Abstract

This paper investigates the hypothesis that listening to music may influence responsiveness to creative or critical thinking tasks. It has been acknowledged that a driver’s attitude can change as a result of choice of music played during a journey, but is such an influence observable with cognitive tasks of a creative or critical nature? Certain types of music have been claimed to aid cognitive ability and skill development, though a number of follow-up research programmes have called the reliability of some of these tests into question. The term ‘Mozart Effect’ has been used in reference to a growing claim that Mozart’s music can influence cortical development and creative ability. However, the focus of this study was not cortical development, but mood and arousal regulation, where the individual’s choice of music was proposed to influence cognitive responsiveness. It had been observed in industry that relaxing music played by a design team during the divergent, concept generation and development phases, was replaced by faster and heavier music during the convergent, more critical phases, suggesting a possible need for more fitting music.

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Nov 17th, 12:00 AM

Using Music to Influence Creative and Critical Thinking.

This paper investigates the hypothesis that listening to music may influence responsiveness to creative or critical thinking tasks. It has been acknowledged that a driver’s attitude can change as a result of choice of music played during a journey, but is such an influence observable with cognitive tasks of a creative or critical nature? Certain types of music have been claimed to aid cognitive ability and skill development, though a number of follow-up research programmes have called the reliability of some of these tests into question. The term ‘Mozart Effect’ has been used in reference to a growing claim that Mozart’s music can influence cortical development and creative ability. However, the focus of this study was not cortical development, but mood and arousal regulation, where the individual’s choice of music was proposed to influence cognitive responsiveness. It had been observed in industry that relaxing music played by a design team during the divergent, concept generation and development phases, was replaced by faster and heavier music during the convergent, more critical phases, suggesting a possible need for more fitting music.

 

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