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Listening To Music May Be Damaging Your Creativity (newatlas.com)
The results of a new study suggest that listening to music can significantly impair your ability to perform creative tasks. Whilst music was found to disrupt creative processes, ambient "library noise" was found to have no significant effect. From a report: The first experiment saw volunteers complete tasks while being played music with vocals that wouldn't mean anything to them -- for example, English-speaking listeners being played music with Spanish lyrics. In the second experiment, the participants were played instrumental music with no vocals, and in the third the volunteers were played music with familiar lyrics that they could understand. During the third experiment, the participants were also subjected to "library noise" conditions, which involved ambient noise such as unintelligible distant speech, photocopier noise, typing, and the rustling of papers.
The team discovered that creative performance dropped significantly when listening to music over the course of all three exercises, as compared to periods during which participants were allowed to complete the exercises without distraction. Even when participants declared that the music improved their overall mood, in the third exercise, it still impaired creativity.
The team discovered that creative performance dropped significantly when listening to music over the course of all three exercises, as compared to periods during which participants were allowed to complete the exercises without distraction. Even when participants declared that the music improved their overall mood, in the third exercise, it still impaired creativity.
...impairs any intellectual endeavor.
Hell, even musicians have to dial back the "listening" part in order to concentrate on playing the part. If you get too caught up in the piece, you will miss entrances, etc.
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Distractions are distracting and cause one to lose focus. The more distracting, the more you are distracted from the distractions.
Unfortunately, distractions that distract you from other distractions only further distract you.
Now back to my Ted Nugent....
The style of music will impact everyone differently.
The current mood of the person and the tasks to accomplish will also alter the impact of the music.
Simply going with "lyrics that can be understood, lyrics in another language and no lyrics at all" is an incredibly short-sighted choice of parameters for such a study.
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Bullshit article
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With respect to duration, yes music is a distraction, but as work goes on does the impact to morale offset the distraction?
Also, if the music is serving to filter out other distractions (e.g. open landscape office area), is the music less distracting than office noice (conversations and such)?
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I know I'm not alone here but many people listen to music to muffle the distracting chit-chat of office space. That unconscious listening to other peoples conversion is far more detrimental to creativity/focus that listening to music. Maybe I'm a bit more susceptible to it than others because I have ADHD, but I often find myself being pulled in to other conversions even when I don't need to be in them. I find using intramental music works the best to keep focused. I know anything with lyrics engages my brain in a different way that makes it hard to concentrate on a task.
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Source and citation both come off as horse shit.
Listen to music from the 1980's or 1970's. When artists were actually involved instead of just formulas. When there was no autotune so you actually had singers...
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I'm listening to rap, not music.
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The music isn't there to help me focus. It's there so that after 6 hours of coding at my desk I don't start banging my head against the wall. The office is so quiet, it offers background noise and helps me make it through hours upon hours of work.
That of the open plan office: People walking about, doors slamming every now and then, phones ringing and a constant buzz of people yakking. We should definitely test how this improves your concentration, since management thinks it must be the best kind of environment.
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Bull and shit. Millennials, I don't care how many degrees you may have (modern degrees are nothing to brag about) - you, and your surveys are *not* smart. Quite the opposite of this is true, in fact. You know what killed your creativity, millies? Your parents and their helicoptering, and your mobile devices. You didn't form the neural pathways when you were children, and I honestly don't know if that can be corrected.
They only gave one example of the article but I'm highly dubious of the ability to "measure creativity".
The example they gave - linking related words - does not to me seem a "creative" task, but more analytical.
I do think lyrics can be more distracting than music without though,
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Same experience exactly.
ADHD, conversations.. especially technical ones, but it could be anything that I'd rather talk about than do whatever it is I have to do at work. It's about closing myself off and isolating myself with nothing but my work. I can't have music that evokes feelings or deals with topics or has clever or funny parts.
Just tired old background noise. But I have to imagine that while others probably share some of my work favorites, it's going to be personal for each person. I want to feel like cyborg from the future hacking gibsons, I need the music to be stale and worn out. Usually stuff with "favorite parts" is not good.
If you made a selection for me it would probably not do it for me. Lyrics or not.
I use it to damp out all the noise the other monkeys make.
I'm quite willing to believe that listening to music is distracting. However in my case if i don't have _any_ distractions i get bored with my current task and let myself get sidelined completely by more significant distractions. (...like Slashdot =P) Being a little distracted by audio is far better than getting totally distracted by something else.
