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Given the rise in technology, access to different forms of media and entertainment has become very simple. One example of this is access to music; therefore, it is not surprising that many students and workers listen to music while completing their work (Ballard, 2003; Beentjes et al., 1996; Harris, 2013; Pool, 2002; Shih et al., 2009). This led to an interest in studying the effects of music on cognitive performance, and in 1993, the Mozart Effect was put forth (Jenkins, 2001). The Mozart Effect suggests that listening to Mozart’s classical music (specifically the Sonata K448) leads to enhanced spatial ability performance and changes in brain activity (Jaušovec & Habe, 2005; Rauscher et al., 1994). Continued research on this topic, however, provided findings that were very mixed. For example, studies by Roth and Smith (2008) as well as Wilson and Brown (1997) both found that while Mozart’s classical music led to enhanced cognitive task performance, so did other auditory conditions, which goes against a Mozart-specific effect. Additionally, other studies found no performance enhancements as compared to the silent control condition (Flores, 2021; McKelvie & Low, 2002). Due to such mixed results, it raises the question of whether other variables may also be having an impact on the relationship between music and cognitive performance. According to Eysenck’s Theory of Cortical Arousal, introverts tend to be over-stimulated and extroverts under-stimulated. Thus, further stimulation, such as through music, would lower the performance of introverts and enhance the performance of extroverts on reasonably difficult tasks or exams (Dobbs et al., 2011). Given this, if the Mozart Effect and Eysenck’s Theory are supported, it would mean that the Mozart Effect is only present among extroverts, which could explain some of these mixed findings in past literature that did not account for personality. However, what about other music types? As already mentioned, some research found that other auditory conditions also led to enhanced cognitive performance (Roth & Smith, 2008; Wilson & Brown, 1997). Lo-fi music is a genre that is very new to the music and research scene, though it has been gaining a lot of popularity as it is fully accessible through multiple online platforms (Benzonana & de Dios, 2020; Casumbal et al., 2019; Winston & Saywood, 2019). Given this, it would be of interest to see whether the Mozart Effect also applies to lo-fi music. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of different music genres (classical music, lo-fi music, and silence) as well as the extroversion and introversion personalities on participant performance in spatial ability, reading comprehension, and numerical reasoning exam types. The Mozart Effect suggests that listening to Mozart’s Classical music leads to better spatial ability performance and a change in the activity of the brain (Flores, 2021; Jaušovec & Habe, 2005). Studies that examined the Mozart Effect all resulted in mixed findings (Flores, 2021; Jaušovec & Habe, 2005; Rauscher et al., 1994; Roth & Smith, 2008; Wilson & Brown, 1997). Since this is so, studies tried to see if introversion and extroversion personalities have an effect on whether playing background music during exams enhance performance, which again showed mixed results (Dobbs et al., 2011; Furnham & Bradley, 1997; Kou et al., 2018; Lim et al., 2021). Another musical genre that is a little less looked at in literature is Lo-Fi music. Because this genre does seem to share similarities with Classical music in musical characteristics, such as long-term periodicity (Jenkins, 2001), it would be interesting to see if the Mozart Effect also does apply here. Therefore, this research study aims to examine the effects of music genres (Classical music, Lo-Fi music, and silent control) and personality (introversion and extroversion) on exam performance in different exam types. |
