“PHYSIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON MUSIC IN POWERPOINT®! What?"

MUSIC (continued)

Research Evidence: PHYSIOLOGICAL. Physiologically, there is mounting evidence that music can effectively elicit highly pleasurable emotional responses (Krumhansl, 1997; Rickard, 2004; Sloboda & Justin, 2001). Neuroimaging studies have confirmed those responses (Blood & Zatorre, 2001; Menon & Levitin, 2005; Koelsch , Fritz, Cramon, Muller, & Friederici, 2006). Most recently, however, music-induced emotional states have been linked to dopamine release, the chemical that sends “feel good” signals to the rest of the body (Salimpoor et al, 2011). The kicker here is that the PET and MRI scans recorded this release and the intense physiological responses based on students’ listening to their preferred music rather than just someone else’s tunes.

CONCLUSION: This evidence strongly indicates that catchy melody, fast, up-tempo, major-key music can activate sensory functions that can excite and snap your students to attention. It creates an emotional connection that can engage any audience like no other element in PowerPoint®. The music must not only be familiar, but should be within their choice pool.

Music embedded throughout a PowerPoint® presentation can sustain attention while slipping the content into long-term memory (Berk, 2001, 2002, 2008; Millbower, 2000). Even background “passive” music can increase attention levels, improve retention and memory, extend focused learning time, and expand thinking skills (Brewer, 1995).

Unfortunately, these music results were not tested specifically in the context of PowerPoint® in the classroom under controlled experimental conditions. In other words, the answer to the original title of this blog (see previous blog) is a tentative YES! Until we know for sure, the above conclusions are wishful projections.

WHAT’S NEXT? What’s left? The best is last. Probably the most powerful additions are visual images and videos. But what does the research say?


COPYRIGHT © 2011 Ronald A. Berk, LLC

“DOES MUSIC IN POWERPOINT® INCREASE LEARNING OR ANYTHING ELSE?”

MUSIC
When you're listening to music or watching a TV program (Glee), movie, YouTube clip, or a commercial, your feelings and emotions, such as excitement, anger, laughter, relaxation, sadness, love, whimsy, or even boredom, are often triggered or heightened by the music playing behind the action. These emotions occur reflexively. You are responding to the mood created by the music and the scene. The music can have a strong effect on how you react (Levitin, 2006, 2008). A single song or the entire soundtrack is so powerful that you may download it off the Internet so you can listen again and again to relive the experience. Is there any evidence to support these effects? You bet!

Research Evidence: PSYCHOLOGICAL. The research indicates that music elicits emotional reactions of liking or disliking and excitement or arousal (North & Hargreaves, 1997; Robazza, Macaluso, & D’Urso, 1994; Sloboda & Justin, 2001). It can set the tone or mood instantaneously (Sousou, 1997; Stratton & Zalanowski, 1994). Music is also the emotional source of “chills” or “your hair standing on end” (Panksepp, 1995; Salimpoor, Benovoy, Larcher, Dagher, & Zatorre, 2011).

Research Evidence: HEMISPHERIC. The best news is that music taps both hemispheres of your brain: the left side processes rhythm and lyrics AND the right side listens for melodies, sounds, and harmonic relationships (Bever & Chiarello, 1974; Hébert & Peretz, 1997; Schlaug, Jancke, Haung, Staiger, & Steinmetz, 1995), and the connections between the two hemispheres increase as you age (Schlaug et al., 1995). In fact, music listening engages nearly every area of the brain and involves almost every neural subsystem (Levitin, 2006).

WHAT’S NEXT? I’ll finish this topic with the physiological evidence and my conclusions on using music in PowerPoint.


COPYRIGHT © 2011 Ronald A. Berk, LLC