I have three different categories of things i listen to at work, music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Each of which works well for a certain task. If i'm doing something totally repetitive and mind-numbing audiobooks work well. For most other tasks podcasts are only slightly more distracting than music, unless the task in question involves a lot of mental verbalization (filling out a form, writing an email, etc) in which case podcasts take up too much of that part of my brain. Music is also best if i need something to match or adjust my mood, either bouncing along in a hyper mood or trying to wake myself up if i'm feeling slow. But because music also provides the least distraction i'll find myself straying from my work tasks more often than with podcasts.
And pretty much all of them are better than listening to people having loud conversations at the desks right next to me or in the meeting room right around the corner that usually has the doors left open for some reason.
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For coding purposes the right music will get me into the zone and help me concentrate and bang out the logic.
When problem solving directly it CAN be a distraction but it can also help as the music can inspire other creative interpretations of the problem. This is similar to the shower effect where, after banging your head against a problem, the solution presents itself while you're thinking of other things in the shower and your subconscious kicks in.
At its best, music is motivational, for both coding, problem solving and even workouts - to help focus brain power and shift mental energies.
My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!
Yup. Can't code or do art with music playing. Doesn't matter what type of music. I can, however, play music creatively while others also play music. Thankfully so, otherwise orchestras would not exist.
music, with no lyrics doe not distract me, Classical, or meditation (like the singing bowls)
I'm sure this "study" won't be replicated in 5 years time. It's almost certainly a load of utter bollocks, like most studies.
This is well known to writers. But most say you can listen to music without lyrics. Or oddly I hear many say that Bob Dylan works. But when I code I mostly listen to synthwave, trap, or video game music. Sometimes rap cause you ignore the lyrics and listen to the beat.
Particularly artists, musicians, and programmers, they all listen to music while being creative. Many potters and chefs too. The music is both a way to push out ambient noise, but can also be a source of creative inspiration itself, causing a variety of mental stimulation. These claims might merit further review but seem on the surface to be based on a false premise, just going off real life observations.
and a loss of it? Creativity isn't like a faucet of ideas under regulated pressure. It comes and goes.
A photography teacher I had in college held that the problem with creating artwork while listening to music was that when you are creating, you are creating until you feel good about the creation. if you are listening to music, it may make you feel good. How do you know when you're done?
over the years I've noticed that whenever I work (creatively) to music, when I look at the work later, it's always bad. working mechanically to music, (i.e. simply performing a process) it's different, because how you feel about the work is less important.
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Researcher finds results they were looking for.
Why would you use tests to measure verbal performance while listening to music? This is like asking people to memorize numbers or do math while driving, and claiming that activity X distracted them from driving.
You want to test creativity, have them write an essay while listening to music, and write a different essay while not listening to music, and determine the quality, and speed, of the essay written.
Verbal quizzes are a different thing-- why do you think Jeopardy plays the theme during final jeopardy? It's not to help the contestants.
This study is meaningless.
The article states, "Three experiments were conducted in which the volunteers were asked to carry out a series of tasks commonly used to measure creative verbal performance."
So, their study covers the left brain functions, but completely fail to consider the right brain.
If you're looking for a meaningful correlation between music and creativity, this study from 1993 seems much more apropos.
Amazing, making people listen to music NOT of their choosing results in distraction.
This is sooo far from science.Give them a nobel prize.
I mean Ig Nobel Prize, they earned it.
https://www.improbable.com/ig/...
No brain, no pain.
Nuff said!
I absolutely can't listen to music with vocals while I code. Instrumental music however, gets me plugged in.
At least in part.
I've written some of my better code while listening to music.
I mean, sure, some of the variable names end up being whatever act I'm listening to, but as long as I'm consistent, that's fine.
I think it's mostly that I'm not paying full attention to it, but have it there to drown out the random inanities of my coworkers.
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
Did you even read this study? Or are you some armchair pundit who just threw in your two cents? Because the study cited a previous study that already tried to assess music's impact on mood:
From the study: Ritter and Ferguson showed that a beneficial effect of music on creative task performance was limited to a comparison between a silent condition and a socalled “happy music” condition (Vivaldi's “Four Seasons”). Exposure to “calm music,” “sad music,” and “anxious music” had no impact on creative task performance...The benefit to creative task performance could have been driven by increases in mood and arousal rather than the presence of the music per se.
This study's exact purpose was to assess the relationship between music and creativity, not the relationship between mood and creativity. Because the cited study already analyzed that relationship, there was no need for them to.
I think i have ADD... not ADHD(not hyperactive at all). If i need to get serious work done or need to do something with great concentration, I have to have music on... the heavier the better. The part of my brain that say "SQUIRREL!" loves music. I keep it occupied with music so i can get real work done. Otherwise I lose concentration badly.
