Music is an old form of art that has been in existence since time in memorial. However, there is an accompanying knowledge gap that exists regarding the effects of music background on the brain of mature people. The research to be conducted aims at evaluating the effectiveness of music background on the brain of adults. According to previous research and anecdotal evidence, it was established that music had a significant impact towards the cognitive and overall psychological fitness of a human adult. Additionally, the study has further revealed that music is capable of enabling a stronger neural connection in several areas of an adult's brain. Therefore, it can be used to support cognitive rehabilitation. In most cases, music has been associated with the capability to invoke transcendent emotions through its evocative power which is absent in other forms of art. Based on the idea that emotions facilitate memory process and arouse strong emotions, studies have established that any music background has a significant perspective of enhancing an adult's memory performance. Secondly, the research carried out in the field has pointed out that music can considerably activate the limbic system that is often engaged in processing individual's emotions and at the same time controlling the individual’s brain.
Statement of the Problem
The research is aimed at bridging the knowledge gap that has been in existence concerning the effectiveness of music background towards enhancing the mental capabilities of the adults. Although many research has been carried out to evaluate the usefulness of music background in psychological wellness, none has been able to address its effectiveness to the brain of the adult people. The information illustrated in this research will be useful to individuals, psychology professionals, mental institutions, organization and the entire society since it will provide the rationale by which music background can be applied to enhance the adult minds in the communities.
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Research Question
Based on the information gap, the research will focus on answering the question:
How do variations in music background enhance the mental effectiveness of adults above 20 years of age?
From the research question, the research reveals both the dependent and independent variables present in the study. Music backgrounds represent the independent variable since it does not rely on any other variable to influence its outcomes in the study. On the other hand, the adult's brain can be identified as the dependent variable since it relies on the music background variable to determine its effectiveness in the research.
Research Hypothesis
The main aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of music background on the brain of adults. The study will critically test the following hypothesis:
h 1 - Any form of music background has the positive potential to enhance memory performance in adults.
Literature Review
Regardless of the country, the type of music whether rock or jazz, a large percentage of the adults love listening to music. Music is characterized with numerous benefits that do not only occur to the older people in the society but also to the entire population in the community. Music soothes the mind, energizes a person and assists an individual to stay calm always (Mohammadzadeh, 2016). It is relatively clear that music makes people happy and jovial, this is because it contains a particular aspect that trigger individuals mind to remember certain happy events in their life. Therefore, this can be identified as the main reason why the older adults like listening to music. Moreover, music has constantly been used as a stress reliever tool in in therapeutic sessions. As a result of the effects of music on a person's behavior and psychology, many adults have at one time or more relied on music as a form of therapy. It has also been an effective relief mechanism to people who are regularly affected by stress and depression.
According to Battiroli et al . (2014), the background music is any type of music that a particular person listens to when performing other unrelated tasks. The research carried out on background music relating to cognitive ability explained the effect of background music to an individual who is involved in another cognitive task. As a result, this developed the concept of Mozart effect which can be explained by the changes in cognitive abilities due to the act of listening to various music backgrounds.
Music is produced to be of different kind and genres, as such, various music types possess varying characteristics which translate to diverse effects on the brain activity. According to Schellenberg, (2017), a study carried out revealed that music had some profound effects on the cognitive functioning of the older people. The processing speed was fast, episodic memory performance was found to be high to the individuals who listen to music, and semantic memory was better regardless of the music they listened to a different time interval. The research also conducted a test on moods of adults after exposure to music background. Surprisingly, the results of the investigation revealed that most participants tend to be happy when listening to gentle music. It was also clear that participants tended to be happier when listening to their favorite genre of music.
According to Klem (2015), mood and memory usually go hand in hand when it comes to brain functioning. A particular mood is said to influence a person's memory thereby directly affecting his or her cognitive abilities. As a result, people's mind tends to be actively alert when they are happy accompanied with a fast processing speed of the brain. However, when a person is sad, his or her brain tends to be very inattentive, and at the same the brain processing abilities become slow. Similarly, a distracted person is likely to have a slow brain functioning and a slow memory.
