SHOULD YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC WHILE YOU STUDY?
Most evenings, after dinner, Peter Scott goes to his room to do his homework. Before he begins, he turns on his favorite music. "I feel much more relaxed when I listen to music, and that makes it easier for me to do my homework," says Peter. However, his parents think that he will concentrate better and get higher grades if he doesn't listen to music.(lines 1–8)
But are Peter's parents right? Recently, scientists at Dent College did two experiments to find out if it really is better to study in silence. In the first experiment, they gave two groups of students a difficult text to read. One group read the difficult text in silence. The students in the other group listened to their favorite music while they read the text. Then the scientists gave both groups a test about the text. The students in the first group got much higher scores than the students in the second group.(lines 9–15)
Then the scientists did a second experiment. It was almost the same as the first one, but this time the students read an easy text. The results were surprising. The students who listened to music got better scores on the test than the ones who read in silence. "Music makes us feel relaxed. This helps us concentrate when we do an easy task," says psychologist Dr. Sally Evans. "Now psychologists are trying to find out why listening to music doesn't help us concentrate when we do a difficult task."(lines 16–21)
The scientists at Dent College discovered something else that was surprising. Only certain types of music helped the students who read the easy texts. The students got the best scores when they listened to music that had no words. "So kids have a lot to think about before they turn on music and begin to do their homework," says Dr. Evans.(lines 22–25)