The Effects of Music Genre on Scores in Different Exam Types: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The Mozart Effect is a theory that suggests Mozart’s music results in an improvement in spatial performance and a change in brain activity. Lo-Fi (or “Low-Fidelity”) music is a new musical genre that incorporates elements from different existing musical genres (Casumbal et al., 2019; Jaušovec & Habe, 2005). While substantial research has been conducted on the Mozart Effect, little research has examined the impact of Lo-Fi music on cognitive performance. Using an experimental design with a sample of 86 participants, this study examined whether there were performance differences on both spatial ability and reading comprehension test under conditions of Classical music (n = 22), Lo-Fi music (n = 32), or no music (n = 32). It was hypothesized that participants in both the Classical and Lo-Fi music conditions would have higher scores on both the spatial ability and reading comprehension tests compared to the no music condition. The results found no differences between musical genre groups for either exam type. This suggests that both conditions were neither better nor worse than the silent control. This also seems to imply that neither musical condition was too much of a distraction.