Thompson et al. (2005), studied the effects of music and mood and arousal. Consequently, he discovered that there was a substantial connection that existed between mood, arousal, and cognitive ability. As a matter of fact, all these virtues have a positive influence on a person's general behavior. Arousal is the extent of activation of psychological processes while mood refers to the specific effects of the emotions. Subsequently, both mood and arousal elements will influence a person’s enjoyment of music which will affect his or her cognitive abilities. Since music genres are different, Arousal is often affected by the tempo and mode of music. The tempo of music can either be slow or fast. The mode of music is either significant or minor. A fast tempo music with a primary mode will induce high arousal effects since they make a person happy and active. A slow tempo with a minus mode will have adverse effects on the cognitive ability since it also has negative effects on the mood of the listener. Slow music may sometimes make a person sad.
Furthermore, the variations of genres of music amongst different people solely depend on a person's cognitive ability. Unfortunately, there exist some cases where music can deter cognitive ability. In cases where background music is associated with unpleasant effects, it will be regarded as a form of interference to the people around. Various studies highlight that music can be a form of disturbance to learning activities such as arithmetic, reading, and second language reading. Some cognitive tasks require limited resources for cognitive functioning to be at its best (Baddeley, 2003). Due to this reason, music can be a means of distraction in specific situations where it is accompanied with unlimited resources for improved cognitive abilities.
Methodology
The factual research components will be critically explained in this part the paper. As illustrated earlier, the research aims at examining how various forms of music background affect the mental capability and efficiency to the elderly population. As such the data and information availed in this part of the study will develop an elaborate description that will assist in answering the research question. How do variations in music background enhance the mental effectiveness of individuals who are above 20 years of age? It will also provide reliable information and data that will test the research hypothesis.
h 1 - Any form of music background has the positive potential to enhance memory performance in adults.
Research Design
Based on the sensitivity and the complexity of the research problem it means that the study will require a more personalized research method that will draw accurate and reliable data from the participants. This study will mainly use a survey method of data collection accompanied with descriptive research design to convey the study data and information effectively. The research utilizes both structured and semi-structured data collection techniques to provide reliable and consistent data that relates specifically to the effectiveness of music background on the brain of adults. To answer the research problem accurately, a practical study on the effect of music on the brain of adults was studied. The research applied a descriptive survey design to carry out this study. Usually, semi-structures data collection techniques are preferred to be the best methodology for conducting qualitative data collection practice since it clearly provides a suitable platform that collaborates the interviewer and the respondent so as to acquired valid information and additional clarifications when collecting factual qualitative data. The research is noted to be descriptive in nature; thereby indicating that the form of investigation to be carried out will be very casual. The participants involved in the study substantially assisted in the research since they were very cooperative and readily available to offer their responses concerning the research problem.
Setting: Otto (2010), explains that to get a more accurate and precise understanding of a problem under study, it is important to ensure that data about that issue of concern is collected from various sources. As such, information regarding music dominance was gathered from various documents such as music books, psychological magazines closely related to music, journals, and real music magazines. Such sources of information have had a significant impact towards providing a detailed and excellent comprehension on both the research problem and analysis of the study data. Moreover, books whose ideas is majorly on music dominance were carefully analyzed with the intent of providing an excellent perspective and a deeper understanding of the concepts. Likewise, web pages that had precious information about music were thoroughly accessed from the internet to source for trending information regarding the effect of music on the brain of adults. The web pages also were capable of highlighting the involved activities and the plans concerning music and its relation to the performance of adult's brains.
Participants: The study will target adults who are aged 20 years and above. The original essence of the choosing this class of participants is specifically because the research seeks to explore the effect of music on the brains of adult people, as such it would only require individuals who are beyond the young age. A recent study carried out, for instance, investigated the effects of two kinds of memory namely; semantic and episodic as well as brain processing speed. The study entailed background music and brain functioning of both young adults and older adults. The participants in this study were picked randomly from different backgrounds, these includes, from homes, workstations, institutions, and school setups.
