Re: working memory and melody

[Bruno Repp <repp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear list members:

Somewhat related to the current discussion, but leading to a separate 
question, is an informal observation I have made over a number of 
years. I am an avid music listener and listen to classical music 
practically every morning and evening. Classical music requires full 
attention to be appreciated properly. However, because the listening 
takes up a lot of time, I have often tried to combine it with other 
activities. I soon found out that reading, even of the most trivial 
text, is totally disruptive. I feel I have not heard the music at all 
while I was reading-a very disheartening experience. Before the 
advent of personal computers, I used to score data or draw graphs 
while listening. That was less distracting but still interfered a 
bit. Lately, I have become addicted to Sudoku. I find that solving 
Sudoku puzzles does not really interfere with music listening at all, 
even though I frequently need to keep lists of up to five digits in 
verbal working memory.

I would be interested to learn about any references to research (or 
any informal comments) that might address why reading interferes so 
strongly with music listening but Sudoku doesn't. Although there is 
some research on the effect of music on reading (though probably not 
on Sudoku), I am not aware of any research that investigated how 
different secondary tasks interfere with music listening. One problem 
is surely to find an objective and quantifiable measure of how 
effective the music listening was.

Best,

Bruno
--
Bruno H. Repp
Haskins Laboratories
300 George Street
New Haven, CT 06511-6624
Tel. (203) 865-6163, ext. 236
Fax (203) 865-8963
http://www.haskins.yale.edu/staff/repp.html

NOTE: I am at Rutgers University, Newark, two days per week,
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