Music can be a performance- enhancing aid or an annoying distraction, writes Thea O'Connor.
In the early 90s, US researchers showed that university students who listened to 10 minutes of Mozart before performing spatial IQ tests (which involve imagining what a piece of paper would look like if folded, cut in certain places, then opened out again, creating a doily-like pattern) did better than those who listened to no music, or to minimal repetitive music.
Since then the idea of the 'Mozart effect' has gained great popularity.
Mothers have since been encouraged to tune into baroque to boost their infants' intelligence, and the CD Music for the Mozart effect, Strengthen the Mind, topped the classical best-seller list on Amazon.
It's all based on the belief that Mozart, and other types of baroque music, stimulate parts of the brain that allow people to visualise and manipulate shapes in their mind's eye. It's an ability that forms the basis of complex thinking skills, including much of mathematics.
Not so fast, say music researchers. Although music is certainly powerful in evoking certain moods, emotions and memories, and can have a range of effects on our mental powers (some beneficial, some not) it may not stimulate our brains in quite the way originally proposed.
Bill Thompson, music cognition researcher and professor of psychology at Macquarie University, explains. 'We now think that Mozart, and music in general, influences cognitive performance by affecting both mood and arousal, rather than through some magical effect on certain parts of the brain,' he says.
According to Thompson, research has shown that when people listen to music that induces a positive mood and higher levels of energy, they perform better at creative tasks and score higher in terms of mental quickness.
A positive mood is particularly beneficial for creative tasks such as drawing, designing or writing. And arousal, or increased alertness, helps people perform mental tasks more quickly, just like a latte does.
So if you want to elevate your mood and enhance creative thinking, what type of music should you choose? Go for a higher pitch and major key, says Thompson. Allow eight to 10 minutes for the effect to kick in.
If it's energy you want, tempo matters most. 'Faster music makes people feel more energised, and helps them perform better at mental tasks, improving capabilities such as short-term memory,' Thompson says.
When it comes to volume - keep it down, or off all together for focused work.
Jana Letnic, one of Thompson's students at Macquarie University, recently examined the effects of music volume and tempo on student reading comprehension. She divided students into four groups. Each listened, through their iPods, to a different variation of the same piece of Mozart played soft and slow, soft and fast, loud and slow, loud and fast.
The condition 'loud' had the most detrimental effect, and 'fast' the most beneficial. Of all the groups, those listening to the 'soft fast' music performed the best. Overall, however, listening to music interfered with reading comprehension when compared with silence. 'If you have dense reading to do, it's better to turn the music off,' says Thompson, 'or play it beforehand to prepare yourself'.
Dr Emery Schubert, senior research fellow with the Empirical Musicology Group at the University of New South Wales, is keen to help businesses make informed decisions about the use of music in the workplace.
'It's crazy that music isn't used more in the workplace - the potential is huge,' says Schubert. 'But music is a complex beast. It has multiple effects on people that are influenced by so many factors.'
Personal preference is one important influence. So is habituation. Just when you think you've found the tune that'll carry you through the afternoon slump, play it 10 more times and it soon becomes the one that drives you mad. 'That's why rotation is essential,' Schubert says.
In Letnic's study those who had some musical experience benefited the most from listening to music, while those with no music experience were more likely to find the music distracting.
What about genre? Do you have to play baroque to boost brain power, or will jazz, rock or pop deliver the same benefits? The musical formula for mental prowess is much simpler. It boils down to what you like and what you know.
'Preference and familiarity are vital,' says Thompson, 'more so than genre - as long as the music contains certain structural features, such as high pitch, major key, fast-paced, low volume and not too much dissonance. In which case Strauss might be better than Silverchair.
There are some considerations if you are thinking about using music to raise the tone of your workplace. Knowing the effect you want to create is key, says Schubert - is it to enhance productivity and group cohesion, for example, or reduce stress? Finding out what type of music staff like is also critical to satisfy a range of preferences.
An obvious solution to cater for diverse tastes are iPods. Well-selected tracks played at the right time for the right task could enhance performance, without disturbing co-workers. But while it might be fun to bop to the beat of your own iPod, it also isolates workers from others. 'In most workplaces social bonds are critically important,' Thompson says. 'If group work is important, I wouldn't favour iPods.'
The art and science of using music to enhance workplace performance is far from perfected. But start to pay attention to the effects of volume, pitch and tempo and you have enough rudimentary data to start dabbling in audio architecture selecting the music you like to ease a hard day's work.
Thea O'Connor is a health promotion consultant, writer and speaker www.thea.com.au
Music at work suggestions
keep volume low so it doesn't intrude
select familiar music you enjoy. Avoid music with dissonant sounds it's distracting
rotate music selections to meet different preferences within a group and reduce likelihood of habituation
for creative decision making, choose music that'll put you in a good mood (try upbeat, in a major key)
for straightforward mental tasks, choose music for arousal and energy (try fast beat, not too loud)
when learning a new task, or needing dedicated attention to complete a challenging task, turn music off
allow periods of silence some people prefer quiet
Acknowledgments to Professor Bill Thompson and Emery Schubert.
