What type of study is this?

This is a Quantitative Study study (also classified as: Cohort Study).

September 26, 2025

With a little help from my playlists: The impact of background music on sustained attention performance.

Key Points

Background music does not straightforwardly enhance sustained attention performance, altering engagement levels.
Across two experiments, the study explored different music types and their effects on performance during vigilance tasks.
Assessment focused on the roles of task load, boredom, and personality traits in determining engagement and performance.
Findings suggest that neither overload nor underload perspectives entirely explain the dynamics of vigilance.

Abstract

A long line of research has investigated vigilance decrement, the decline in the sustained attention performance over time. Overload perspectives suggest this decrement results from cognitive resource depletion because of task load, while underload perspectives attribute it to attention disengagement from tasks that are inherently underarousing and monotonous. Based on these two perspectives, this article investigates whether background music influences arousal and task load, thereby affecting vigilance performance. Across two experiments that were conducted in 2023 and 2024, we systematically examined the effects of music presence and different types of music (liked, disliked) on performance during an abbreviated and visually taxing vigilance task. We analyzed the roles of arousal, boredom, task load, task engagement, and personality traits (extraversion, boredom proneness). Our results did not fully align with either the overload or underload perspectives. We discuss these findings within alternative theoretical frameworks, offering new insights into the complex dynamics of vigilance and attention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

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