People who are prone to boredom have a tendency to pay greater attention to sights and sounds happening around them. Music affects task performance differently depending on whether a person feels their work is providing them enough stimulation – if a person is more or less prone to boredom.

How does personality relate to music distraction? On the other hand, simple tasks – something done every day such as inputting data or sorting emails – typically underutilizes a person’s attentional resources or “mental bandwidth.” When paired with music, the sound can enhance performance by occupying the leftover attention space and minimize the risk of drifting off during a routine task.

Therefore, listening to music can overstimulate our mental resources and distract us when overwhelmed. How can music affect our task performance?īroadly speaking, music, regardless of complexity or volume, can affect a person’s ability to perform a complex task such as analysis or problem solving. He recommends that if you’re telecommuting during the coronavirus pandemic, you might think twice before turning on the tunes at home. Will listening to music while trying to work affect your performance? Rutgers psychology professor Jack Aiello says the answer is not the same for everyone.Īiello, who has researched how music affects the performance of cognitive work, says it depends on the music, task and individual personality. A Rutgers researcher offers insight into the impact of music while we work

We can work from home song