Simply put it got to the point that I'd concentrate on the lyrics instead of working.
Thus, out went the music with lyrics.
In came more productivity.
Of course my job requires long warm ups and extended effort concentrating on a larger problem so disruptions harm productivity.
Longer term, I stopped listening to music at the office by me and only gets played when I'm on the gliding landing path towards finishing a big chunk of work or on Friday late afternoon.
In this process, listened to dozens of full albums of instrumental rock from the 50s/60s and surf music, symphonic, soundtracks from old westerns, non-rock non-western music instrumental pieces, ....
As an artist, who paints fine art, I can't paint/create *without* good music. So I wonder that depends on what type of creativity you're doing. For example, as someone else mentioned, if you're playing a music piece that has a score you're playing (pre-defined notes) versus when you're in the mental "ether" of painting where things can flow differently. I imagine there's a connection.
I do much of my best imagining while listening to music. So to each her/his own! :)
It probably depends a lot on whether you are familiar with the piece or not. Music helps me focus and hasn't significantly hindered my creativity.
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If it's braindead autopilot shit I can listen to music. It gets me in the zone. If I have to think I get distracted.
White noise works for me though.
When I worked in a cube I'd listen to music all the time just to filter out all of the conversations happening around me, but songs with lyrics wouldn't work. You've basically got to find something that you've heard so many time it's background noise. I know some people like techno for this type of thing. I'm a fan of most of the first Iron Man soundtrack.
It's a pick your poison situation. The only time I didn't have to have headphones to work in an office was when I was sitting next to a loud AC unit that took care of it for me.
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This was of a small sample size of eighteen.
Even if this study ended up being 100% conclusive based on the samples, we are talking about eighteen people. If this were a clinical trial of a medication, you would be asked to replicate it another 100 times before going to market.
This is a nice start, basically "Further Research Needed to Confirm" should be put in the headline of this article.
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I tend to do my best coding while destroying my eardrums listening to K-Pop at crazy loud volume...
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Tell Alexa to play "12 variations by Mozart" at bed time. Tell her to repeat/start over until you sleep.
I haven't played the piano so much ever after doing this.
It is a fantastic rendition of a classic song.
For the record, I hate Alexa and the Amazon devices, wasn't my decision. I roll with the changes.
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I have John Cage's 4'33" playing on constant repeat.
don't listen to "scientists". they aren't "scientists" at all in fact.
whenever you hear an agenda study, do the exact opposite of the study's results, and you will life a long, healthy, successful life.
I work in a noisy environment (lots of people talking about interesting things that I'm not supposed to listen to), so noise-cancelling headphones are a godsend. They need some sound to work well, though.
After reading this article I decided to try to listen to video game music while working instead of the usual classic concentration tracks. I do not need to be relaxed to work, on the contrary. After having tested video game music for a few weeks, I feel it makes a big positive difference.
Sure enough, unfamiliar music is a distraction. Unfamiliar anything is a distraction.
OTOH familiar music doesn't demand your attention, but it does cover external noise and provides a rhythm to work by.
Most everyone I know who listens to music at work uses familiar playlists. Even letting YouTube, etc. chose the music will play familiar music.
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Study showed an impairment of creativity DURING the process of listening, not afterwards.
At no point did they measure creativity after the music was done.
Journalists should be fired, and the editor demoted for making this stupid mistake.
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https://science.slashdot.org/story/17/09/06/230210/happy-music-boosts-brains-creativity-study-says
Agreed. I often listen to a small selection of songs at work, and I find that I don't even notice when one ends and another begins. It masks outside noise, which is more distracting.
I do think it has a negative effect on concentration, but less so that chatter.
Using the printer noise, keyboard click-clack, sneezing, coughing, chip bag rustling and incessant jibber-jabber in open plan offices. ...which ironically drives people to wear headphones.
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Right. Their whining is only reinforcing the OP's assertion that this shit is only about cost.
Oh waaah, I gotta spend money on safety equipment, whaah. If buying proper equipment and meeting codes breaks your business model, capitalism, which they'll shower holy praise upon, says YOU SHOULD FAIL.
mileshigh opined:
Sure enough, unfamiliar music is a distraction. Unfamiliar anything is a distraction. OTOH familiar music doesn't demand your attention, but it does cover external noise and provides a rhythm to work by. Most everyone I know who listens to music at work uses familiar playlists. Even letting YouTube, etc. chose the music will play familiar music.
No studies of the effect on concentration of familiar vs unfamilar music have been done, afaik.
