The effect of music listening and attentiveness training on the EEG's on musicians and nonmusicians

Author(s): Menzel, M. B.

Journal/Book: Journal of Music Therapy. 1977; Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. National Association for Music Therapy 8455 Colesville Rd., Suite 930 20910 Silver Spring, Maryland USA. journal article.

Abstract: Nine musician and nine nonmusician college undergraduates (N=18) were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups. A distraction group listened to 40 prerecorded music lessons and were also assigned the task of putting a harsh mark on a piece of paper each time their attention wandered from the music listening. A listening group listened to the same lessons, but subjectively rated their attentiveness after each session. A third no contact control group did no assigned listening. All subjects were given an EEG pre, mid and posttest under alternating conditions of silence and music during which the number of seconds spent producing alpha frequency were quantified. Subjects in the distraction group reduced the number of distraction from 50 to 17.5. The listening group reported no such gain in attentiveness. The musician population increased alpha production during the experimental period, while the nonmusicians did not. These differences were significant.

Keyword(s): effect, attentiveness, training, EEG, musician, college-student, music-listening, alpha-activity, alpha-state, brain-wave.

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