 |
|
ESSAY SAMPLE ON "THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MIND, MUSIC AND BEHAVIOR" |
The Relationship between Mind, Music, and Behavior
The main purpose of the paper is to investigate and present the relationship between the
mind, music, and human behavior. For this purpose, research is presented on previous
works and studies that link music with the mind. Based on this research, music increases
neurotransmitter levels. Soft or mellow music has a tendency to promote tranquillity,
while music with tempo sometimes distracts. Human memories can be cued by music, and
music can promote improved learning.
The brain is a two and a quarter pound piece of living organic tissue that controls the
human nervous system. Music is a collection of sound waves that propagate through the
air, and has varying frequencies and tones following a discernible order. Yet we all
recognize the significance of the brain beyond its physical function. Our minds are the
essence of what we are. The brain enigmatically stores memories, and lets people
experience such things as emotion, sensations, and thoughts. In the same sense, music is
more than just a collection of vibrations. This leads to the question of how does music
affect the mind, and in addition, how does music affect human behavior? The reader might
ask why such a question should be relevant. If more is known about the psychological and
neurophysiological effects of music on the human mind, then the possibilities of this
knowledge are unbounded. Music can be used to treat social and behavioral problems in
people with disabilities. The use of music in the classroom might enhance or weaken a
student's work characteristics. Therefore, whether the influence of music is positive or
negative, much needs to be explored about the link between the mind and music.
Physiologically, the brain receives information about sound waves from the ear through
the auditory nerve. This information is then processed by the brain and analyzed for the
juxtaposition of melody and rhythm. The mixture of melody and rhythm is what we commonly
refer to as music. However, our minds interpret this auditory information as more than
just sound signals; somehow, we are able to differentiate between certain types of music,
and develop preferences for these different types. Yet, what are the ways in which the
effects of music manifest themselves?
First, there are particular biochemical responses in the human body to music. Research
shows that college students, when listening to music, have more galvanic skin response
peaks, as opposed to when they were not listening to music. This research also indicates
a significant decrease of norepinephrine levels in students while they listen to
"preferred" music. Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter that arbitrates chemical
communication in the sympathetic nervous system of the human body. The release of this
neurotransmitter, as a consequence of a function of the brain, results in an increased
heart rate and heightened blood pressure. Therefore, the decrease of norepinephrine in
these college students results in a more "relaxed" state. This could suggest that favored
or pleasant music somehow affects the mind, resulting in the relaxing of the body.
Another research project, undertaken at the Tokyo Institute of Psychiatry, focuses on the
effects of music on the mind using electroencephalograms (EEG). An electroencephalograph
is a medical instrument that is capable of showing the electrical activity of the brain
by measuring electrical potentials on the scalp. In this experiment, volunteers were
exposed to silence, music, white noise (simulated hiss), and then silence. The result of
this experiment coincides with the previous findings. The volunteers all reported feeling
a calming sensation. However, the researches did not attribute the lowered tension to
reduced neurotransmitter levels. While listening to music, "many of the subjects reported
that they felt pleasantly relaxed or comfortable... Music may evoke more organized mental
activities which result in subjectively comfortable feelings." The white noise in the
experiment produced an even greater effect; the volunteers were so relaxed that many felt
drowsy and soporific. This sleepy effect can be explained by the monotonous
characteristics of white noise, in contrast to the variations in tone and melody of
normal music. Furthermore, the researchers found, based on the EEGs, that while listening
to music, the volunteers maintained a higher consciousness than when they were exposed to
silence or white noise. What this experiment shows is that there is a change in the
mental state of people while listening to music; that is, music has certain
psychophysiological effects on humans.
Along with these psychophysiological effects, music has an impact on memory as well. In
one experiment, words were presented to test subjects, while either classical music, jazz
music, or no music played in the background. When the test subjects were asked to repeat
the words a few days later, either the same music or a different background was present.
The researcher noticed a "facilitative effect of providing the same [musical] context."
Similar research has been done on CDM. CDM stands for context-dependent memory, which is
the principle that "changing the context or environment in which material was originally
learned causes some of that material to be forgotten." A group of scientists tested
college undergraduates by asking the students to rate the pleasantness of a sequence of
words, while they listened to a certain type of music. Afterwards, they were asked to
recall these words. The results indicate that the students were able to recall the
sequence more successfully if the same musical piece was playing. Furthermore, the
researchers found that if the music played during the recall had a different tempo than
the original music, then there was a lowered ability to recall the words. These results
are also supported by a supplementary investigation, where it was shown that a musical
piece can facilitate learning and recall. Perhaps a common manifestation of this
phenomenon is when you remember the jingles in commercials. A test conducted at the
University of Washington demonstrated that brand names were more easily recalled when
they were presented in the form of a musical tune, instead of just spoken. Hence, this is
a consistent example of one relationship between music and memory.
