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Examining the effects of tempo in background music on adolescent learners’ reading comprehension performance: employing a multimodal approach

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Abstract

This present study examines the psycho-emotional and psychophysiological effects that variations in the tempo of background music have on learners who are completing reading comprehension tests while being monitored used multi-modal computer technology. Results of seventy-four (N = 74) participants indicated that listening to fast tempo music (150 bpm) predicted lower reading comprehension scores, increased emotional expressions of fear, joy and contempt, and higher skin conductance responses (SCRs). Results indicated that participants were more likely to produce higher scores while listening to slow tempo music (110 bpm), but such findings were not connected to significant differences in facial emotion expressions or psychophysiological responses. Contrasting these were control/no-music conditions in which participants exhibited moderated scores. Results from the fast-tempo condition can possibly be attributed in part to an affective valence of emotions and psychophysiological responses, as the multimodal data suggests that a combined regulatory mechanism may be at play while engaged in a learning task. This paper raises several questions regarding the use and effects of background music in performance-based learning settings and the role of affective-stimuli on cognitive regulation.

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Funding

Funding was provided by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 72050390)

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  1. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Matthew Moreno

  2. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Earl Woodruff

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Appendix

Appendix

Wolfe/Gillis Questionnaire

  1. 1.

    Did the musical selection interfere with your reading?

  2. 2.

    How much did you like the musical selection that was played?

  3. 3.

    How often do you listen to music while working/studying?

  4. 4.

    I performed better on my tasks when I had music

  5. 5.

    I find listening to music while working/studying to be distracting

  6. 6.

    Do you enjoy listening to music while working/studying?

  7. 7.

    I prefer listening to fast music while working/studying

  8. 8.

    I do not prefer listening to fast music while working/studying

  9. 9.

    I performed better on tasks when I was listening to slow music

  10. 10.

    I performed poorly on tasks when I was listening to fast music

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Moreno, M., Woodruff, E. Examining the effects of tempo in background music on adolescent learners’ reading comprehension performance: employing a multimodal approach. Instr Sci 52, 71–88 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-023-09639-3

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