Baroque music, such as Bach’s “Air in D,” has been shown to have a positive effect on students' math ability in a study conducted by professors at Essex County College in New Jersey. The study compared the experiences of two classes, one with no music and one with baroque music. Of the baroque music class, 86 percent enjoyed the lessons compared to 76 percent in the non-baroque class. In addition, 33 percent of students in the baroque music group found the class challenging, compared to 46 percent of the pupils without music in the classroom. This research also showed that the baroque group of students got better grades overall.
Most of the research done into the effects of music on cognitive ability has focused on classical music, and in particular, Mozart. Researchers from the University of California gave students a spatial IQ test and split them into three groups. One group was played Mozart, one a relaxation tape and the other got no music. The students who listened to Mozart scored on average eight to nine points higher than those in the other two groups. Spatial reasoning can be particularly beneficial to geometry and calculus lessons.
Psychologists from Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland studied the effects of rock music on cognitive ability, particularly memory. Researchers gave the participants a simple memory task while they listened to rock music, and then another with classical music. They also did tests with the sound of static and silence. The researchers found that both classical and rock music improved the concentration of the groups, and that participants listening to rock music used less brainpower when completing the task.
A study conducted by a professor from the University of Windsor in Canada looked at the effect of music on workers in computer system development. The results showed that not only was mood improved when the workers listed to music, but the time they spent on a task was also lower. This indicates that music of any type can have a positive effect on concentration and the general mood of the working environment.