The Effects of Music on Athletic Performance

            Inthe age of technological gadgets, music has become more than just backgroundnoise at a party.  Mp3 players andmusic downloading sites such as iTunes have made music a part of people’severyday routine.  For some, musichas become a vice.

            Forthose that exercise, music is a way to distract oneself from the physicalactivity they are enduring and to try to lessen their consciousness offatigue.  However recent studieshave seen that music has a much greater effect than just providing adistraction. Studies conducted by sports psychologists have determined thatmusic has a great impact on the performance level of an athlete. It has beensuggested that the correct type of music can heighten an athlete’s performanceby up to twenty percent [1].  Asports psychologist at Brunel University, Dr. Costas Karageorghis, has donestudies to see the results of synchronous music and asynchronous music.  Synchronous music, music that has aclear and steady beat, was what was shown to elevate a person’s performance bytwenty percent whereas asynchronous music, background music, was shown to calmthe nerves of athletes by as much as ten percent [1].

            Thissame psychologist theorizes that there are four main components to the effectsof music on an athlete. First that music can distract an athlete from fatigue,second that music can act as a mood altering catalyst, third music cansynchronize an athlete’s rhythm and movement and finally music can act as atrigger for learning certain motions and aid with muscle memory [1].   From the evidence provided thereseems to be a correlation between music and performance, but what is reallyhappening?

            Astudy done to investigate the psychological effects of music on performance wasdone at Milligan College in Tennessee. To set up the experiment, the term ‘priming’ must first be introduced.

“By priming participants withparticular instructions prior to the experiment, a researcher can actuallyheighten the likelihood that thoughts with much the same meaning as thestimulus will come to mind…When participants are told that a stimulus willaffect them in some way, they will in fact behave accordingly. This priming isparticularly effective with regards to physical exercise performance” [2]

Priming is the perfect way to test the effects of music onathletes.  By pre-conditioning thestudy subjects to certain expectations and attitudes, the raw effects of musiccan be measured.

            Forthis experiment, ninety-one college students were invited to run several lapswhile listening to music for a certain duration [2].  The ninety-one students were divided into three groups[2].  Members of Group A (n=25)were told that music would heighten their athletic performance immensely[2].  Participants of Group B(n=19) were told that music would greatly diminish their ability to performwell [2].  And those in Group C(n=47), the control, were not given any information on the impact that musicwould have on their performance [2]. The results were fairly significant and demonstrated that preconceived notionson the effects music are key to actually seeing positive effects from musicduring athletic performance.

            Theeffectiveness of the music was analyzed by measuring the mean number of lapseach group was able to complete in the given time.   For Group A, the group that was told music wouldenhance their performance, the mean number of laps completed was 6.38 [2].  Group B, that was told the music wouldnegatively impact their performance, the mean number of laps was 4.97 [2].  And Group C, given no information, hada mean number of 5.55 laps [2]. The most interesting and significant part of this study was the factthat two groups, A and B, both listed to music, were told completely differentinformation and performed very differently.  This demonstrates that it is not the music that is changingthe level of athletic performance achieved but it is that knowledge that anoutside force might have the ability to change one’s performance level thatactually made an impact. 

            Thisis a clear indication of the power that the brain has on affecting a person’sphysical self.  Similar to thesugar pill, the impact that music can have on a person is a preconceivednotion; music itself does not have the power to induce athletic prowess.

[1] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article581004.ece

[2] http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/541.asp