As music has grown more accessible, so has our dependence on it. So much so that it has become difficult for students to separate music from their studying.
Whilst music does have the potential to ensure the flow of studying, it can opposingly be a great distractor. As your brain is busying processing and understanding the lyrics of a song, there is less room for it to focus on reading, writing and learning. This can be especially counter-productive when learning new topics or concepts.
Nevertheless, it does not mean all music can be a negative force while studying. Many studies offer non-lyrical music as a substitute, as your brain doesn't have any additional words to focus on, and thus concentrating on your work.
On the other hand, I personally believe studying with lyrical music playing helps with memory. Relistening to songs aloud or in my head often actively triggers my memory, allowing me to remember content I had learned with those songs playing. I've discovered that this is an example of music-dependent memory, in which your brain encodes the music and the academic content together. Replaying the song later provides a retrieval cue that triggers the neural pathways associated with the information I had learnt.
Unfortunately, you can't listen to music during exams, but more importantly, music-dependent memory can have negative effects, such as a strict dependence on musical cues when remembering content. As you become reliant on an external trigger rather than internal retention of information, listening to lyrical music becomes an ineffective study method.
Ultimately, as difficult as it is to remove ourselves from our favourite when studying, it is essential when aiming to successfully retain academic content within our memory and actively recall it during an exam. However, whilst lyrical music can counter-productive, non-lyrical music is a great alternative for effective studying.
