Neural Trials: I Memorized 8 Vocabulary Words With And Without Music

Introduction

It is a hidden strategy for many to listen to music when they studying, however I have always found it to be a distraction for me. I wanted to test out how much music with lyrics, in this case pop, would actually affect my memorization and discover if studying with music is an effective technique or not. It may also depend what you are studying and the type of music you are listening to, so do as you will with my results.

My Experiment

Trial A: Phone was next to me playing pop music at around 60% volume. I memorized 8 AP Biology terms I did not know on quizlet and gave myself 5 minutes to memorize. Then, I tested myself using the quizlet test.

Trial B: Phone was off and next to me with no pop music playing. I did the same steps as in Trial A except I memorized 8 different vocabulary words than the previous time that I did not know as well.

Results

Trial A:

Words: disulphide bridges, cline, autopolyploid, allopolyploid, adaptive radiation, punctuated equilibrium, heterochrony, and hox genes

Incorrect: 1

Focus rating: 8 out of 10

Comments: I noticed I had to read multiple times for some cards because I was focused on the lyrics of the song. The music got in the way for me to memorize faster so I think that it’s not helpful if you are trying to memorize something fast and can be disruptive for memorizing many words/notes. 

Trial B:

Words: taxonomy, radiometric dating, serial endosymbiosis, chemoautotrophs, extremophiles, müllerian mimicry, eutrophication, turgor pressure.

Incorrect: none

Focus rating: 9 out of 10

Comments: I didn't have to reread any cards because I did not get distracted. I went through the cards normally and felt that I memorized them faster. It was easier for me to use hints in the names of the words, I'm not sure if that is just me getting lucky and being able to match parts of the word with the definition or if I was able to pay attention to the words better. 

Connection To The Brain

To better understand how music with lyrics can influnce the brain you should be aware of one of the most important structures for memory, the hippocampus. It is reponsible for learning and helps us form long term memories. A study called, “Do you listen to music while studying? A portrait of how people use music to optimize their cognitive performance” by Goltz and Sadakata, states that lyrics can hinder memory performance, yet can still be beneficial/neutral when using intrumental music. The study found that possible benefits could be due to reduced activity in the pre-frontal cortex.

Conclusion

As you can tell, listening to music did not have too much of an effect and in this scenario could be okay for studying. Although this experiment was focusing on memorizing vocab words, I would take into account how it could effect your learning differently in other situations before believing that music can show little difference. After all, it is not recommended by quite a few studies to study with music that has lyrics. On the contrary, if music is the one thing that motivates you to study and you continue to do well in school with it, then I believe this technique is for you! Lastly, recommendation is if music feels comforting to you but tends to distract you, listening to lofi or instrumental music can help and is what I recommend instead of your favorite songs. Remember you are not alone!

Works Cited

Goltz, Franziska, and Makiko Sadakata. Do You Listen to Music While Studying? A Portrait of How People Use Music to Optimize Their Cognitive Performance - Sciencedirect, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691821001670. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.