| MadSci Network: Neuroscience |
Dear Jessica. I answered a question last year that was similar to yours (see “Does music affect short term memory?” on the MadSciNet), so I will not repeat the entire answer I gave last time. There is no simple answer to your question because research results are very inconsistent. Some studies show that music has a strong effect on things such as mood, learning, memory and even some of our physiological responses. Other studies show little or no effects. Like so many other studies in psychology and related fields, it really depends on the type of subjects you use, what you are measuring (your dependent variable), and your manipulation (your independent variable). However, an exciting new research area in psychology called neuro-feedback (similar in some ways to biofeedback) may eventually shed some light on these inconsistencies and perhaps explain why music does have certain effects on our behavior. I should warn you that there is a lot of “bad science” out there, so be careful about believing everything you read. One book that I can recommend to you about this topic area is called “The Tao of Music” by John Ortiz, Ph.D. I think he does a good job of reporting the scientific evidence for some of the effects music has on us. In addition, the following links on the internet also address your question. I encourage you to find out more about this fascinating question. http://www.studynow.com/braintune/index.htm http://www.maui.net/~pbm/powermus.html http://www.seattletimes.com/extra/browse/html97/altther_110297.html http://www.ucm.es/INET/hytelnet_html/ful/ful063.html
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Neuroscience.