The Impact of the Language of Background Music on Information Retention
Item
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Title
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The Impact of the Language of Background Music on Information Retention
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Creator
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Mardee Willman
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Exit Requirement
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Honors Thesis
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Date of Award
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Jun-23
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15 June 2023
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Honors Program Director
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Gavin Keulks
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Faculty Advisor
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Jaime Cloud
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Abstract
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Previous studies on information retention in the presence of background music have been inconsistent and inconclusive. The purpose of the current study was to explore a niche in this research domain to determine if the language of the background music has an impact on the amount of information retained. I predicted that participants who listened to English lyrics would retain less information than participants who listened to Japanese lyrics (as the non-native lyrics will require less attention), and participants in both lyric conditions would retain less than participants in the no-lyrics condition. Participants (N = 82) were randomly assigned to listen to a music track with either English lyrics, Japanese lyrics, or no lyrics while reading a passage from “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott and then take a short quiz regarding what they read. The results did not support the predictions; no differences were found between the three conditions. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
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Type
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Text
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Language
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eng
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Rights
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Western Oregon University Library has determined, as of 06/01/2023, this item is in copyright, which is held by the author. Users may use the item in accordance with copyright limitations and exceptions, including fair use. For other uses, please ask permission from the author.
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http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
