Evaluating the Impact of Music with Different Tempos on Memory Recall Among High School Students

Music is known to have effects on the brain. With the prevalence of music streaming services today, it is essential to investigate the potential relationship between music and cognitive performance. However, while the effect of classical music on the brain, the so-called Mozart Effect, remains arguable, the effect of music tempo on memory recall performance is poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated the impact of music with various tempos on the memory recall ability among a cohort of high school students. Participants were first exposed to music of varying tempos or silence for 10 minutes and then engaged in a memory recall task. Our results show there is a statistically significant difference in the effects on memory performance between fast-tempo music and slow-tempo music (or no music at all) (p < 0.05). Compared with slow-tempo music, fast-tempo music also largely increased the participant’s arousal level (p < 0.001). Taken together, our results indicate that faster-tempo music tends to enhance the listener’s memory recall ability.