Steven Nguyen

UWRT 1103

10 Oct. 2019

Word Count: 4,328

Research Summaries

Wilkins, R. W., et al. “Network Science and the Effects of Music Preference on Functional Brain

Connectivity: From Beethoven to Eminem.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 28

Aug. 2014, www.nature.com/articles/srep06130. Accessed 24 Aug. 2019.

This source is a scientific report written by five different individuals that have respectable

careers as researchers. The researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine work in the

Laboratory for Complex Brain Networks. The fifth researcher and one of the researchers at

Wake Forest work in the Music Research Institute. The fifth researcher, Donald A. Hodges, has

viable credibility since many publications date back to 1975 and focus on the effects of music in

different areas of science. The intended audience is other researchers in the field; however, an

average person may be able to read it since terms are defined within the report.

The main focus of this report is the affect music preference has on the brain. Previous

studies suggested that classical music was the only genre of music that had an effect on the brain,

however this study proved that it was not correct. An experiment was performed where

individuals listened to a song that they liked or disliked, and their favorite song. While they

listened to the song, the researchers scanned their brains using fMRI, functional magnetic

resonance imaging. The fMRI scanned their brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow
and revealed that the brain’s connectivity was altered in the hippocampus. The report provided

images of brain scans and a description to help the reader understand the results of the

experiment. Other than observations of the brain scans, the researchers refer to other publications

within their report using up to sixty-three references. Logos is used extensively since the

researchers must support their research with credible information. On the other hand pathos was

not extensively used due to the seriousness of the report and the focus on publishing their results.

From these results, the researchers observed that music preference affected the brain’s

connectivity and they supported their research through the use of brain scans and other

publications.

The researchers agree with others as they bring in other research and claims throughout

the report. They do this to increase the credibility of their research, while also providing the other

publications with more credibility. The researchers bring in the “Theory of Mind,” which is

referenced in three of the references they used. This allows the reader to see that what the

researchers are talking about is backed by not only their own research but from others as well.

“Listening to music affects an intricate set of complex processing systems in the brain,

such as systems associated with sensory-motor processing as well as functional elements

implicated in memory, cognition and emotion or mood fluctuation.”

“The default mode or resting-state network has been shown to support specific brain

functions, such as self-referential thoughts, emotional perspectives (i.e., empathy), and levels of

self-awareness.”

“Our results suggest that listening to a favorite song has the potential to not only recruit

those previously encoded memories but also, even more importantly, to simultaneously support
and sustain brain introspection via connectivity within the DMN, thus effectively re-processing

autobiographic and episodic memories.”

Since this source discusses my question thoroughly, I will use this source to introduce my

question and provide supporting details about it. This source goes in-depth about the complicated

science behind this question, so using this source to discuss that in my essay will be helpful.

Anyanwu, Emeka G. "Background Music in the Dissection Laboratory: Impact on Stress

Associated with the Dissection Experience." Advances in Physiology Education, vol. 39,

no. 2, 2015, pp. 96-101. ProQuest,

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1720062298?

accountid=14605, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/advan.00057.2014.

This second source is written by Emeka G. Anyanwu, who has a bachelor’s in biology and also

has a Doctor of Medicine degree. He has written many articles discussing the different effects the

brain may experience under a certain stimulus. In this source he discusses how music can relieve

stress and improve cognitive abilities. Since this is a scholarly report, the intended audience is

most likely directed towards his peers or others in the same research.

The main purpose of this source is to discuss the impact of background music in a

cadaver dissection laboratory and on stress while students perform a dissection. This resulted in a

strong correlation between the use of background music in the lab and high examination scores.

These results seem reasonable as they had two survey groups one group performed the dissection

without background music and the other with background music. Anyanwu starts his report by

thoroughly discussing the subtopics, stress, and background music, while using a number of
references. Anyanwu then goes into the methods used in the research, such as the phases of

research, the use of the psychological stress assessment and the development of the examination.

The results portion of the report contains multiple tables depicting the results given from

surveying the students. Anyanwu begins the discussion about the results with background

information of music and cognitive abilities. Anyanwu acknowledges the Mozart Effect, which is

a theory about the possibility of improving one’s general intelligence from the exposure of

Mozart’s music.

