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Researchers share how listening to music at work can increase (or decrease) productivity, and the tunes that keep them focused.
Original author: Nikki Forrester
Original article titled "Sounds of science: how music at work can fine-tune your research" published in the April 6, 2023, Nature Careers feature.
Source: Getty
When it comes to accessing music, it’s a golden age. “You have a plethora of music available at your fingertips,” says Manuel Gonzalez, an organizational psychologist at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. To listen to the roughly 100 million songs currently on the Spotify streaming service, you’d have to keep listening until the 27th century, without repeating any songs or accounting for new releases.
And there are seemingly endless curated playlists tailored to users’ moods or activities, purporting to boost athletic performance, calm the mind, or improve productivity. For example, YouTube’s “Lofi hip hop radio — beats to relax/study to” channel has nearly 12 million subscribers. Many scientists listen to music while running experiments, analysing data, or even writing papers. But can music really boost productivity?
Complex influences
Assessing music’s effect on work performance is complicated. “Everybody’s different, every song is different, and every context in which you listen to music is different,” says Daniel Levitin, a musician and neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, who studies how music affects cognition and perception.
Music’s effects vary depending on a person’s location, time of day, mood, recent interactions, and a host of other factors. “You’re never exactly the same when you hear the same song again,” says Levitin, who has consulted and recorded as a music engineer for artists including Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Grateful Dead, and Santana.
Neuroscientist and musician Daniel Levitin concentrates by listening to American jazz pianist Bill Evans. Image credit: Mike Roelofs
Despite these nuances, scientists have determined how music affects the human nervous system, engaging every known brain region [1].
When a song plays, sound waves enter the ear, and the vibrations are converted into electrical signals. These signals are first processed in the brainstem, which can trigger the startle reflex and promote the release of adrenaline. Various components, including volume, pitch, rhythm, tempo, and timbre, are then analysed separately by neural circuits in the auditory cortex and predictive circuits in the prefrontal cortex. “Then, about 40 milliseconds later, all the information is integrated, and you hear music,” Levitin says. “But in brain time measurement, that’s a long time.”
As this happens, areas of the brain involved in the motor system, including the basal ganglia and cerebellum, process rhythm, often leading to body parts moving as neurons fire in sync with it [2][3]. “Sound comes in through the ears, but it manifests throughout the entire body — the head, trunk, arms, and legs all want to move with the music,” Levitin says.
Listening to music releases several neurochemicals, including dopamine, which helps people to focus and motivates them to pursue pleasurable activities; and opioids, which convey feelings of pleasure. Oxytocin, a hormone that facilitates social bonding, is often released when people sing or listen to music with others [4], according to Levitin. And sad music has been shown to promote the release of prolactin, a hormone that has a soothing effect [5]. All of these can affect how people feel and perform in the workplace.
Mood regulator
Many people listen to music to regulate their mood, says Karen Landay, a classical violinist and management researcher at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. “If I’m getting irritable, I might put on some music that will lift my spirits. If I want to concentrate, I prefer quieter music,” she says.
In 2022, Andrea Caputo, a pianist and organizational psychology doctoral student at the University of Turin in Italy, surveyed 244 employees to assess how listening to music for different purposes influenced their perceived job satisfaction and job performance [6].
Specifically, Caputo and his colleagues asked employees whether they listened to music to regulate their emotions, treated music as background noise, or analysed the technical aspects of songs. “Using music from an emotional perspective is positively correlated with job satisfaction,” Caputo says, adding that employees who used music at work to regulate their emotions rated their job performance and satisfaction higher. This was not the case, according to the study, for employees who treated music as background noise or listened to it for analysis.
For some simple tasks, such as pipetting or data entry, music can help the brain focus, thereby helping scientists perform better. “Music may not only allow you to be more productive, but it may also alleviate some of the unpleasantness that you might have for doing those day-to-day work tasks,” says Gonzalez.
But for complex tasks that require a lot of thought, such as brainstorming ideas or writing papers, listening to any type of music — regardless of whether it has lyrics, its volume, or its complexity — can decrease productivity (see ‘Music matters’ below).
