The influence of distracting familiar vocal music on cognitive performance of introverts and extraverts

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of familiar musical distractors on the cognitive performance of introverts and extraverts. Participants completed a verbal, numerical and logic test in three music conditions: vocal music, instrumental music and silence. It was predicted that introverts would perform worse with vocal music, better with instrumental music and even better in silence across all tests while for extraverts it would be the reverse. Results showed that during the verbal test, overall performance for all participants was significantly better in silence, supporting the idea that lyrics interfere with the processing of verbal information in the task. However, no significant music-personality interactions were found. Possible explanations for, and implications of, these results are discussed.