Music
regulates complex cognitive and sensorimotor reactions and can affect our thinking, cognition (including attention and memory), speech, and pain management. Teresa Lesyuk, associate professor of music education and therapy at the University of Miami,
believes that listening to music "activates the pleasure center, stimulates the path through the limbic system to the orbitofrontal cortex, which is responsible for thinking."
Most researchers agree that music changes mood and promotes physiological health, but the scientific study of the influence of music on our productivity
is at the development stage. For example, scientists still have not come to a common opinion whether all musical genres and types of sounds help to focus on work. In today's article we will talk about this, as well as how and what kind of music it is useful to listen to during working hours.
Photo by Alper Çuğun CCDo all musical sounds stimulate productivity?
Neuroradiologist Jonathan Burdette (Jonathan Burdette) and his colleagues
conducted an experiment using an MR-scanner: 21 people listened to music from five genres - classical, rap, country, rock, Chinese opera - during scanning. The results showed that not the type of music, but the preferences of the listeners influenced the efficiency of the brain. “It doesn't matter if you listen to Bach, The Beatles, Brad Paisley or Bruno Mars. Different favorite music causes the same type of activity in people’s brain. ” Scientists have concluded that the genre is not important, the main thing is that you like the music.
Preferences are individual and may vary depending on the complexity of the sound, the presence or absence of text. We have already
written in detail about the genres that are popular among developers. Ambient or “music for programmers” stands out among them. Neuroscientist Julia Mossbridge (Julia Mossbridge)
notes that this style helps to focus on the task, stimulates creative thinking and improves mood.
Ambient allows you to experiment - at the same time with the music, you can turn on the sound of waves or other sounds. Example: the project of the Norwegian developers
listentothe.cloud - negotiations of air traffic controllers from around the world to the accompaniment of ambient music. Twitter users note that the service not only helps to relax and relieve stress, but also to concentrate. “Great music for work is ambient, on top of which there are real negotiations between pilots and the airport in real time,”
writes frontend developer Andrei Sitnik on Twitter.
Another netizen, product designer David Shearing (David Shearing) often
listens to air traffic controllers when working in the office alone. "It reminds me that there is a whole planet around." The repetitive voices of controllers on the background of ambient are like meditative music, relaxing and reducing tension.
Choosing the right music helps not only to focus on the task, but also to motivate. This conclusion was made by Canadian scientists after a cross-cultural
experiment : students coped better with IQ-testing under the major excerpts from Mozart than under the slower works of Albinoni written in minor.
Select the music for the mood you want to keep while you work. If you prefer silence and do not sit in an open space, where the noise can not go anywhere, you do not need to change your habits - you can listen to pleasant music before work.
Photo photographymontreal PDIf you are just starting to experiment with music for more enjoyable and productive work, we offer five main factors from the
study of music psychologist Anneli B. Haake, which you can rely on when choosing:
- Musical structure. Focusing on the Schnittke concerts with headphones will be more difficult than with songs with relatively simple melodic structures, such as “Mr. Tambourine Man »Bob Dylan.
- Lyrics. You should not listen to songs while you are working that cause you to have memories or specific associations.
- The complexity of the problem. If you need to work on a new difficult task, the music will most likely distract you.
- Musical education. If you have it, then you are more likely to be distracted by the rhythm, timbre and musical structure, to analyze the work.
- A sense of control. If an employee is forced to listen to music and he has no choice, it will interfere with work.
What type of tasks at work is best performed while listening to music?
Efficiency is influenced not only by the musical style and our environment, but also by how well the type of work corresponds to the background music.
Music without words
increases productivity when performing repetitive tasks of the same kind. This works best if the melody does not sound all the time, but plays at intervals when the attention wanes. In this case, the music will make the task less boring and invigorate.
When performing complex mental work, such as
developing software, productivity increases repetitive and relaxing background music. When the brain is fully focused on the task, meditative music will help reduce stress a little.
Popular music usually does not contribute to the performance of cognitive tasks and reading comprehension. The text of a famous song (against the background of the workflow) represents a multitasking situation for the brain that
prevents the processing of really important information. If your work involves complex planning and problem solving, scientists do not recommend listening to musical hits in the background.
The effect of music on productivity can also depend on your professional level. The researcher Teresa Lesyuk analyzed the impact of listening to music on the quality of work among software developers of four Canadian companies and came to interesting conclusions.
Music improves performance depending on how well you know and can do a specific job. “If a person already had the knowledge and skills of an expert in his field, then listening to music did not affect his performance, but improved his mood. However, if a person was a mid-level specialist, his productivity would increase. ” Newcomers in their work music motivates, but according to the research, the results of the work have no effect because of the lack of their skills.
Summary
Scientists
study the influence of music on a person’s thinking from the 70s of the last century, but before
so far there is no consensus on this issue. There are three main points of view:
- "Listen, what you like!". The main thing when choosing background music for work is to be guided by your own preferences. This is the only way to explain “why comparable emotional and mental states can be experienced by people listening to music, which is different just like Beethoven and Eminem,” American scientists believe .
- Music must match the type of work. Relaxing, for example, “background” electronic music or pleasant sounds of the surrounding world will help to increase efficiency when performing complex cognitive tasks. Typical popular music will only distract, so it should be avoided.
- The effect of music on productivity depends on the level of your knowledge and skills. Favorite tunes will not affect the quality of work, if you do not have serious experience and knowledge, but they will help to motivate you. Experts in their own field, music will improve the overall working attitude, and the "middling", among other things, will increase productivity.
If you like silence - do not change your habits, you can listen to music to cheer up during breaks.
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