Balolong, Laurent Miguel Nolasco, Joshua

Bondoy, Allysa Ranario, Danielle

Malano, Jessa Rodiño, Hazel

The Effect of Music Genres (Lo-fi and Heavy Metal) on Short-Term Memory of the Third
Year Psychology Students of Cavite State University Main-Campus

Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Sounds became an integral part of human survival, as humankind develop keen senses to

accompany the dangerous and unknown environment. Hearing in particular, aids humanity on

survival as it gives the necessary information for the brain to avoid caution or danger. The

sounds that came from the environment affects the brain’s hypothalamus that initiates a sequence

of chemical releases and responses from nerve cells that get us ready for the imminent situation.

Adrenaline is released into the bloodstream, our pulse rate rises, and blood is injected into our

bodies and limbs more rapidly. All of our consciousness, perception and instincts escalate and

quicken (Bryant, 2008).

As these sounds came to emergence, music came to life. In contrary to these sounds that

serve as survival tools, music used to provide a relaxing sensation through the combination of

sounds. According to Greenberg (2016), Anthropologists and sociologists have yet to discover a

single civilization in the course of human history that has not had music. It has become a

characteristic of any established human community. These means that music is not just a form of

entertainment but also a sign of abundance and success of a civilization.

Provided that music helped the civilizations thrive, music also helps us in various ways in

health such as connection, effects on the mood, the body and lastly the mind. As stated, music

affects the mind in three ways: treating mental illnesses, improving memory and better learning.
Balolong, Laurent Miguel Nolasco, Joshua
Bondoy, Allysa Ranario, Danielle
Malano, Jessa Rodiño, Hazel

Research suggests that music greatly affects the symptoms of schizophrenia, as it the music

intervention could help control the input processing from the bottom up and thus improve the

overall clinical symptoms of schizophrenia (Rodriguez, 2019). In addition, music improves

learning as it stimulate the brain (Gold et. al, 2019) and lastly, background music affects

cognition and memory as it improves the overall performance of older adults in their declarative

memory and processing speed; however, the results shows inconsistencies (Bottiroli et. al, 2014).

Out of all the Music genres in the industry, lo-fi and Metal are known as some of the

most popular music genres. Lo-fi is a non lyrical music genre, similar to hip-hop beats that uses a

looped melody with the accompaniment of vinyl sounds and distortions. It provokes a feeling of

relaxation and nostalgia. It is a branch of the genre of hip hop that combines elements of

classical music as well as jazz and blues to create a fusion that students frequently listen to for

free via music listening platforms such as YouTube and Spotify (Amable, 2020). This genre are

well-known for its relaxing vibe that is very suitable for students and other people that requires

relaxation for their demanding tasks.

On the other hand, Metal is a music genre that is fast, aggressive, and loud. It is famous

for its dark lyrical content. There are some quiet and mellow pieces of some genres, but most

metal is noisy, powerful, fast, and violent. Depending on the genre, the vocal styles of heavy

metal vary from melodic singing to aggressive singing to unintelligible screaming (Bowar,

2019). This genre of music comprises several sub-genres among them is Nu-Metal. This genre

became very popular in the late '90s through the early 2000s, mixing heavy metal riffs with hip-

hop elements and rapped lyrics, and then dropped from popularity (Bowar, 2019).

These two music genres are as unlike as opposites and will prove to be the contrasting

variables in this study.

Balolong, Laurent Miguel Nolasco, Joshua
Bondoy, Allysa Ranario, Danielle
Malano, Jessa Rodiño, Hazel

This experiment that aims to investigate is the association between listening to two

different music genre and short-term memory

Statement of the Problem

The researchers will conduct this study to determine if there is a significant effect on

listening to two musical genres (Lo-fi and Metal) on the short-term memory of the Third Year

BS Psychology students of Cavite State University-Main Campus. Specifically, it aims to answer

the following questions.

1. Does Lo-fi music significantly affect short-term memory?

2. Does Heavy Metal music significantly affect short-term memory?

3. Is there a significant difference between the two different music genres (lo-fi and heavy

metal) and the absence of music on short-term memory?

Hypotheses

The researchers hypothesize the following:

1. Lo-fi music does not affect short-term memory.

2. Heavy metal music does not affect short-term memory.

3. There is no significant difference between the two different music genres (lo-fi and heavy

metal), and the absence of music on short-term memory.

