Music on/music off: does the effect of interference or preference affect your reading comprehension?

When we are reading, does music distract us or put us in a better mood? We sought to investigate the counteracting effects of music from two major frameworks: a) the cognitive-load hypothesis, which contends that music interferes with reading, leading to poorer reading comprehension performance; and b) the mood-arousal hypothesis, which posits that music moderates reading comprehension performance. Bolstering previous methodology by Thompson, Schellenberg and Letnic (2011), the current independent variables specifically target their respective frameworks. In study 1, the cognitive-load hypothesis was represented by music before reading task (no cognitive load) versus music during reading task (cognitive load). The mood arousal hypothesis was represented by participant’s subjective ratings of familiar songs they liked or disliked from a list of 12 pre-selected songs. Study 1 involved a 2x2 mixed factorial ANOVA with 40 participants. Study 2 was devised to investigate the impact of music by using two unfamiliar songs. The cognitive-load hypothesis here was operationalised as more or less musical events, whereas the mood-arousal hypothesis was operationalised as priming to like or dislike the song. Likewise, study 2 involved a 2x2 mixed design ANOVA with 40 participants. The dependent variable for both studies was scores on the GMAT reading comprehension test. For both studies, it was hypothesised that scores on the GMAT would be highest for the low cognitive load, high mood-arousal condition; and lowest for the high cognitive load, low mood-arousal condition. Results for both studies indicate non-significant effect of cognitive-load or mood-arousal on reading comprehension. Despite null results, the effects of background music on reading comprehension in work or study settings remain a fertile avenue for future research