EFFECTS OF VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC ON VISUOSPATIAL AND VERBAL
PERFORMANCE AS MODERATED BY STUDYING
PREFERENCE AND PERSONALITY
HELEN J. CRAWFORD and CHEHALIS M. STRAPP


Music may possess unwanted and annoying characteristics similar to noise, or it may be
perceived as a facilitator of performance due to its soothing or stimulating qualities. Music has
been found to facilitate (Smith, 1947; Uhrbrock, 1961), reduce (Ayres & Hughes, 1986; Fogelson,
1973; Tucker & Bushman, 1991) or have no effect on (Mowsesian & Heyer, 1973; Tucker &
Bushman, 1991) performance. The distracting qualities of music may depend upon its type and its
decibel level (for a review, see Wolfe, 1983). Vocal music may be more disruptive than
instrumental music because the words are unattended speech that may interfere with other
information being processed and stored in working memory (Salame & Baddeley, 1989).

Recalling that performance is hypothesized to be related to arousal by an inverted U-shaped
function (e.g. Berlyne, 1967; Broadbent, 1971) individuals who choose to study with music may be
underaroused and seek arousal from music in order to be at an optimal performance level.

Of major theoretical importance is the finding that those who typically study with music are
substantially more extraverted than those who do not study with music. Since music has been
shown to possess arousing properties (e.g. Smith & Morris, 1977) the seeking of music may reflect
individual differences in levels of cortical arousal (Eysenck, 1967, 1981; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985).