Anyanwu focuses more on logos rather than pathos as his report relies more on factual

information gained from the surveys and results. There are little to no examples of pathos

throughout this report, highlighting the straightforwardness of the report. Anyanwu is focused on

providing the reader with information about the topic rather than bringing in stories or

experiences that could help hook the reader.

The voice of this agrees with the other sources I have found. All the articles agree on the

topic that music helps improve cognitive abilities, which strengthens the topic on how music in

higher education can help students improve and be more effective. Music has a unique effect on

certain parts of the brain that allows individuals to focus and improve their overall brain

function.

“Interest in the enhancement of academic performance of students using music was

overwhelmingly ignited with the release of the theory of Mozart effect by Rauscher et al.”

“Learning environments have powerful effects on the students' achievements and

motivation for accomplishing tasks (31).”

This source provides an example of how music can be used in a classroom environment. I

can use this source to introduce or expand from the topic of music in higher education, such as
how music can be used by teachers in the classroom to help students perform significantly

higher.

Kase, Lori Miller. “Using Music to Close the Academic Gap.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media

Company, 6 Feb. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/using-music-to-

close-the-academic-gap/280362/. Accessed on 1 Oct. 2019.

This source was written by Lori Miller Kase and she is a freelance writer. Since Kase

does not have a degree in science or music, she quoted Dr. Nina Kraus, who is the lead

researcher of the study, throughout the article to support the information. The intended audience

is for the average person since the article does not contain images or complex information about

brain functionality.

The article discusses how introducing students to music at a young age can improve their

communication skills and memory, while also improving how the brain functions. The author

introduces two universities that conducted two similar studies regarding the effects of learning

and playing music. Northwestern University is focused on how music instruction can close the

academic gap between the rich and poor students. University of Southern California is targeting

elementary school children within the “gang-riddled” Rampart District of Los Angeles. The

current results and observations from the two studies show changes in the children’s brain

functions but may also have a significant effect on the “academic trajectory of lower-income

kids.”

The article discusses the “Mozart Effect” and how individuals have tried to support the

theory, such as the Governor of Georgia, Zell Miller. The article transitions to a similar topic by
correlating this theory with a thorough discussion about the added effects of music instruction.

The article introduces how music instruction can change the nervous system to produce better

learners and how the advancements in brain imaging can be used to support this claim.

The voice of this article agrees with the other sources I have found except it goes into how music

affects individuals at a younger age. The majority of the sources focus on higher education;

however this article focuses on the long-term effects of music.

“Music instruction not only improves children’s communication skills, attention, and

memory, but that it may even close the academic gap between rich and poor students.”

“And while there is evidence that listening to music has short-term effects on brain

physiology and emotion, making music appears to have lasting effects on both brain structure

and brain function.”

This article will allow me to introduce the topic of the long-term effects of music which

allows me to expand from the main topic. Since this article brings in another topic, I can alter the

main topic to focus on the short-term effects of music, such as using music to study or do

homework.

Bodner, Ehud, et al. “The Unexpected Side-Effects of Dissonance.” Psychology of Music, vol.

35, no. 2, Apr. 2007, pp. 286–305, doi:10.1177/0305735607070381.

The authors of this article have multiple degrees in psychology and all the authors have

doctorates that relate to music or music therapy. Two of the authors are currently working on

research article and they have multiple research articles published. The article focuses on the

effects of consonant and dissonant music on cognitive abilities. The intended audience of this
article is focused on the average reader as it was easy to read and understand. The writers were

able to express their research so that most readers would be able to understand what their

research is about.

This article discusses the unexpected effects dissonant music has on cognitive abilities

and overall performance. Test subjects were given tasks to do while listening to dissonant, and

consonant melodies to obtain results. From these experiments it showed that dissonant music

improved cognitive abilities. The research article also discusses the effects of background music,

while doing repetitive or complex work. It was shown that music with complex melodies and

wide ranges did not help improve reading comprehension; however music with slow and soft

melodies improved reading comprehension among the subjects. These conclusions support and

correlate with the other articles that I have found and used, which strengthens the credibility of

this article.