Now that there is a quasi-established link between the human mind and music, what are
some of the ways that music affects human behavior? Fortunately, there is a considerable
amount of research available that indicates how humans function while being subjected to
music. A group of specialists at the University of Connecticut studied how people
communicate with each other while background music was present. A hundred and four
students were paired off and put into rooms with either different types of background
music playing, or no music playing. In the rooms, these students were asked to perform
some problem solving tasks that required conversation between them. After five minutes,
the subjects were asked to rate their conversations. Of the students who heard background
music, almost all reported "significantly higher satisfaction [with communication] than
those in the no-music condition." The different types of music also affected the
students. The researchers noted that the students who listened to fast music had
differently paced conversations than those who listened to slow music. The volunteers who
listened to major mode music performed notably better than those who listened to music of
minor mode. Thus, not only does music affect the way humans converse, but different
classes of music influence people in different ways. A further way in which music has an
impact on our behavior can be witnessed in something as conventional as walking! A recent
investigation into the effects of music on walking distance was performed at Ursinus
College. Volunteers were asked to walk for ninety seconds. The study showed that, "music
significantly influenced distance walked." The conclusion reached by the scientists in
this instance contradicts the previous results. Instead of "raising the consciousness" of
the mind, the researchers hypothesized that the music interfered with or distracted the
minds of the test subjects. A related study concurs with this finding. In this case,
college students were asked to complete two hundred and twenty hand-eye coordination
problems while listening to different types of music. It was found that the rhythm and
loudness of the background music interfered with the attention span of the students.
These last two studies seem to refute the findings of the other research; but in a sense,
all the studies correlate a modification of behavior caused by the presence of music.
The next reasonable step is to ask how this modification of behavior or affect of music
on the mind can be harnessed. One major field that may benefit from music's affect on the
mind is education. As a matter of fact, it has been shown that by exposing students in a
classroom to music, the musical exposure enhances class achievement. A research performed
at Glassboro State College indicated that when music was played in a certain psychology
class for twenty minutes each day, the music "stimulated the human alpha and beta brain
waves," resulting in the attainment of "significantly higher mean scores on examinations
than those who were not exposed to the music." In addition, music can also be used to aid
in the education of mentally handicapped students. In a school district in Prescott,
Arizona, music was added to the academic environment of special education students. This
resulted in an increase in performance, especially in the area of mathematics.
Thus, it has been established that there is a link between music and the mind or human
behavior. There still, however, remains a great deal of research that needs to be done in
order for us to comprehend the why and how. This is a substantial challenge, considering
that not much is know about the mysteries of the brain itself, let alone how it is
affected by auditory impulse. It should also be noted that although the studies presented
show certain effects of music, in each study there are exceptions. Some people show no
signs of altered behavior or any other effects of music. There are even some studies
where a majority of the subjects show no known measurable effects of music. Nonetheless
there is a great potential for this topic of the music and the mind. If we understand how
human beings are effected by music, we can alter how human beings learn and behave, as
simply as by turning on the radio.
References
Balch, William R., Kelley Bowman, and Lauri A. Mohler. (1992). "Music-dependent Memory in
Immediate and Delayed Word Recall." Memory and Cognition, 20, pp. 21-28.
Becker, Nancy, Catherine Chambliss, Cathy Marsh, and Roberta Monetmayor. (1995). "Effects
of Mellow and Frenetic Music and Stimulating and Relaxing Scents on Walking by Seniors."
Perceptual Motor Skills, 80, pp. 411-415.
Blood, Deborah J., and Stephen J. Ferriss. (1993). "Effects of Background Music on
Anxiety, Satisfaction with Communication, and Productivity." Psychological Reports, 72,
pp. 171-177.
McLaughlin, T. F., and J. L. Helm. (1993). "Use of Contingent Music to Increase Academic
Performance of Middle-School Students." Psychological Reports, 72, p. 658.
Ogata, Shigeki. (1995). "Human EEG Responses to Classical Music and Simulated White
Noise: Effects of a Musical Loudness Component on Consciousness." Perceptual Motor
Skills, 80, pp. 779-790.
Perrewe, Pamela L., and Richard W. Mizerski. (1987). "Effect of Music on Perceptions of
Task Characteristics." Perceptual Motor Skills, 65, pp. 165-166.
Russel, P. A. (1987). "Memory for Music: A Study of Musical and Listener Factors." The
British Journal of Psychology, 78, pp. 335-347.
Schreiber, Elliott H. (1988). "Influence of Music on College Students' Achievement."
Perceptual Motor Skills, 66, p. 338.
Smith, S. M. (1985). "Background Music and Context Dependent Memory." American Journal of
Psychology, 6, pp. 591-603
Sogin, David W. (1988). "Effects of Three Different Musical Styles of Background Music on
Coding by College-Age Students." Perceptual Motor Skills, 67, pp. 275-280.
Vanderark, Sherman D., and Daniel Ely. (1993). "Cortisol, Biochemical, and Galvanic Skin
Responses to Music Stimuli of Different Preference Values by College Students in Biology
and Music." Perceptual Motor Skills, 77, pp. 227-234.
Wallace, Wanda T. (1994). "Memory for Music: Effect of Melody on Recall of Text." Journal
of Experimental Psychology, 20, pp. 1471-1485.
Yalch, Richard F. (1991). "Memory in a Jingle Jungle: Music as a Mnemonic Device in
Communicating Advertising Slogans." Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, pp. 268-275.
Microsoft Bookshelf 1995. CD-ROM. United States: Columbia University Press, 1995
Microsoft Encarta 1995. CD-ROM. United States: Columbia University Press, 1995
|
| Click here for more essays on THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MIND, MUSIC AND BEHAVIOR |
|
|
|