Melody+Of+The+Mind

toc

Title
Melody Of The Mind **Broad Question** How does music impact your memory?

Specific Question?
How does listening to music while working improve your memory.

Hypothesis
By having music in the background, people will be able to remember more off the list. **Graph of Hypothesis**

media type="custom" key="22042880"

Independent Variable:
Testing student/kid with music in the background. I will have each volume at the same level of 20.

Dependent Variable:
I will measure how much they can recall on the list, it does not have to be in order.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:
Testing student/kid without music (normal)

General Plan
How does music impact memory? I will get between 10-20 students/kids in the same age group and will put them in a room, with no to few distractions and give them a list of random words. The words I choose are important they are the key in my test. They will be random words that are a mix of uncommon and common words. This is because you don't want the test subjects knowledge to inter fear with your data, this will not be perfect data but it will make it more accurate. I will test each student alone, so they can't get distracted by other people. I will give them a list of random words, and give them each 1 minute to read the words, say it aloud or to themselves without music. Then I will give them a paper with 20 sections and they must write as many words in as possible. Then the next day I will test them again with a different list, this is because if I give them the same list I don't want the first test to inter fear with the second test which could mess up my data. Both of the lists will have 20 words each, also the same rules will apply, they can read to themselves or aloud and they will have 1 minute, then they will be tested with the same paper as test 1. Afterward I will average all the data together and compare test 1 and test 2 that will show if my hypothesis is correct or not.

Potential Problems And Solutions

 * 1.** Each work ethic will be different, some will not put in 100% which makes my data not as accurate. So I will let them choose there own type of music, so they might be able to focus better. Because some people work better with Rock & Roll or Classic, any different genre. In my data I would also have a small incite in which music is most popular picked. This could benefit the community and classrooms by giving them a specific genre that's more effective.


 * 2.** By letting them pick there own music, I don't know if they will get distracted by it or not. Some people have a tendency to sing a long, but some use the song to there advantage they remember the list while singing the tune of the song, this could be a negative or positive thing towards my data, I can't change or prevent mind set so that is up to the person being tested. Which leads back to there worth ethic and effort.


 * 3.** Age could effect distraction rate, the younger the subject the more chance they will get distracted. So I will test the same age group testing. Also I will have them all tested in the same quiet room with little to no possible distractions, I will not be in the room when they are listening and testing. ALL electronic devises will be taken away.


 * 4.** The only other thing I can predicate that could inter fear with my project is "minds someplace else" they could be focused on lunch, a friend, upcoming tests, lack of sleep or even feeling ill with a cold. However I can't control that and all I could do is encourage and hope they give it there best effort no matter the emotional state they are in.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns
Besides songs and random words getting stuck in your head, then nothing. However the following is a copy of the permission slip I will send home with my test subjects to have a parent/guardian sign that they are aloud to participate in my project.

__ Dear Parent/Guardian, __
 * Name_** **Date** _

__My name is Sarah McKinnon. I am doing a science project for the KMS and MWV Science Fair and for my data I need test subjects. It is a very easy test that will be a mental exercise. My question is: How does music impact memory? Basically what I am doing is take a student and place them in a room with few to no distractions and have them memorize a list of random 20 words. Then I will test them and see how many words they can recall. The next day I will do the same thing, however with background music of there choice and the list will be different. There is no hazard’s in this, no problems and nothing that could harm the test subject.__

__Thank You for your time.__

__Yes I Allow Him/Her to Participate. No I Allow Him/Her to Participate.__

__Signature__ _

Number Of Comparison Categories:
Music Vs. No Music.

Number of Comparison Samples:
20 Of Each.

Number Of Observation In Each Sample:
How many words are recaled then I will average them out.

When data will be collected
I will start Monday February 4th to the 19th

Where will data be collected?:
At school or at home in a quiet room.

Resources and Budget Table

 * Item || Number needed || Where I will get this || Cost ||
 * Poster Bored || 1 || Staples || $5.00 ||
 * Post Decor, ect. || ~ || Staples || --- ||
 * ||  || Total Cost || $5.00 ||
 * ||  || Total Cost || $5.00 ||
 * ||  || Total Cost || $5.00 ||
 * ||  || Total Cost || $5.00 ||
 * ||  || Total Cost || $5.00 ||
 * ||  || Total Cost || $5.00 ||
 * ||  || Total Cost || $5.00 ||