OTOH (and this is purely anecdotal, of course), as a writer who is also a musician, I can't listen to music of any kind when I'm writing. Familiar, unfamiliar, with lyrics or without, it distracts me to the point where I can't concentrate effectively, because the musical part of my brain keeps diverting my focus to elements of whatever I'm listening to (melody, counterpoint, individual instrumental lines, etc.). It can be as familiar and simplistic as a nursery rhyme, and it will still reliably interfere with my writing process.
YMMV ...
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>Damaging Your Creativity
>your ability to perform creative tasks
>creative performance dropped
Did not RTFA. Have no fucking idea what they're measuring. Especially since these differ.
If I'm a writer trying to pen a piece of fiction, you'd better believe a hit of emotional (positive, negative, etc) music will get me imagining better. This probably applies to many "creativity"-based efforts, everything from poets to an engineer down at Square One. Well, no, Zero really. When you're designing what to design and not actually designing.
But not Square Two. Obviously a coder trying to mentally wield the paths of several functions and variables and ensure they collide into an accurate conclusion will be hampered by any music. Any distraction. Any synapse that isn't calculation of the tedious, numbery abstract.
But is that creativity? That's deterministic thinking. "Am I 100% certain that this always resolves in X manner, and perfectly crops out detail Y from affecting the data. I need to investigate this flow, which involves me not actually changing or doing jack shit, just examining." as opposed to "Hey so here's a new idea..."
In short, fuck that headline. Sure, music may inhibit your mental prowess, your clock speed, your RAM space, just pick any other fucking word.
as if the open office didn't need more reasons to die. Wear headphones to avoid listening to co-workers, productivity goes down. Don't wear your headphones and your creativity goes down. My company kicked the fad and now every engineer gets an office to focus, productivity has increased as well as employee happiness.
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My creativity is being stifled while I perform such tasks as driving home from work and gaming!
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I don't know why they chose a collection of Nickleback songs to play to the subjects - their brains probably leaked out of their ears before they even got started on the task.
That is all.
The study must have required that the study participants be actively listening. There is a difference between that and passively listening. I have done a lot of coding to music. I find that when not employing the Balmer maximum method, listening to appropriately harsh metal or alternative rock helps me stay in the zone.
TFA says 30 adults participated. This is a small study. How significant is the result?
Music ain't just music. There is different kinds of music prime example, whistle whilst you work, that did not come from no where. So some music is distracting for different reasons, like it to much and your root taps with the beat, hinting at distraction, hate the music and youch it dominates your thoughts. It needs to be the right music and not just that, but also to suit the task at hand. Different kinds of music generate different psychological affects, so you need to attune the music with the task, another prime example marching music.
So in the Study they failed the basic premise off music, different kinds of music have pronounced different affects on people.
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Itâ(TM)s no surprise that we have our attention drawn out of us against our will to speech, since we are trained our entire lives to listen to speech. Guess what - music with words forces us to listen, where as music without words not so much. Big surprise that intellectuals once listened to classical music, it turns out that they were just not listening to words.
This makes sense to me personally as well as scientifically. Personally I could never study with music or television on. And I really couldn't understand how others could. But certainly when I was in high school I had many friends who seemed to be able to do it. Not I. My mind always drifted over to the music — especially if it was catchy or there were vocals. But even Mozart or Bach would occasionally capture my attention. And, given this study, it makes sense that even when I was focused on what I was doing part of me was still engaged with the music. These days I am studying Mongolian language (don't ask) and sometimes when I am doing flashcards I put on ambient spa music. It is so insipid it does not distract me and seems to make a tedious task a bit more pleasant.
Okay scientifically. So there is only so much processing power in the organism. And if the brain is even partly engaged in listening to something then it is practically axiomatic that it is not focused completely on the task at hand. Even listening to the radio while driving seems to pull a small amount of my attention away from the road. For example I always find myself driving a little faster if there is hard rock pumping out of the speakers.
"Sorry, officer... I was listening to Meatloaf and didn't see you in the rearview mirror."
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I visualize almost everything. When I hear music, the different beats cause different images in my head. When I'm trying to solve problems by visualizing, hearing music interferes with that. I'm the only person at work that doesn't wear headphones listening to music.
nobody knows that you just sit in silence, when not listening to music.
It should have compared the performance of people listening to the music they choose to listen to while working vs other stuff. Why expect that impersonally chosen music would be other than distracting? Another big problem: assuming performance on any single task or group of tasks makes a good proxy for "creativity".
Yeah, of course you did.
This was after you were in the Spetsnaz and before you were an astronaut, right?
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I was neither. I play Arma and KSP, but I doubt either counts.
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