The Effects of Music on Reaction Time in Human Beings
Breland Crudup
December 9, 2012
The Effects of Music on Reaction Time in Human Beings
The Effects of Music on Reaction Time in Human Beings
When performing many feats of physical skill, calculating how fast a person can perform the action has become a custom that has gained prominence in recent years. Observing how long it takes a person to perform an action, now known as observing the reaction time, has even gained enough importance to the point that it has even used in some scientific investigations. The purpose of this scientific investigation, for instance, is to test whether or not an outside force, such as music, will affect the reaction time of any given test subject. Whether the change will be a positive one, such as helping the test subject(s) complete the task faster, thereby improving the reaction time, or a negative one, which will distract in the test subject(s) in some form or fashion, reducing the reaction time, will be documented. The hypothesis generated for the experiment is that the music will not only affect the reaction times of the test subjects, but it will also improve the test subjects’ individual reaction times by energizing them through a type of placebo effect, as well as giving the test subjects more motivation to complete the task in a more time efficient manner. Terms that are relevant to this scientific investigation are reaction time, music, placebo, mental chronometry, and stimulus. The reaction time can be defined as the amount of time taken to respond to some type of external stimuli. Reaction time can be defined into one of three categories: simple reaction time, recognition reaction time (also known as discrimination reaction time), and choice reaction time. ‘Simple reaction time’ is when only one stimulus and one response are present. ‘Recognition reaction time’ is when, during an experiment, there are certain symbols present that are meant to be responded to and other symbols that are meant to be ignored, in short,
December 9, 2012
The Effects of Music on Reaction Time in Human Beings
The Effects of Music on Reaction Time in Human Beings
When performing many feats of physical skill, calculating how fast a person can perform the action has become a custom that has gained prominence in recent years. Observing how long it takes a person to perform an action, now known as observing the reaction time, has even gained enough importance to the point that it has even used in some scientific investigations. The purpose of this scientific investigation, for instance, is to test whether or not an outside force, such as music, will affect the reaction time of any given test subject. Whether the change will be a positive one, such as helping the test subject(s) complete the task faster, thereby improving the reaction time, or a negative one, which will distract in the test subject(s) in some form or fashion, reducing the reaction time, will be documented. The hypothesis generated for the experiment is that the music will not only affect the reaction times of the test subjects, but it will also improve the test subjects’ individual reaction times by energizing them through a type of placebo effect, as well as giving the test subjects more motivation to complete the task in a more time efficient manner. Terms that are relevant to this scientific investigation are reaction time, music, placebo, mental chronometry, and stimulus. The reaction time can be defined as the amount of time taken to respond to some type of external stimuli. Reaction time can be defined into one of three categories: simple reaction time, recognition reaction time (also known as discrimination reaction time), and choice reaction time. ‘Simple reaction time’ is when only one stimulus and one response are present. ‘Recognition reaction time’ is when, during an experiment, there are certain symbols present that are meant to be responded to and other symbols that are meant to be ignored, in short,
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