Press release -
Studying to music significantly impairs creativity
The common belief that music enhances creativity is disproved by researchers University of Gävle and two universities in England; in fact, music has the opposite effect.
Researchers at University of Gävle and the universities of Lancashire and Lancaster have studied how people are affected by background music while solving verbal problems that demand creativity. The results show that background music significantly impairs people’s verbal creativity.
John Marsh
“We found that the ability so solve problem was significantly impaired if participants had background music in their headphones,” says John Marsh, researcher in environmental psychology at University of Gävle.
“Regardless if the music made the participants feel good, if they liked the music or if they regularly listened to music while studying, music impaired their creative performance.”
However, researchers could not determine any difference in performance when they compared performance in a silent environment to that in a library.
“This could be explained by the fact the background noise in a library is stable and doesn’t change, and this means that it doesn’t become very disruptive,” John Marsh says.
John Marsh, researcher in environmental psychology at University of Gävle
Phone: +46 72-023 41 04
E-mail: jonmah@hig.se
Text: Douglas Öhrbom
Photo John Marsh: Private
Topics
- Music
Categories
- research
- creativity
- noise
- study
- university of gävle
- environmental psychology
- john marsh
- annoying sound
- verbal creativity
Education and Research at a Scenic Campus.
The University of Gävle has approximately 17 000 students, more than 50 study programmes and second-cycle programmes, about 1 000 courses in humanities, social and natural sciences and technology.
Research Profiles
Built Environment and Health-promoting Working Life are the general research profiles of the higher education institution. Important parts included are Spatial Planning with a specialisation in Sustainable Built Environment and Musculoskeletal Disorders with the purpose to prevent work-related injuries. In 2010, the higher education institution received permission to carry out third-cycle programmes in the profile area of Built Environment.
The higher education institution has applied for permission to carry out third-cycle programmes in technology, humanities and social sciences.