Data organization: The researcher acknowledged that the data acquired from the participants should be organized in a safe and secure manner, this was to caution it against the risk of getting lost or being tampered with. The researcher used tables to organize the structured data because it would ensure that the data is incorporated into a precise database, and after that, it is fed into the selected analytics software. On the part of the unstructured data acquired from the research, there was the need to use tables arranged alphabetically; this would ensure that the process of data retrieval was relatively easy and fast. It was prudent for the researcher to incorporate them in one place as a measure of curbing the loss of the documents.
Sampling Design and Procedures
Sampling is a systematic process of selecting a particular number of the sample population to participate in the study. It is carried out in such a way that the individuals selected will act as a representation of the larger clutch from which they are chosen (Ott, 2010). It involves;
Use of interviews: the use of interviews in the research will be effective because it will provide a platform for fruitful and formidable discussions. This process was specially selected for gathering original information from the participants. The data drawn from the participant is entirely credible and reliable since the participants were able to give their complete honest responses to the interviewers.
The form and process of collecting data: This research will be assembled and integrated through structured interviews so as to assist in clarifying the facts accurately (Ott, 2010). On the first part of the questionnaire, it will contain questions relating to the respondent's personal profile data and their experience of the enormity of music to them. Secondly, it will it will entail the participant's feelings on what they consider as the most dominant effect of music on their hearing systems. The subsequent part of the questionnaire will consist of all questions accepted for measuring the critical variables containing the already set question; these are further utilized towards measuring the extent to which music background affects them. The question asked (See the appendix), are close ended. As such, the participants are allowed to only select a single option amongst the provided alternatives in the questionnaire.
Sampling technique: This part of the of the sampling design regarding sampling of the collected primary data ensured that the researcher was able to utilize this method as a sure way of acquiring concretized information from the participants across various sections. The researcher presumed that the involved participants relayed similar information related to the research problem. It was understood by the researcher that the opinions of each and every single respondent were important regardless of how negligible they seemed to be.
Limitations of the Study
Contrary to the series of merits associated with the research, the study had experienced some certain limitations which need to be mentioned.
Inherent defects were experienced since no particular method proved to provide better terms of bringing better results.
Some of the participants involved in the study did not exhibit adequate knowledge about different music classes since their knowledge could not be relied upon, it posed a significant threat because it could result to unreliable and inaccurate results and final conclusions about the study.
Ethical Issues & Considerations
Seeman (1969), outlines some standards that ought to be adhered to while conducting research so as to generate reliable and correct information for data for analysis. Firstly, the research should be completely honest with the information and the data presented; there should be no act of alterations or adjustments made to the primary data from the sample population. As such, any form of data modifications and fabrication will be disobeying the set standards and norms that govern the research process. Honesty is a vital personal virtue that each and every research ought to observe for authentication and generation of information that would be very beneficial to the society. Secondly, the investigator involved in the research process should not be biased when presenting data. Consequently, if clear guidelines are not into place, it has been observed over time that some researchers instill their personal self-interests into the research data. The reaches in most cases present the biased information as they would wish to be affiliated with a particular type of group which they belong to and which was involved in the investigation. Thirdly, the ethical standards governing the research process requires the researcher to clearly define objectives that would act as guiding tools for collection of relevant data (Ott, 2010). Unethical issues in the research usually arise when an investigator fails to draw some objectives on their research work, as such, it will illustrate that the researcher is working on a general information and therefore lacks focus since clear objectives are not set before the research process. Likewise, the data presented in the research should have a clear picture of the information derived from specified parts or regions of the study. The ethical standards also suggest that the instruments or tools meant to conduct the study ought to be identified before the actual process begin so as to improve the efficiency of data collection and analysis. The key areas of the standards of ethics to be observed solely lies on the validity and reliability of the information collected in the field. Moreover, it is essential for every researcher to be well acquainted with ethical issues related to research before conducting such activity to enhance credibility and accuracy of the information provided.
