Who hasn't been told off by their parents that instead of learning lyrics to songs, they should learn their proper school lessons?But Ariel University researchers are seeing music as a possible learning tool and asking some more in-depth questions: How does music affect our emotions, and how does it change our ability to learn?
The study found that music affects our emotions and when emotions are change, we may make decisions accordingly.
But how does it work?
The study showed that different characteristics of music, such as the rhythm, volume and pitch of a particular sound, can determine whether the music is happy or sad, and accordingly the effect it has on our emotions.
Melodies combine a number of characteristics, much like emotions - anger is energetic but negative, for example.
This new research examined the effect that happy or sad music has on how we understand words, remember them and can repeat them.
The results showed that when happy music was played, the percentages of recognition, speech comprehension, were higher than when sad music was played.
Happy music may therefore help in understanding and learning.
Musical effect on emotion was examined in the study, and differences were found between different populations. The group of people participating in the study ranged from people with normal hearing to impaired hearing, from young people to adults.