The authors agree that music has a positive and negative effect on the brain through the

research they conducted for this article. While the authors use logos throughout their article to

support their research, they also incorporate relatable scenarios for the readers. For example, they

discuss how music can be used in the workplace to boost productivity or how it can have a

negative affect towards productivity.

The voice of this article strongly agrees with the other sources I have found. Similar to

some of the other sources this article focuses on the short-term effects of music; however, this

article discusses the positive and negative effects of music on cognitive abilities.

“In general, it was found that background music had a positive effect on various

performance measures (e.g. error reduction, output increase, improvement in production quality,

accident reduction, improvement of worker attitude and even decrease in staff turnover).”
 “However, Kiger (1989) found that ‘low-information’ background music (i.e. slow, soft

and repetitive) improved reading comprehension as opposed to high-information music (i.e. loud,

with a high tonal range, complex and varied.”

“The overall picture that evolved was that dissonant music had a rather positive effect on

participants’ performance.”

I can use this article in my thesis to expand on the short-term effects of music and to

strengthen the topic from the other article about the effects of background music. The

information from this article can be used after introducing the other article to allow for an

organized sense of flow.

Costa-Giomi, Eugenia. "The Long-Term Effects of Childhood Music Instruction on Intelligence

and General Cognitive Abilities." Update: Applications of Research in Music Education,

vol. 33, no. 2, 2015, pp. 20-26. ProQuest,

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1697497087?

accountid=14605, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/8755123314540661.

This article was written by Eugenia Costa-Giomi, who is a professor at Ohio State

University and has an expertise in Music Education and Music perception and cognition in

childhood. The credibility of this article is supported by the expertise she has in the topic she

discusses in the article.

This article focuses on the long-term and short-term effects of music instruction on

cognitive abilities. Costa-Giomi refers to seventy-five reports to support music instruction has

cognitive benefits, however states that there is a lack of evidence towards the long-term effects.
Costa-Giomi states that long-term effects of music instruction cannot be proven, due to the lack

of evidence and how different factors can negatively impact the cognitive benefits of music

instruction. Costa-Giomi refers to multiple articles that supports the claim that music instruction

has short-term benefits, such as studies focusing on spatial abilities, verbal skills, and memory.

The voice of this article agrees with the short-term effects of music with cognitive

abilities; however it disagrees on the long-term effects. Different from the previous articles, this

article focuses on the long-term and short-term effects of music.

“Their results are conflicting as some provide no evidence that music lessons result in

long-term IQ improvements … and others suggest that instrumental school music programs

improve IQ or specific cognitive abilities.”

“The results of most of these studies suggest that music instruction produces

improvements in these specific abilities and skills.”

Using this article in my thesis will be useful to introduce contradicting sides of the topic.

This article will strengthen the short-term effects of music from the thorough evidence and

information discussed throughout the article. The article’s discussion about the lack of evidence

for the long-term effects of music can be used to discuss the ongoing research that may be able to

support this claim.

“Music of the Brain.” Films Media Group, 2009, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=1

49262&xtid=41327. Accessed 3 Oct. 2019.

The commentators of the documentary are specialists in music cognition, and music
psychology. Two of the commentators in this documentary are Dr. Isabelle Peretz, who is a

specialist in music cognition, and Dr. John Sloboda, who has a degree in the field of music

psychology. Other individuals with degrees in music are interviewed during different segments

of the documentary and discuss the current topic of that segment.

The documentary consists of multiple segments discussing topics ranging from the issue

of research on long-term effects of music, music and motor skills, and the short-term effects of

music. The documentary has several segments that discuss the lack of evidence of long-term

effects; however, they provide information about the short-term effects that music has on a

person. For example, a commentator discusses how an old study that made the Mozart Effect

popular was focused on adults rather than children. The study showed results that increased

performance on intelligence tests, but the effects wore of afterwards. The documentary mentions

music therapy and goes into how music can be used to improve cognitive and motor skills.

Music therapy can be used with physical therapy to help them pick up a rhythm that can aid them

while walking or picking up objects.

The commentators focus heavily on logos as the majority of the documentary shows

commentators discussing the current segment. Although the commentators use logos throughout

the documentary, portions of it contains clips of families that have children or newborns to allow

the viewer to possibly relate to documentary. The documentary also includes European and

American culture which widens the range of viewers that can relate to it.

