

20 randomly assigned wordsFill in the blank sheets provided

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ProcedurePresented with Music or No Music

PowerPoint for 90 secondsFill in the blank provided to recall

words

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Results TableTable 1Means and Standard Deviation Scores for the Classical Music and No Music Conditions.

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ResultsIndependent samples t-test was conducted

to test the main hypothesis.There was no significant difference

between the music and no music conditions, t (17)=-.03, p > .05, against our hypothesis.

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ResultsAdditional independent samples t-test was

conducted to explore gender differences in memory recall between males (N = 4) and females (N = 15).

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ResultsTable 2

Means and Standard Deviation Scores for gender differences in memory recall test.

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ResultsAlthough the mean difference between

the two groups was not statistically significant, t (17)=.023, p <.05, there was a tendency that males (M = 9.75) outperformed females (M =7.13) on the memory test.

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DiscussionHypothesis is rejectedMusic condition and no music condition

show no significant differenceGender differences in certain words

recalled

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ImplicationsIn terms of word recall, the

effectiveness of music on memory is insignificant

Further research and experiment advantages

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LimitationsNot a true experiment because

lacks random assignmentSmall N sizeNot an even distribution of

genderNo condition to prevent repetition

of words