Detailed Procedure

 * 1.** You can choose how many kids you want to test. The more people tested in your experiment the more likely your data will be accurate. The recommended amount is 20, which is what I am doing.
 * 2.** After you gather 20 kids in the same age group make a schedule or list (whatever works best for you) of when the kid can meet you. It can be done in school, after school in your home as long as it's a quiet place with no distractions.
 * 3.** After you have all your test subjects organized and ready now you can start to test them //individually.// Take them to a quiet room with no distractions and give them the random list below (under diagram) with NO music.
 * 4.** Walk out of the room and give your subject one minute, after his/her time is up then you will take the list and replace it with Test 1 (under diagram) and give them two minute to fill out as many words as she/he can. They have to be spelled correctly, and does not have to be in order.
 * 5.** Record the score out of 20 in your data chart, do not list there name.
 * 6.** The next day take your subject again and give them a different list (List 2). The reason the list's are different is so the memory from yesterdays test does not effect your data. This time play music, and they can pick. The reason I am letting them pick is because every mind set is different. Some people work better with Classical music or Rock and Roll, ect. This is the only way I can control there efforts in the memory test, by giving them music of there choice.
 * 7.** Record the data out of 20
 * 8.** Do the same to every test subject and average all the schools in the end, make a pie or bar graph to compare the two.

Diagram

 * TEST PAPER USED: Use the following in the procedure**

"Here’s what you have to do! Below there is a list of 20 words. These words are random, so your knowledge can’t interfere with the data. I will give you 1 minute to memorize the words then I will give you a test, they do not have to be in order.Spelling will count so be careful."

_


 * 1 RANDOM WORDS LIST ((Without Music))


 * 1. Pineapples **
 * 2. Composition **
 * 3. Teamwork **
 * 4. Flummoxed **
 * 5. Ponies **
 * 6. Saturn **
 * 7. Survived **
 * 8. Nightshade **
 * 9. World **
 * 10. Parapet **
 * 11. Waffles **
 * 12. Bird **
 * 13. Onomatopoeia **
 * 14. Garage **
 * 15. Constipation **
 * 16. Radiation **
 * 17. Computer **
 * 18. Claustrophobic **
 * 19. Waterfall **
 * 20. Neighbor **


 * _ **


 * 1) 2 RANDOM WORDS LIST ((With Music))


 * 1. Independent**
 * 2. Practical**
 * 3. Car**
 * 4. Omissions**
 * 5. Elevation**
 * 6. Planes**
 * 7. Guitar**
 * 8. Binder**
 * 9. Migraine**
 * 10. Table**
 * 11. Oboe**
 * 12. Cheese**
 * 13. Calendar**
 * 14. Administrator**
 * 15. Critical**
 * 16. Notification**
 * 17. Finance**
 * 18. Special**
 * 19. References**
 * 20. Telephone**

_**

Time Line
I got everyone in both testing. || 2 Days || grammar issues. || 3 Days ||
 * Date || What I Am Doing || How Long It Will Take ||
 * 2/4/13 || Testing 20 Subjects || 1 Week/School Days ||
 * 2/11/13 || Re-check my list to make sure
 * 2/13/13 || Average Data and Create Graphs || 1 Day ||
 * 2/14/13 || Finishing the Wiki Page and
 * 2/17/13 || Finishing Poster Bored || 2 Days ||
 * 2/19 || Be Done and Practice. || Till The Science Fair! ||

Data Table

 * **Without Music Score ( /20 )** || **With Music Score ( /20 )** ||> **Time (min)** ||
 * ||  ||> 1 ||
 * Average: || Average: ||  ||

All Raw Data

 * **Without Music Score ( /20 )** || **With Music Score ( /20 )** ||> **Time (min)** ||
 * 8/20 || 6/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 9/20 || 8/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 6/20 || 5/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 12/20 || 10/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 13/20 || 15/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 4/20 || 3/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 7/20 || 8/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 10/20 || 11/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 14/20 || 15/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 10/20 || 9/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 10/20 || 12/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 14/20 || 12/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 8/20 || 8/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 6/20 || 7/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 5/20 || 5/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 6/20 || 8/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 9/20 || 10/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 4/20 || 5/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 11/20 || 11/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 6/20 || 8/20 ||> 1 ||
 * 7/20 || 5/20 ||> 1 ||
 * Average: 8.95 || Average: 9.05 ||
 * Average: 8.95 || Average: 9.05 ||

Graphs
media type="custom" key="22175694"

Conclusion
Unfortunately my hypothesis was not correct, but the averages were only off by .1 which may not be a lot but enough to prove my “educational” guess was wrong. The variables I was unable to control I feel effected this number majorly. As I stated in the “Problems and Solutions” Section I cannot control the student/kid focus, effort nor time of day. I did my best to test kids at the same time of day so the different energy levels would not affect my data but overall with the age group I am using, the time I had, and my prior knowledge I feel I did everything I could to make this accurate. (As I stated in Background Research) by researching the parts of the brain I made an educated guess by assuming since more parts of the brain interact with music, then you could focus and remember better. I would be very interested to do this next year with a new approach, or on a larger scale. But also I know this is good for a personal test. Almost every age group could do this experiment and learn something about himself/herself! Then this could help them work, in class, at home, at a friends house or even just personally. They can learn if they are Auditory (listening), Visual (seeing, reading and visualizing) Kinesthetic (moving, touching, writing and doing) or all three!