The voice of this article is similar to the previous article as it discusses the lack of

evidence towards the long-term effects of music and how there is sufficient evidence supporting

the short-term effects of music. Unlike the other sources this article mentions how music can not

only improve cognitive skills but also motor skills.

 “They repeated the experiment and were given headphones on they could listen to music

and they were able to stay on the treadmill for a longer period of time.”

“They played Mozart to adults while they were undergoing under intelligence tests and

what they showed was that there was roughly a 10-minute jag that increased their performance

on certain aspects of the tests and after 10 minutes the effects wore off. The effects were never

proven to be true for children.”

I can use this documentary to provide more support on the short-term effects of music

and to discuss the issue on the research of music’s long-term effects. Along with music’s effect

on cognitive skills, I can introduce the effects of music therapy on motor skills.

James R. Cheek, Loretta J. Bradley, Gerald Parr, and William Lan (2003) Using Music Therapy

Techniques to Treat Teacher Burnout. Journal of Mental Health Counseling: July 2003,

Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 204-217.

The authors of this article are mainly professors at Texas Tech University. James R.

Creek has degrees in Psychology and Medicine. This article has credibility, since the authors are

mostly teachers they may have their own experiences towards treating teacher burnout with

music therapy.

The article starts off by providing the readers with a number of statistics, however they

overuse this technique which negatively affects their writing. The authors go straight into how

they performed their research and strays away from using statistics. The research conducted for

this project involved fifty-one teachers from two elementary schools. The teachers were split up

into two groups, the cognitive behavioral/music therapy treatment, and cognitive behavioral
group. The first group spent six weeks receiving cognitive-behavioral group therapy with music

therapy, while the other group spent six weeks receiving cognitive-behavioral group therapy

without music therapy. The group that received treatment with music therapy showed lower rates

of burnout than the second group.

The article focused more on logos since the article is a report about the research

performed, however by using the statistics at the beginning of the article it allowed for readers to

develop emotions in response to the background of the statistics. Many of the teachers that were

surveyed, stated that they would not want to pick education again as a second career. The authors

support the effects of music therapy.

The voice of this article agrees with the other sources, since this article shows the effects

of music therapy on teachers it strengthens the topic of how music can be useful in higher

education. This article mentions how even teachers can benefit from music to improve

themselves mentally and physically, but also how they teach their classes.

“In fact, Lumsden (1998) found that teacher morale overall was so low that 40% of

teachers surveyed would not select teaching again as a career”

“57% were either undecided about leaving teaching, actively planning to leave teaching,

or would leave the teaching field if something better came along.”

I can implement this article into my thesis by discussing the benefits of music towards

teachers and how it can become an important factor in their teaching. Since this is currently the

only source about how teachers can benefit from music, finding another article about the same

topic can be used to strengthen each other.

Lynne M. Baker (2010) Music Therapy: Diversity, challenge and impact, International Journal of

Disability, Development and Education, 57:3, 335-340,

DOI:10.1080/1034912X.2010.501254

Lynne M. Baker works in the School of Education at The University of Queensland. She

has written many articles related to cognitive abilities, and therapy. This article focuses on the

effects music has in different areas of education, and also discusses the topic of music therapy.

The intended audience is primarily those looking for something quick and easy to read.

Baker discusses how music can be involved or incorporated into the classroom, and she

also discusses the advantages of music therapy. Within the classroom portion of the article,

Baker mentions how teachers gain stress from the classroom setting. However, Baker continues

about how music therapy may help the teachers and students relieve stress and improve

performance in and out of the classroom. Baker highlights the versatility of music therapy,

explaining that it is able to change depending on the situation. For example, Baker discusses how

an individual can self-administer their therapy or music therapy can be listening to music or

playing an instrument.

Baker uses pathos more than logos, since she introduces Mary’s personal experience with

a choir activity. Baker still uses logos to support her writing, however pathos is the more

prominent device. Baker believes that music therapy can make a contribution to an individual’s

mental health, while also being able to be used in different types of therapy.

