The Effects of Background Music on Attention in Neuro-Rehabilitation: A within and between subject comparison

Objective: To investigate the effects of background music on attention for an experimental group in neuro-rehabilitation with a neurological diagnosis and attentional deficits, and for a control group without a reported... [ view full abstract ]

Objective: To investigate the effects of background music on attention for an experimental group in neuro-rehabilitation with a neurological diagnosis and attentional deficits, and for a control group without a reported neurological diagnosis or attentional deficits.
Background: Technological advances in music have increased its use in everyday settings. Controlling external stimuli such as music may help in the performance of occupations for people in neuro-rehabilitation with attentional deficits through increased arousal and attention. There is currently conflicting evidence regarding the influence of music on cognitive performance, and there is a lack research on the effects of music on attention in neuro-rehabilitation. This study is based on an Irish and UK population.
Design: Quantitative, mixed factorial design.
Subjects: Five participants for the experimental group and five participants for the control group.
Measures: The Digit Span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – IV (Wechsler, 2008) was used to measure attention across three conditions: silence, music with lyrics and music without lyrics.
Results: Significant differences in attention were found for music with lyrics and music without lyrics. Music without lyrics was found to elicit higher attention scores for both groups compared to music with lyrics. The control group scored higher in attention than the experimental group across all three conditions which may be attributed to the experimental groups’ attentional deficits.
Conclusion: Music was found to influence attention for both groups. In everyday settings, music without lyrics is preferable as the presence of music results in an added stimulus to the environment.