Source: M. F. Gonzalez & J. R. Aiello J. Exp. Psychol. 25, 431–444 (2019).
Music can also alter the breadth of a person’s attention through its emotional impact, says Kathleen Keeler, an organizational psychologist at Ohio State University in Columbus, who studies the pros and cons of listening to music at work. For example, she notes that complex songs in a minor key can activate areas of the brain that prompt the release of stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, thereby triggering negative emotions [7]. She adds that negative emotions are more likely to narrow a person’s attentional scope by enhancing inhibitory control — the ability to focus on a particular goal and avoid distractions [7].
By contrast, simple songs in a major key can trigger positive emotions by releasing dopamine, which can improve working memory and deepen attention. “You’re more likely to incorporate more features of your surroundings into your awareness and use that information to generate new ideas,” Keeler says.
However, the ability to choose what to listen to, and when, is also vital. “In theory, major-key music should increase your positive affect, but it might not because that’s not what you need or want in that moment,” Keeler says. “As a result, you become more exhausted by the end of the day because you’ve spent a lot of resources and mental energy trying to block that music out and manage your emotions.”
Focus in music
Personal preferences mean that it’s difficult to give specific recommendations for how researchers can best integrate music into their workday, but there are some general caveats to keep in mind when using music in the lab.
“Only listen to music when you need it,” Gonzalez says, noting that listening to music is inherently multitasking, as it requires regulatory and cognitive resources that deplete over time. “I use music strategically, and I save it for tasks that are truly mundane and boring,” he adds. Gonzalez listens to heavy metal music while doing routine data analysis, but he generally avoids it when preparing for tasks that require a lot of brain power, such as preparing lectures (see ‘My favourite tunes for work’ below).
My favourite tunes for work
I studied piano for ten years at the Giovanni Paisiello Higher Institute of Musical Studies in Taranto, Italy. I don’t listen to music while working, because it’s a barrier for me. My attention focuses on the technical aspects of the melody and harmony. Even if I hear a sound in the environment, in my mind I treat it as a note. During breaks, if I’m alone, I prefer to listen to rock (Linkin Park is my favourite band) and classical music, mainly pieces that I played or wanted to play during my music studies.
— Andrea Caputo
Organizational psychologist
University of Turin, Italy
I’m a metalhead: I can listen to Metallica, Megadeth, and Dance Gavin Dance while working and be perfectly fine, because I enjoy that type of music. I also find that lo-fi bass, which incorporates styles such as hip hop, electronic music, and smooth jazz, is a pretty good option. YouTube’s “Lofi hip hop radio — beats to relax/study to” channel is a bit like white noise, almost like listening to the crackle of an old record. Often, there are no vocals, and if there are vocal tracks, they are usually very simple or repetitive, which helps the music recede into the background.
— Manuel Gonzalez
Organizational psychologist
Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey
When I’m writing, I like to listen to Gregorian chants — church music sung in unison — because they’re very stable structurally. There’s not a lot of dynamic change, and they’re in Latin, so I’m not distracted by the language because I don’t understand it. If I’m doing data analysis, I like to listen to jazz, anything from Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and 1970s rock, such as Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, James Taylor, and The Carpenters, because it’s more varied and energetic. The songs have lyrics, but I’m familiar with them, so I’m not distracted. And it puts me in a good mood, which is sometimes what you need when analysing data.
— Kathleen Keeler
Organizational psychologist
Ohio State University in Columbus
I’m a classically trained violinist. Even though classical music, because it has no lyrics, should hypothetically be less distracting, in my mind I’m playing along. The Dvořák Serenade for Strings is amazingly beautiful, but when I listen to it, I can’t work at all because I’m playing the violin in my head. The Ravel String Quartet is the same way. Although I don’t listen to music while working, I do play pop music before classes so that when students enter the room or online classroom, the atmosphere is more festive. Frankly, I’m a Britney Spears and Ariana Grande fan; their music is just the right kind of “light and catchy.”