The voice of this article agrees strongly with the previous source, regarding the topic of

teachers and stress. The article also has evidence towards the short-term effects of music, which

is useful for the first few sources.

 “Possibly the key advantage of music therapy is its versatility.”

“The continual need to manage challenging classroom behaviour can contribute

significantly to teacher stress and anxiety.”

This source can be used in my thesis to support the other previous source, which

strengthens the topic of both sources. This source can also help provide evidence for the short-

term effects of music, however the evidence it contains may be insignificant compared to the

evidence in the other articles.

Situmorang, Dominikus David Biondi, et al. “Comparison of the Effectiveness of CBT Group

Counseling with Passive vs Active Music Therapy to Reduce Millennials Academic

Anxiety.” International Journal of Psychology and Educational Studies, vol. 5, no. 3, Jan.

2018, pp. 51–62. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1208205&authtype=shib

&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

I am not able to find anything about Situmorang’s degrees, however he has a few

published articles relating to factors that affect student performance. The intended audience is

most likely millenials that may be struggling with academic anxiety.

The article is about how passive and active music therapy can be used to reduce academic

anxiety among millenials. Two groups were created from fourteen students and the groups were

treated with passive music therapy or active therapy. Active music therapy is when an individual

is given an instrument to play, while passive music therapy is when an individual is given music

played by a certain instrument to listen to. From the two groups, active music therapy was more

effective than passive music therapy at reducing academic anxiety.

 The author focuses on more on logos rather than pathos. There are instances where the

author resorts to pathos to introduce a new topic and he switches to using logos extensively. The

author supports the effects music has on reducing academic anxiety. Along with this the author

shares a similar claim to the previous sources, however this article extensively discusses the

topic of music therapy.

The voice of this article agrees with the other sources, which will be helpful while writing

the thesis. Unlike the other sources this article talks about the different types of music therapy

and the most effective one to reduce academic anxiety.

“The use of music in counseling can increase the production of all four positive hormones

present in the human body, namely endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.”

“It focuses on the thoughts, feelings, attitudes, values, goals of behavior and individual

and group goals as a whole.”

I can use this article in my thesis to expand on music therapy and how it can be used in

higher education, such as how it is discussed in the article. This article can connect with the other

sources that mention, however they are not as specific as this article. Since the other sources only

mention it, this article will be the lead source for the topic of music therapy.

Situmorang, Dominikus David Biondi. “Dominikus David Biondi Situmorang.” 2019,

Dominikus David Biondi Situmorang, 24 July 2019,

https://dominikusdavidbiondisitumorang.blogspot.com/2019/.
 This article has the same author as the previous source, since he has multiple articles

about music. The author wrote about the specific anxiety millennial students experience in the

previous source, but in this article he talks about another area of music therapy.

The author of this article talks about anxiety, depression, and the effects of music

therapy. The author starts the article by discussing how anxiety and depression are linked

together and they make up a single disorder rather than being two separate disorders. After

discussing the correlation between anxiety and depression, the author moves towards music and

how it can be used to “heal.” The author introduces the American Music Therapy Association

and provides a list of benefits that music therapy provides for an individual suffering from

anxiety and depression. The author ends the article by using quotes from other studies about

music therapy and anxiety.

The author uses pathos in the beginning of the article but he uses logos when the subject

changes to music therapy. The author supports the study of how music therapy can help reduce

anxiety and depression. He also claims that music has short-term effects that improves cognitive

and motor skills.

““Healing has to do with decreasing symptoms, physically, physiologically,

psychologically, emotionally, or spiritually.””

“Due to the familiarity of the music, and the emotions associated with it, music therapy

acts as a neurological stimulator that incites reactions of a non-musical nature.”

“Music therapy uses music, in vocal and instrumental form, to treat people with mental

health needs.”

The voice of this article is similar to the other sources because although it is not stated in

the article, it lists off benefits of short-term effects of music. Another voice of this article is about
the benefits of music therapy that is present in the previous sources, which strengthens the

overall topic.

This article can be used in the thesis to add evidence about the short-term effects of music

and music therapy. The useful evidence for the benefits and types of music therapy in higher

education can be used with other sources to strengthen the claim about the benefits of music

therapy.