The Effect of Musical Stimuli on the Brainwave Production of Children

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of musical stimuli on the alpha brainwave production of children. The purpose of the research was twofold. First, the experiment investigated the effect of two musical stimuli and silence on alpha brainwave production in the temporal lobes of 30 children. This replicated a previous study which used adult subjects. Secondly, the experiment investigated the effect of music with text, music alone, and text alone, on alpha brainwave production in the temporal lobes of 30 children. The aural conditions were portions of a children's story. The dependent measures were the number of seconds spent producing alpha rhythms within each 2-minute aural condition, and scores on verbal comprehension questions about the story. Analysis of time spent producing alpha in the first part of the study revealed significantly high alpha production during the silence condition. No significant difference was shown between the other two aural conditions. This contrasts with the findings of the adult study, in which no differences were evident among any of the three aural conditions. In a comparison of the total number of seconds spent in alpha between children and adults, the age factor made no significant difference. However, a significant interaction was found with age and aural condition. Analysis of time spent producing alpha in the second part of the study revealed no significant difference between the presentations of the story. Correlational analysis between scores on the comprehension questions and time spent in alpha showed a low correlation between the two measures.