Does Music Affect Concentration?

30 volunteer participants (ages 14-16) Standardized math worksheet (20 problems, timed) Bluetooth speaker 3 music playlists: classical, pop with lyrics, ambient noise Quiet room Timer Pencils

1. Divide participants randomly into 4 groups of 7-8. 2. Group A: silence (control). Group B: classical music. Group C: pop music with lyrics. Group D: ambient noise (coffee shop sounds). 3. Each group completes the same 20-problem math worksheet with a 10-minute time limit. 4. Score worksheets for accuracy (correct answers out of 20). 5. Record completion time for each participant. 6. Have participants self-report concentration level 1-10 afterward.

Silence group: avg 16.3/20 correct, avg 7.2 min, self-reported concentration 7.1. Classical group: avg 17.1/20 correct, avg 6.8 min, self-reported concentration 7.8. Pop music group: avg 13.2/20 correct, avg 8.9 min, self-reported concentration 4.3. Ambient noise group: avg 15.8/20 correct, avg 7.5 min, self-reported concentration 6.5. Two participants in the pop music group did not finish within the time limit.

Hypothesis was that silence would perform best. Classical actually edged ahead slightly. Pop music with lyrics was clearly detrimental — lyrics likely compete for language processing. Sample size is small; a real study would need more participants and multiple worksheet versions to control for difficulty.