— Karen Landay
Management researcher
University of Missouri–Kansas City
It depends on whether I’m trying to focus, calm myself, or get energized. When I’m trying to focus, I tend to listen to works by American jazz pianist Bill Evans, preferably when he’s playing in a trio; when I want to calm down, I listen to the Slow Circle album by fingerstyle guitarist Alex De Grassi. When I want to get energized, I listen to a song called BOC II, which I wrote in 1989 when I was working with the band Blue Oyster Cult. I recorded it in 2005 and played all the instruments on the track. It always gives me an adrenaline rush!
— Daniel Levitin
Neuroscientist
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Gonzalez encourages members of his lab to avoid listening to music when exploring new areas so that they can devote all their brainpower to processing what they are doing and learning. As researchers become more proficient in particular methods, complex tasks might begin to feel routine, which is when listening to music becomes more appropriate. “I also recommend setting some time limits, or at least a temporary period where you’re not listening to music, so you’re not listening for hours on end,” he adds. He also notes that he often reaches a point where he needs to turn the music off because he starts making mistakes and feels mentally fatigued.
Andrea Caputo (left) says using music for emotional regulation can increase job satisfaction. Image credit: Andrea Caputo
Levitin suggests listening to music during breaks to “hit the reset button in the brain.” This is because music activates the default mode network, a network of brain regions that is more active when a person is not focused on any particular task or when attention is not engaged [8]. When the default mode network is activated, the brain is more in a daydream-like state, which is necessary to switch off from the “central executive mode” used for problem-solving, decision-making, and goal-directed behaviour.
“If you find yourself zoning out and wanting to get a coffee, that’s your brain trying to tell you that you’re depleted,” Levitin says. Coffee isn’t always useful, but activating the default mode network with music for 10 to 15 minutes can help people feel better before returning to work. “It can motivate you, it can relax you, and it can help you get in the zone.”
One key thing to avoid is playing music publicly in the lab to boost productivity. “The notion that there’s ‘workplace music’ and someone puts it on and everybody’s going to respond in the same way is false,” Levitin says.
Headphones aren’t suitable for all environments, but they are a good way to enjoy the benefits of music without disturbing colleagues. “For some people, music just doesn’t work, so you need to provide an environment where colleagues can be free from music, even if someone next to them is listening to music,” Landay says. “It’s really completely individualistic, depending on how they find their own preferences and what works best for them.”
Nature-recommended tunes for work
Nature surveyed its editors to find out their favourite albums for work. Their recommendations have been compiled into this Spotify playlist (http://u5a.cn/xUcJN)
“If you find yourself zoning out and wanting to get a coffee, that’s your brain trying to tell you that you’re depleted,” Levitin says. Coffee isn’t always useful, but activating the default mode network with music for 10 to 15 minutes can help people feel better before returning to work. “It can motivate you, it can relax you, and it can help you get in the zone.”
One key thing to avoid is playing music publicly in the lab to boost productivity. “The notion that there’s ‘workplace music’ and someone puts it on and everybody’s going to respond in the same way is false,” Levitin says.
Headphones aren’t suitable for all environments, but they are a good way to enjoy the benefits of music without disturbing colleagues. “For some people, music just doesn’t work, so you need to provide an environment where colleagues can be free from music, even if someone next to them is listening to music,” Landay says. “It’s really completely individualistic, depending on how they find their own preferences and what works best for them.”
References:
1. Levitin, D. J. & Tirovolas, A. K. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 1156, 211–231 (2009).
2. Doelling, K. B. & Poeppel, D. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, E6233–E6242 (2015).
3. Gordon, C. L., Cobb, P. R. & Balasubramaniam, R. PLoS ONE 3, e0207213 (2018).
4. Chanda, M. L. & Levitin, D. J. Trends. Cogn. Sci. 17, 179–193 (2013).
5. Huron, D. Music. Sci. 15, 146–158 (2011).
6. Sanseverino, D., Caputo, A., Cortese, C. G. & Ghislieri, C. Behav. Sci. 13, 15 (2023).
7. Keeler, K. R. & Cortina, J. M. Acad. Mgmt Rev. 45, 447–471 (2020).
8. Sridharan, D., Levitin, D. J. & Menon, V. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 12569–12574 (2008).
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doi:10.1038/d41586-023-00984-4
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