Effects of Lyrical Music on Reading Comprehension

Lyrics on Reading Comprehension 1

EFFECTS OF LYRICAL MUSIC ON READING COMPREHENSION

Effects of Lyrical Music on Reading Comprehension

Zach Liapis, Zach Giddens and Michelle Uhlenbrock

Hanover College

PSY 220: Research Design and Statistics

Fall 2008


Abstract

Previous research has had mixed results when examining the effect of music on test

performance. This study was designed to examine the effects of lyrical and non-lyrical music on

reading comprehension. Participants (N = 20, 55% male) read an article on the health benefits of

green tea. Half of the participants did this while listening to a song with lyrics (lyrical condition)

and the other half did this while listening to the same song with no lyrics (non-lyrical condition).

When the music ended, they completed a 10 question reading comprehension quiz.

Although participants scored better in the no lyrics condition than the lyrics condition, the

difference wasnt significant, p = .552. Future studies could consider alternate musical styles.

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Effects of Lyrical Music on Reading Comprehension

Almost all students study in order to achieve better scores on their tests. Many

students study while listening to music. There has been considerable research into how music

affects cognitive performance. Given this information the obvious question becomes, how does

pairing music with studying affect a student's performance?

The possibility of an effect of music on our cognitive abilities has gained media

attention after research by Alfred Tomatis in "Pouquoi Mozart" (1991). Tomatis was interested

in examining the effect of varying frequencies and found that through use of Mozart

music allowed the basilar membrane within the ear to heal and also promote brain growth. The

theory was popularized when Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993) found increases in abstract spatial

reasoning ability after listening to a sonata by Mozart as compared to relaxation music and

silence. However, the effects of the music only lasted about 15 minutes. Often misquoted as

having reported increases in IQ numbers, Rauscher et al.'s (1993) so-called "Mozart effect"

elicited a flurry of research testing for musical effects. Since then, a number of studies have

indicated that Mozart's music does not have a significant effect on intelligence quotient (Crncec,

Wilson, & Prior, 2006; Gray, & Della Sala, 2007; Hui, 2006).

However, the theory that music affects test performance cannot be

entirely discounted. Meta-analyses by Chabris (1997) and Hetland (2000) noted small increases

in performance when using Mozart music and spatial testing measures such as spatial tasks as

opposed to abstract reasoning. Subsequently, researchers have pointed out mediators in the

relationship between music and cognitive abilities such as the arousal theory and complexity

theory. The arousal theory suggests that listening to music optimizes arousal levels to a specific

point depending on the complexity of the task that is to be completed ( e.g. Steele, Bass, &


Crook, 1999; Jones, West & Estell 2006). For instance someone that is very anxious might be

calmed with soothing music, while someone that is tired might be energized by upbeat music.

According to the arousal theory, both of these cases will allow for better performance on a

certain task, provided that the individual is not over-aroused. Over arousal can lead to decreased

performance. The musical complexity theory mentioned by Furnham and Bradley (1997) and

Furnham and Strbac (2002) states that although music has lead to increased test scores, increased

complexity within music will lead to decreases in participant test scores when compared to less

complex music.

The current study looked to examine the music complexity theory. Most of the previous

studies on complexity have looked at music that does not contain lyrics (Furnham & Bradley

1997; Furnham & Allass 1999) However, lyrics within music could also add complexity to

the song. The lyrics simply add another level of processing for the brain. furthermore, a study by

Banbury and Berry (1998) found that background noise mixed with words decreased memory for

prose while background noise without words did not have a significant effect. The current study

hopes to find the same effect in that music with speech will lead to decreased test scores.

Furthermore, the study expands off of complexity theory looking to examine the relationship

between music with and without lyrics on memory for prose and see if similar results to research

on complexity within non-lyrical music are observed. On the basis of prior research that finds

music to be over-stimulating, we predicted that participants in the lyrics condition would score

significantly lower than participants in the no lyrics condition. To test this theory,

participants took a reading comprehension test that follows a short prose accompanied by music.

The music was manipulated to include a song with and without lyrics and each participant was

placed into only one condition.


Methods

Participants

A convenience sample of twenty students volunteered from Hanover College using a

convenience sample. Ages ranged from 18 to 22. Participant gender consisted of 11 males and 9

females. Participants races ranged from White 85%, Black 5%, Asian 5%, Arab, 5%.

Materials

In order to manipulate reading comprehension scores, we obtained two versions of the

same song; one containing lyrics and the other containing only music. The song chosen was

"Where the Green Grass Grows - Tim McGraw". The song lasted for three and a half minutes.

The non-lyrical version of the song was chosen from a karaoke compact disc, while the non-

lyrical version was found using the online search engine "Youtube". The song was played using

a computer. To measure participants' reading comprehension abilities while listening to the two

versions of this song an essay was obtained. One essay was obtained from the internet

by searching for scholarly health essays. The essay that was found was a shorter essay

that contained information on the health benefits of green tea. The essay was chosen because it

dealt with the physiological health benefits of green tea; which most people presumably know

little about. A test was developed for the essay. The test consisted of ten four-question multiple

choice questions developed to measure reading comprehension. The participants filled out a

demographic questionnaire after completing the study. Participants completed our study in

groups of five.

