Höjer musik den kognitiva prestationsförmågan hos en civilingenjörsstudent under examination?

Sammanfattning

In connection with the world becoming more digitalized, the need for competence within Computer Science and IT has simultaneously increased, in which programming and mathematics are fundamental competences. At the same time digital music and headphones may enable students within these fields of knowledge to regularly listen to their prefered music while studying without disturbing their surroundings. The purpose of this study is to examine if the short-term performance of mathematics and programming is improved by listening to preferred music during examinations. Furthermore, to find out if the results can be explained by the following seven parameters: the perceived achievement, difficulty, focus, working memory, stress, anxiety and motivation. The participants completed tests in math and programming in two music conditions: with preferred study music and in silence. Moreover, they were given surveys concerning the seven parameters and their general relation to music as it regards their studying. The results showed that the participants performed better while listening to music for both math and programming. With an increase of 10.43% for mathematics and 12.47% increase for programming. However, more evidence is needed to conclude the causation. The underlying factors are unclear. While the mean value and the median value for the parameters show minimal differences between the musical conditions, with the exception of the perceived difficulty, it appears that several participants felt that the music aided in blocking surrounding noises and contributed to a better mood and focus. The increase in performance can also have been affected by other factors than the music.