**Discussion**
Benefit to Community and/or Science Science can do a lot to help our community, everywhere we are surrounded by inventions from science, what we eat, how we sleep and travel is all because of science, and so is music. Music is a very delicate topic, it's amazing how it can inflict or change your emotions. Music can be happy, sad, inspiring, annoying, angry. Music does not just help with emotions but also with our mind and memory. Here is a brief explanation why music tends to be very effective on our brains. There is 9 //main// parts of the brain; Spinal Cord, Brain Stem, Temporal Lobe, Cerebrum, Left Hemisphere, Frontal Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Occipital Lobe, and Cerebellum. The Parietal Lobe and the Occipital Lobe (in other words your Cerebral Cortex) involves mental functions. That's 2/9th's of your brain, that may not seem like a lot but that shows how much more interaction music tends to be compared to just reading/studying it.

Background Research
Music is very important, especially at this age group! Did you know that between 13 and 16 is when your brain is at the highest point of development? This is the perfect time to exercise your brain and the Temporal Lobe (memory, audio, language, emotion). The Temporal Lobe overtime (if not exercised) “dissipates” meaning the brain cells can no longer be used. So I thought to myself “What’s a common way to develop, exercise and sustain a good memory that’s fun and I enjoy.” Surprisingly the first thing that came to mind was the alphabet. Then I realized as a child and today I remember things (mostly) by song, pattern and rhythm. Then I became interested in the topic and began doing more research on the brain, my topic falls under the category of human interests and reaction. I learned there are 9 main parts of the brain; Frontal Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, Occipital Lobe, Cerebellum, Somatosensory Lobe, Somatoro Cortex and last but not least the Medulla Oblongata. While reading their functions I noticed this: each part of the brain controlled something completely different. I narrowed it down to six parts of the brain Frontal Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, Occipital Lobe and Cerebellum. I read all the functions carefully pairing functions to music and basic study I was shocked to learn that music functions are more “spread out across the brain” especially with the Temporal Lobe. Music interacts with the Frontal Lobe: Emotion (which also music controls and work ethic) Parietal Lobe: Sensations (a form of emotion) and Temporal Lobe: This is the most important part, this involves Auditory, memory, language and learning. While just reading/studying a piece of paper your only interacting with the Temporal Lobe. Many Universities did this study on a larger scale, using thousands of kids, a certain age group and more specific hypotheses and questions. My question was a very broad I designed this so my age group could test it at home and find the following qualities in themselves: Auditory (listening), Visual (seeing, reading and visualizing) Kinesthetic (moving, touching, writing and doing) or all three. They also can learn what’s best for them, many of my test subjects are in my school and many told me they took their results and tried it at home. Turns out it worked well for them, which I was very pleased to hear. Music is a great thing it’s an emotion and a sensation function. Nowhere else we can get the same emotional change without doing an action. For example; listening to a sad song while even doing nothing but sitting can make you sad, an upbeat song can make you want to dance, ect. I feel this is such a great topic and can really improve learning in our society. UNH (University of New Hampshire) has already gone a step ahead with music. A few weeks ago I drove down and got a tour of their “music section” (studies/departments) (I was not aloud to take any photo’s) but I saw some pretty amazing things. In process they had an invention which color’s have different sounds. Black would be a certain tone, red would be another instrument, etc. This allows people with seeing/blindness to drag their hand over the image and see with their ears. I was astonished, I am a violin player and I know exactly what they're talking about. We need to see with our ears, and learn with our ears.

Abstract
How does music impact memory? I got a total of 20 kids in the same age group and I placed them in a room, with no to few distractions and gave them a list of random words. They were random words that are a mix of uncommon and common words. This was because I did not want the test subjects knowledge to inter fear with the data, unfortunately I was not able to control everything. Examples: The time of day, the work ethic of the students or the mind set. But I tested each student alone, so they did not get distracted by other people. I gave them a list of random words, and gave them each 1 minute to read the words, say it aloud or to themselves without music. Then I gave them a paper with 20 sections and they had to write as many words in as possible. Then the next day I tested them again with a different list, this is because if I gave them the same list there knowledge could've messed up my second test, which would mess up my data. Both of the lists had 20 words each, also the same rules applied, as I said before they could read to themselves or aloud and they had 1 minute. Afterward I averaged all the data together and compared test1 and test2, which showed that my hypothesis was wrong. Off by .1 it showed kids focused better without music. But adding the problems and things I was unable to control it seemed to break even. So this is what I believe my experiment proves this is a personal experiment, you will not get the same results each time you test this I can not guarantee by following my procedure you will get the same results as me. I feel this is a very self interest experiment which involves human mind and reactions.