THE EFFECT OF MUSIC ON WORKING MEMORY OF ADULTS

Abstract

The current study aimed to examine the effect of music on working memory of young adults. The objectives were to investigate the effect of music which has a significant impact on working memory performance in young adults, and to provide insight into examining the performance of working memory through music. The Post Graduate Institute Memory Scale (PGIMS) (Dwarka Prasad & N.N. Wig) is a standardized test designed to measure a person's working memory. The test was conducted on 100 participants with the age range of 18 to 25. A comparison was done between pre design and post design. In pre design, the test was conducted on the participants without the simulation of music whereas in post design, the test was conducted while the participants were listening to music in the background. This was done to help assess the effect of music on working memory of adults. The results found that the mean score of working memory in the post-design phase was slightly higher than the mean score in the pre- design phase which suggests that working memory may improve after exposure to music. The standard deviation in the post-design phase is lower than the standard deviation in the pre-design phase which suggests that there is less change in working memory scores after exposure to music, leading to stronger performance. The t-value was significant. The addition of contrast showed that music had a positive effect on working memory. The two-tailed t value has also turned out to be significant. There appeared to be a difference in the improvement in working memory after exposure to music. Therefore, after proper assessment, the research results are significant at a 0.05 level, which shows that there exists a positive impact and an improvement in the working memory of individuals after exposure to music. The music had a positive impact on working memory.