Brain Science Research: What kind of music should I listen to when I work?

Music is efficient.

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Editor’s note: Research shows that listening to the right music can improve people’s work efficiency. This article gives detailed advice on what type of music should be listened to under what circumstances. This article was translated from Medium, author Kate Morgan, originally titled “The Perfect Productivity Playlist, According to Brain Science”, I hope to inspire you.

In the early 1990s, there was a scientific rumor that listening to classical music can make people smarter. This view, known as the “Mozart effect,” permeates popular culture and even politics: in 1998, the governor of Georgia allocated $100,000 to provide classical music CDs for newborn parents.

But in fact, the effect of the Mozart effect is exaggerated: decades later, researchers failed to find a reasonable scientific connection between “higher IQ” and “listening to the music of the 18th century composer” . However, the research process of trying to find such a connection leads to a broader conclusion: listening to music at a particular time does improve people’s performance. When you exercise at the gym, you may have a playlist of your own to keep you exercising. So why can’t we design a playlist that will help you work nine to five?

In the original Mozart effect study, the researchers divided 36 non-music college students into three groups. Before completing an intellectual challenge, the three groups listened to Mozart separately. “D-double piano sonata”, listening to popular music, and without any musical stimulation, the experimental method is pure appreciation. After 10 minutes, the Stanford-Bina Intelligence Scale was used to test and found the students who listened to Mozart music. The test score is 8-9 percentage points higher than the other groups, but this effect will disappear after 10-15 minutes.

Associate Professor of Music Theory and Cognition at Michigan State University Leigh VanHandel said: “Many researchers have spent a lot of time trying to replicate this experiment. She said that they eventually discovered that listening to any music, whether it is classical music, pop music or hip hop music, can make people feel refreshed, increase blood flow and oxygen content in the body, and “wake up” the brain. If you listen to what you like The music, you will also get the stimulation of dopamine, a neurotransmitter related to the feeling of happiness and reward. Together, these two things form a perfect neurological prescription: you are in good mood and energetic , ready to go to work.

The problem is: this effect is short-lived. Listening to 10 minutes of music will only give you a 15 minute increase in cognition. So, you can put your favorite song in the first place in the playlist, and immediately put it into the most complicated or demanding part of the work.

Convert music to a tunes you can ignore

After the first favorite song, you can listen to some pure music. Fan Handel said: “If you send the brain a signal that can be processed, such as lyrics, it will divert your attention. If you want to focus on a task that requires cognitive ability, the music effect with the lyrics It’s much worse. You can keep listening to the music you like, but the instrumental music will have less disruption to your work, especially if you do something that involves language processing.

Interestingly, although jazz is a typical instrumental music, it should be avoided as much as possible. Van Handel said: “There is evidence that solo is like a musician talking to a listener or other musician, so it can produce almost the same effect as a lyric.”

Listen to your familiar music at work

If you need to concentrate or want to do something creative, the best option at this time is to listen to instrumental music that you are very familiar with. A study using functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that familiar concerts activate the frontal and Broca areas of the brain, which control motivation and selective attention, which controls spoken and written expression.

Fan Handel said: “Some albums I am too familiar with, I don’t even want to Listen again. Yes, let it play, you don’t have to think about it. Novelty will make music a central place in your heart. But if you want to concentrate, music should serve as a backdrop.

Customize a music list for the job at hand

In general, to improve your work efficiency, the most important thing is that you like this job. With this removed, you can also listen to music to achieve the effect you want.

Fan Handel pointed out, “If you are doing a Repeated tasks, listening to complex concerts is more helpful, because it keeps your attention away. So if your work requires more attention than creativity, then you can pick up some complicated songs, such as A variety of instruments played at the same time, or songs that vary in sound quality or rhythm.

If you really need to do some complex thinking, try to keep it simple: choose less musical instruments and beat repeated music. Fan Handel said: “If you do a complicated task while listening to a complex piece of music, then the music will compete with the tasks you want to accomplish.”

Do more experiments on yourself

There is no magic bullet to be effective for everyone. Fan Handel said: “We can’t say, come, everyone listens to the piano and flute music that is 80 beats per minute.” There are many other factors that affect a person’s reaction to a music, from taste to history. To personality. For example, “extroverted people can tolerate more noise and volume than introverts,” she said. “Introverts’ playlists are very different from those of extroverts.”

Building your own “music secret weapon” may require you to do some experimentation on yourself. Put the music on, start working, and adjust the music while doing it.

Translator: Jane

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