Music and studying

[Extract]
In various activities of everyday life, music can be heard playing in the background, whether at the supermarket while you shop, in the lobby of an office building as you prepare for an interview, at a social gathering while you chat with friends and make new acquaintances, or while driving your car. The widespread practice of accompanying other activities with background music raises an important question: does music help, hinder, or have no effect on these other activities? An emerging body of evidence suggests that there are subtle yet important effects of background music on other concurrent activities. Understanding the negative and positive consequences of background music can help us to determine whether music is an optimal accompaniment for any task or activity in which we might engage.