Ok, it's time to put your knowledge to the test! Let's see what you've learned about language, music, and what happens when we combine the two. Try Part 1 to remind yourself about the basic psychology of language and music. Attempt to complete the whole section without looking at the main page (unless you get really stumped!), then move on to Part 2 for a fun exercise on advertising. See how adding a catchy melody to a slogan can make the product stick in peoples' minds! In Part 3, you can test the effects of music, language and memory on your own friends and family. See how your results compare with the current research.
Try to answer these questions to see how much you can remember, and how much you've learned about language and music. Try to complete the section without referring back to the main page, but if you get stuck you may need to refresh your memory here
Music intensifies every aspect of an advertisement, and gives a sense of stimulation to the viewer or listener that helps cement the message of the ad itself (Hecker, 1984). Many times, you likely find yourself humming a song or jingle from a well-known advertisement, realizing that the tune is stuck in your head. Naturally, this is what the advertisers want: an easily identifiable way of helping you remember their product. This is just one more example of how powerful the combination of music and language can be.
In order to test out this concept, make a list of several well-known radio and television commercials with familiar "theme songs". Try humming the tune for the product slogan to your friends and family, and see if they can recite the line back to you. Chances are, they will know the tune, phrase product, and even the company responsible for the ad.
Use the table below as a starting point, and try to fill in a selection of ads you come across. The first line shows an example of how to use the table:
Product Name | Company | Tv/Radio? | Slogan | # Correctly identified? | # incorrectly identified? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Product 'A' | cb inc. | Radio | No one beats the taste of cb! | 10 | 2 |
B | |||||
C |
Follow-up questions:
a) Did your results support the concept relating music and language?
b) Were people able to correctly identify the slogans?
c) If you were an advertiser, would this influence your decision to ad music to your slogan?
Essay Topic
d) Research the different cognitive or neuroscientific theories surrounding the link between language, memory and music (ie: why does music help people remember?):
Try performing the experiment the other way around...if you tell people a product slogan, would they be able to hum the jingle that goes along?
Another twist on this experiment that you can try is to write a sentence out on paper. Try to make the sentence long enough that it is not easy to remember the first time you hear it. Now show a few people this sentence, read it to them, and see if they can remember it 15 minutes later. Using the same sentence, add a tune to the words, and sing it to a different people. Again, see if they can sing it back to you 15 minutes later. Which group was more successful?
Hecker, S. (1984), Music for advertising effect. Psychology and Marketing, 1: 3–8. doi: 10.1002/mar.4220010303
If you would like to try an experiment (somewhat similar to the one presented by Steven Smith, 1985), you will need three sets of test subjects (or you may perform the experiment as a within-subjects design, meaning you will simply need extra lists of words). Create a list of words (30 words), and present each individual in each set with the same list. One group will be in a room with music playing while they study the list of words for 3 minutes, the second group in a silent room, and the third group in a room with ambient noise (ex: background television, etc.). After the list of words has been presented for 3 minutes, give the individuals a 10 minute break, then return them to the same room with the same conditions as they had been in previously. Ask them to write out as many of the words as they can remember, and see which group (under which conditions) is able to remember the most words.
To alter the experiment slightly, try keeping some groups the same for testing (i.e: learning and testing both occur in a silent room), while other groups change (learning in a room with music playing, but testing in a silent room).
Which combination seems to produce the optimal conditions for learning and recall?
Why do you think this might be?
Is there any possibility of a deleterious effect?.
Smith, S. (1985). Background Music and Context-Dependent Memory. The American Journal of Psychology. 98(4): 591-603.
The following questions are to be answered in essay format. It will be helpful to use the other chapters from the *Psycholinguistics homepage in formulating your answers
1) Explain the basic symptoms and problems associated with amusia. How is amusia similar/different from aphasia, acalculia, and alexia?
2) For each item in the following list, explain how it compares with music in terms of innate (inborn) abilities, and level of generativity:
3) How do the neural components of speech production and writing compare with those of playing, writing and singing in music?
4) If music is culturally-based, at what age can children discriminate between music that is familiar or unfamiliar to their own culture?
5) Try to imagine you are teaching someone to read and play music: