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Fernando M. Gomez

Dr. Sharity Nelson

ENGL 1302 - 101

5 September 2022

How Music Enhances Reading Comprehension & Focus

Introduction

It is said that music can enhance and improve reading skills and comprehension. There

have been numerous research experiments that have been carried out to resolve whether this is

true or if it’s just another academic myth – like that of having a preferred or specific learning

style. According to Perham et al. (2014), music with no lyrics and simple silence are the best

sound conditions that allow people to understand and recall a written text by answering questions

related to it. This experiment used SAT passages and questions as a basis of their research to

evaluate their findings. Their research revealed that in certain experiments, allowing participants

to choose their music as compared to allowing researchers to pick the songs themselves made a

significant difference in phonological interference. Other researchers have supported that this

kind of music, specifically that which is non-lyrical, can in fact increase attention and focus on

readers; this so called “Mozart Effect” is said to increase arousal and mood, enhance attention

and improve memory of a read text or intellect ability (Schellenberg, 1999). While it is debated,

music can enhance reading comprehension and focus by improving recall or memory, mood and

performance. This experiment aims to confirm or debunk whether certain music categories

enhance and improve or interfere with reading capabilities. Rather than evaluating retention of

information through questions aimed at evaluating memory, this experiment will discover
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music’s ability to improve reading cognition and focus by recording the number of pages read in

a set amount of time.

Methods

A five-day research experiment was conducted to determine if a certain type of music or

no music at all can enhance the performance of reading a designated book over a fixed time

period. This study was evaluated from Wednesday through Sunday during a busy week of

college work and a distracting weekend. In this experiment, each session corresponded to a

music category played during a 1-hour period of reading in a controlled environment.

The important factors or controlled variables were having the participant get enough

sleep with a minimum of 8 hours, eliminate all distractions during each session by being in a

conference room, and read at the same time of day – preferably 1 hour after Lunch. This ensured

getting rid of elements or factors that might disrupt or negatively affect the results of the

experiment such as tiredness, distracting sounds or conversations, and heaviness. Before and

after each session, a short questionnaire was administered to the participant evaluating their

focus level based on 1 –5 scales (1 little to no focus level, and 5 very focused); an additional

questionnaire that evaluated retention of book content was also filled out by participant at the

end of each session.

Each session lasted 1-hour and was divided into 2 consecutive periods of 30 minutes and

a 5-minute reading break in between each. This ensured avoiding fatigue after working cognitive

functions for too long a period. Performance was evaluated by recording the number of pages

read every 30 minutes. Music was chosen by searching up playlists corresponding to the music

category for each session and were prolonged for as long as needed to reach the 1-hour session

time period. The five music categories, each for every session day, were: Quiet (No Music),
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Classical/Instrumental, Soft Jazz (With Lyrics), Hip Hop/Pop, and Rock. The book assigned was

“Failing Up!” by Barbara Hong.

Results

Discussion

There is a scientific legend that listening to Mozart’s music can improve cognitive efficiency,

essentially making any individual more intellect.

Other scientific studies in this field have recurred to evaluating results based on recording IQ

levels through tests and examinations that test whether the subject recalls what he or she read.

My experiment was different in that it evaluated reading efficiency through the number of pages

read – improved by certain music categories and silence. Rather than testing to see whether

phonological information improved memory, this experiment aimed to evaluate cognitive

efficiency in reading and comprehension. This experiment sought to find whether music

accelerated reading.

Works Cited

Martin, Randi C, et al. “Reading Comprehension in the Presence of Unattended Speech and
Music.” Journal of Memory and Language, vol. 27, no. 4, 1988, pp. 382–398.,
https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-596x(88)90063-0. 

Perham, Nick, and Harriet Currie. “Does Listening to Preferred Music Improve Reading
Comprehension Performance?” Applied Cognitive Psychology, vol. 28, no. 2, 2014, pp.
279–284., https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2994. 

Furnham, Adrian, et al. “The Distracting Effects of Vocal and Instrumental Music on the
Cognitive Test Performance of Introverts and Extraverts.” Personality and Individual
Differences, vol. 27, no. 2, 1999, pp. 381–392., https://doi.org/10.1016/s0191-
8869(98)00249-9. 
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Nantais, Kristin M., and E. Glenn Schellenberg. “The Mozart Effect: An Artifact of
Preference.” Psychological Science, vol. 10, no. 4, 1999, pp. 370–373.,
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00170.

Lee, Kate E., et al. “Linking Green Micro-Breaks with Mood and Performance: Mediating Roles
of Coherence and Effort.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 60, 2018, pp. 81–88.,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.10.010.