Conclusion
The study establishes an interesting fact about the study, whereby the research entails the psychology of the group of the population under study. Normally, aging has some noticeable intense effects on the cognitive ability of a person. As the age of a person increases, they are more prone to some forms of memory loss. Memory loss can be described as the inability of a person to remember simple tasks or simple things that occur in their day-to-day lives. Similarly, it involves an individual's failure to remember trivial tasks. Subsequently, performing the duties under divided attention in an adult. For this reason, it might validate the adverse effects associated with music disruptions to the elderly. Modern studies should, therefore, put emphasis on the normal human aging and cognitive ability (Bottiroli et al. , 2014).
This study investigates the impact of music based on several reasons. The most obvious reason being that music has different effects to listeners regardless of whether it's an elderly adult or a young adult. Based on the available evidence from previous researchers, there are controversial effects of background music both which are beneficial and non-beneficial to cognitive ability. Secondly, information processing in a person's mind relating to music background depends on tempo and the mode of background music the listener is exposed to. Thus, the differences in the results when different music genres are used due to the differences in music tempo and mode. Mode and tempo explain the differences in both the negative and positive results associated with background music (Schellenberg et al. , 2007). Concisely, the most apparent reason for the study is that processing and memory are cognitive abilities which decline as a result of aging. Psychologically, this particular decline in cognitive abilities is a regular part of a human being life. It is, therefore, a matter of great importance to study the effects of background music on older adults about performing cognitive tasks putting into consideration the effects of aging on memory and mental processing.
References
Bottiroli, S., Rosi, A., Russo, R., & Cavallini, E. (2014). The Cognitive Effects of Listening To Background Music on Older Adults. Front Aging Neurosci, 6 , 284. Doi:10.3389/Fnagi.2014.00284
Seeman, J. (1969). Deception in psychological research. American Psychologist , 24 (11), 1025.
W.C 1091.
Ott, L. &. (2010). An introduction to statistical methods and data analysis. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.
Thompson, F, Hussein G, & Schellenberg G, (2001) Arousal Mood and the Mozart Effect. Psychol.Sci, 12, 248-251. Doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.00345
Baddeley A. (2003). Working Memory is Looking Back And Looking Forward. Nat. Rev. Neurosci.4, 829-839. Doi:10.1038/Nrm1201
Klemm, W. (2015). Music Effects On Cognitive Function Of The Elderly. Retrieved From Http://Www.Psychologytoday.Com
Mohammadzadeh, Ali; Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Matloubi, Sona; Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, & Jafari, Zahra; Department of Basic Sciences, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences. (2016). The Effects of Music Presence on Auditory Verbal Working Memory . International Journal of Speech & Language Pathology and Audiology.
Schellenberg, E., Nakata, T., Hunter, P., & Tamoto, S. (January 01, 2007). Exposure to music and cognitive performance: tests of children and adults. Psychology of Music, 35, 1, 5-19.
Appendix
Quantitative Questions
1. You are:
a) Male
b) Female
2. How old are you?
a) 15-18
b) 19-22
c) 23-26
d) 27+
3. What is your class status?
a) Senior
b) Junior
c) Sophomore
d) Freshman
4. What is your major?
5. What did you get as your High School GPA?
a) 3.5-4.0
b) 3.0-3.5
c) 2.5-3.0
d) 2.0-2.5
e) <2.0
6. While in high school, how many hours did you study?
a) >12
b) 9-12
c) 5-8
d) <1
7. What is your College GPA currently?
a) 3.5-4.0
b) 3.0-3.5
c) 2.5-3.0
d) 2.0-2.5
e) <2.0
8. Currently, how many hours do you study every week?
a) >12
b) 9-12
c) 5-8
d) 1-4
e) <1
9. Do you often listen to music while studying?
a) Yes
b) No
10. What music genre do you listen to while studying?
a) Alternative
b) Classical
c) Country
d) Easy Listening
e) Ethnic
f) Gospel
g) Jazz
h) R&BlHip Hop
i) Rap
j) Rock
