iLearn, or Do I?

Previous research into the effect of music on cognitive performance has uncovered a personality effect. Research suggests that extraverts' performance on some tasks is enhanced by the presence of music whereas introverts' cognitive performance is diminsed by the presence of music. This study seeks to confirm these findings but, in addition, seeks to determine the effects, if any, of differing music delivery modes. These differing modes will include the total absence of music, the presence of background music as well as the presence of 'personal' music delivered by headphones, or iPods as they are today. Furthermore, the differential cognitive task performance found in previous studieswill be examined by comparing performance on a verbal memory task with a visual memory task. The effect of music on cognitive performance is now socially relevant due to the dramatic increase in the availability and use of personal music players, in particular Apple's iPod, and almost all of which are extremely compact and rely upon the use of headphones. The results will be discussed with reference to Baddeley's theory of working memory, and Eysenck's biological basis of personality.