Balolong, Laurent Miguel Nolasco, Joshua
Bondoy, Allysa Ranario, Danielle
Malano, Jessa Rodiño, Hazel

Theoretical Framework

In 1993, Rauscher et al. published the Mozart Effect. This theory claims that people

exhibit significantly better spatial reasoning skills after listening to Mozart’s sonata for 10

minutes rather than when they spend periods of listening to relaxation instructions designed to

lower blood pressure, or simply staying silent. In spite of this, the enhancing effect of Mozart’s

sonata did not extend beyond 10 to 15 minutes. The researchers who tested the effectiveness of

this theory were not able to produce further findings but some of them confirmed that the said

song produced a small increase in spatial-temporal performance. In order to validate this

conclusion, they used the Stanford-Binet scale. However, the proponents of this theory

emphasized some of the negative results may have been caused by inappropriate test procedures.

In line with the diverse findings of Mozart Effect, Husain et al. proposed the Arousal-and-Mood

Hypothesis. This concept, which was made public on 2002, suggests that listening to music does

not directly affect an individual’s cognitive functioning. It is because people’s emotional

reactions are crucial in concluding that music listening is beneficial on subsequent cognitive

functioning. In addition to that, it provides a framework to understand for whom and under what

circumstances music listening enhances cognitive functioning and the mechanisms through

which music exposure is effective. Furthermore, the arousal-and-mood hypothesis specifically

emphasizes on the importance of a moderate arousal level and a positive valence of emotional

reactions in subsequent cognitive functioning. According to Husain et al. (2002), “…virtually,

any moderately arousing stimulus that induces positive moods should affect performance on a

variety of cognitive tasks, similar to the effect on spatial abilities that occurs as a consequence of

listening to music composed by Mozart.” Following this logic, it has been argued that any
 Balolong, Laurent Miguel Nolasco, Joshua
Bondoy, Allysa Ranario, Danielle
Malano, Jessa Rodiño, Hazel

pleasant or enjoyable stimulus, either musical or non-musical, that arouses a positive hedonic

tone at a moderate level can enhance the performance of cognitive functioning.

Conceptual Framework

In this part of study, it shows the graphical representation of all factors and variables that

makes up the process for conducting this study.

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Music Genres:
Lo-fi Music Short-Term Memory
Heavy metal music

The study aims to identify the relationship of listening to Lo-fi and heavy metal music

and short-term memory. This study also aims to determine if there is a significant difference

between the two genre and the absence of music on short-term memory of the 3 rd year

psychology students.

Scope and Delimitation

The study will focus on determining the effect of listening two musical genres to short-

term memory of the Third Year BS Psychology students of Cavite State University-Main

Campus. Using pretest posttest research method, the researchers will determine if there is an

effect of listening to two musical genres to short-term memory of the participants.

Balolong, Laurent Miguel Nolasco, Joshua
Bondoy, Allysa Ranario, Danielle
Malano, Jessa Rodiño, Hazel

The researchers will only focus on using two musical genres which are identified as Lo-

Fi and Heavy Metal genres. The scope of this study will be confined to third year BS Psychology

students of Cavite State University-Main Campus.

Definition of Terms

For the purpose of clarification, the important terms used in this study have been defined

The following terms are:

Lo-fi - The name Lo-fi coming from the term Low-Fidelity refers to the sound that vinyl make,

specifically the crackle and distortions sounds that provoke an aesthetic and nostalgic feeling of

old, it’s origin. Lo-fi is primarily composed similarly to the beat of hip-hop but with less bass,

looped melodies, people’s voices from early television and radio recordings, and its vinyl noise

to distance Lo-fi from similar sounding songs. Most of the Lo-fi songs are relaxing and

provocative for positive emotions and nostalgia.

Heavy Metal - It comprises of blues, rock, tuned down guitars and is popular because of its

dark lyrical content. Metal music is very fast, aggressive, and loud.

Short-term memory - A system for temporarily storing and managing information required to

carry out complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehension. Short-term

memory is involved in the selection, initiation, and termination of information-processing

functions such as encoding, storing, and retrieving data.

Balolong, Laurent Miguel Nolasco, Joshua
Bondoy, Allysa Ranario, Danielle
Malano, Jessa Rodiño, Hazel

References:

https://adventure.howstuffworks.com/survival/wilderness/wired-for-survival2.htm
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-music/201608/what-is-music-
exactly
https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/schizophrenia-advisor/effects-of-music-on-
symptoms-of-schizophrenia/
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/8/3310
https://www.liveabout.com/what-is-heavy-metal-1756179
https://www.musicgateway.com/blog/how-to/what-is-lo-fi-how-do-you-produce-a-lo-fi-
song