Procedure

Participants were randomly assigned to two different conditions. The conditions varied

based on which song they would hear, either the song with lyrics (the lyrics condition) or the


song without lyrics (the without-lyrics condition). Each participant was given an informed

consent form. Participants read an essay while listening to their assigned song. Participants

were informed that they would have the duration of the song to read and study their article and at

the end of that time a test would be administered. At the end of the song, the essays were taken

from the subjects and they were given a reading comprehension test consisting of ten songs with

four multiple choice answers each. After the end of the test participants completed a

demographic survey and were debriefed orally by a researcher. Once the participants were

debriefed, they were thanked for their participation and were dismissed.

Results

To test our hypothesis, we separated our analysis into two parts. The first

examined the entire group in relation to the two conditions with lyrics and with-out

lyrics). In order to account for any other variables that might influence results, a second

analysis of other variables was conducted.

To test whether the lyrics group performed better or worse than the group without lyrics a

t-test was preformed. Although results trended towards better scores on the no lyrics condition

(M = 8.30) than the lyrics condition (M = 8.00) the difference was not significant, t(18) =

.605, p = .552 (see Figure 1). To examine whether the effects of lyrics varied by gender, a 2

(gender: male vs. female) x 2 (condition: with lyrics vs. without lyrics) ANOVA was performed.

There was a main effect of gender on score such that female participants scored significantly

higher than male participants, F(1,16) = 5.12, p = .037. There was no significant main effect of

condition on score, F(1,16) = 1.901, p = .187. The interaction between gender and condition was

not significant (p =.48). Furthermore, although the interaction between gender and condition was

not significant, Figure 2 shows that female scores were slightly lower in the with-lyrics condition


compared to the without lyrics condition whiles male scores were much lower in the lyrics

condition compared to the without lyrics condition.


Figure 1: Test scores from participants in the with and without lyrics condition


Figure 2: Participant test scores measured by gender and musical condition

Discussion


Our hypothesis that the without-lyric condition would score significantly higher than the

with-lyrics condition was not supported by the results. However, the results trended towards

decreased performance on the tests in the lyrics condition compared to the without-lyrics

condition.

A number of reasons could account for our finding. Our study only used one song that

was split into two conditions (with and without lyrics). This is problematic in that it isolates the

song selection to one specific type of music. However, it seems clear that students are studying

while listening to many different types of music. Perhaps a specific genre of music is more

distracting than another. Furthermore, some songs lyrics may prove to be more distracting than

others, leading to a greater difference in scores across the two conditions. For instance, lyrics in

which it is hard to understand what the singer is saying might be more distracting as the

participant tries harder to understand what is being said. Or volume might affect distraction

such that louder lyrics might distract the participant more than soft lyrics. Also, our song was

selected because relatively few people would be familiar with it. However, there could be a

difference in distraction level for songs with which the participant is familiar versus unfamiliar.

For instance, a participant might pay more attention to a familiar song they like rather than a

song they have never heard before or vice versa.

As previously noted, women significantly outscored men. Womens performance did not

drop nearly as much as mens performance in the with-lyrics condition as opposed to the

without-lyrics condition. Although the interaction was not significant, it may suggest a

connection to research done on the difference in multitasking abilities of men and

women. Typically women outperform men on tasks completed while multitasking. To tie

these two concepts together, if male scores on tasks drop significantly when they are


multitasking and male scores drop in the lyrical condition, then maybe the two are related. In

other words, listening to music while studying is a form of multitasking or at least a divided

attention task. Therefore, the use of music with lyrics could meerly be an extension of research

already completed on the gender effects of multitasking.

Future Research

Further research could also focus on a continuation of music from study into some of the

participants tests. In other words participants would read an initial article with or without music

and then complete a test with or without music. Participants would then be examined in four

conditions (music only during article, music only during test, music during both, and no music in

either). Music has been shown to change the mood of a person either in a positive or negative

way (Kitamura 2005). State dependent memory shows that participants retain the

most information when their emotional state matches the emotional state when they first learned

the information (Bower 1981). If scores are better in the condition in which there was no music

during the reading or testing than when music is only present in the reading of the article, then it

would be detrimental for students to pair music with study since few teachers allow music during

tests.

Summary and Conclusions

Our study supports research that music paired with studying does not influence test

results, specifically memory for prose. However, our study did not measure the effect of music

on spatial ability, which has produced the strongest results in the past. Furthermore, results

indicating that females had significantly higher scores on the with-lyrics condition than males

suggests a future area of research into gender differences. We encourage future research to


look into further examinination of these conditions until the relation of music and test

performance is understood.


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Effects of Lyrical Music on Reading Comprehension