Many students listen to music to focus and stay motivated while they study – but it doesn’t always help

Walk into any college library and you will likely see students wearing headphones and listening to music.

The idea that music can improve learning has been around for decades. The “Mozart Effect,” is the pop psychology myth, first hypothesized in a 1993 paper, that listening to classical music can help people retain and process new information.

As an educational psychologist who studies cognition and motivation, my research explores how students regulate their learning and attention amid digital distractions.

Listening to music is a common strategy students use to try to stay focused.

However, there is no single answer to whether music helps learners study or not.

How music can help or interfere with studying

Researchers generally agree that the relationship between music and learning is complex. The effects of music on studying and other cognitively demanding tasks appear to depend on the type of task performed, the kind of music and the students themselves.

Some researchers argue that music helps students focus, improve their mood and generally learn. Others have found that listening to music interferes with thinking, especially when the music is fast and loud, or when it has lyrics.

I wanted to better understand what lies behind conflicting research on why students listen to music and whether it makes it easier or harder for them to focus. In a study conducted over the past two years, I asked 163 college students about their music listening habits while reading textbooks, writing papers, solving math problems and studying for exams – and when they hit the pause button.

Not a one-kind-fits-all approach

One of my most important findings is that music helps students feel more engaged, motivated or comfortable when studying. But this response varies, depending on the music they choose, the type of task they are working on and confidence in their own attention spans.

Approximately 67% of the students I interviewed said they used music to improve their focus, while 75% said they used music to support their motivation.

“I use music as one of the biggest motivations to study, especially when it’s something I’m not interested in. I am good at recognizing that and using that to my advantage,” explained one 21-year-old student in her senior year studying psychology.

All the students I spoke with agreed that the kinds of tasks they were doing – and how difficult the project at hand was – influenced whether they decided to listen to music and the kind of music they picked.

Students also reported various reasons for avoiding music, including distracting lyrics.

“I found that if I listen to anything that I can sing to, I have a much harder time studying,” explained a 22-year-old female student majoring in music education.

In some cases, students said that even instrumental music didn’t help them focus better.

“Even if it’s instrumental, I feel the need to focus on the music rather than what I’m reading,” shared a 19-year-old male student majoring in secondary education.

Many said they listened to music to avoid boredom, improve their mood and generally make studying more enjoyable.

Music “helps me feel like I can just keep going and writing and writing,” said a 20-year-old female student majoring in psychology.

More confident students might listen to music

To find out how music listening influences students’ learning, I then surveyed 103 undergraduate students.

Around half of them reported listening to music while reading, and 68% said they listened to music while writing. Approximately 70% said they listened to music when solving math problems, and about 30% said they would always listen to music, regardless of the task.

Students also differed in their confidence in their ability to stay focused. Those beliefs influenced when they chose to use music and when they preferred to work in silence.

One 26-year-old male student, who was majoring in secondary education and geology, said he would study with music “if it was a subject that I felt more comfortable with or more familiar with. But something that is very challenging to me, I think I would omit music.”

I also found that students who were statistically more motivated and confident were likely to listen to music when studying for exams and to focus on reading.

To listen or not to listen?

Music is neither a guaranteed distraction nor a guaranteed study aid. Instead, learners can benefit from using it strategically, adjusting it based on the task and their own needs.

In the end, delaying gratification by using music as a reward is likely more effective than using it automatically. Rather than assuming music improves focus, students should think about when it helps them stay motivated and when it becomes another distraction competing for their attention.

If you’re going to listen to music while studying, consider choosing something less distracting for challenging tasks. The playlist that fires you up for routine tasks is likely to interfere with more demanding work.

For students struggling to start an assignment or stay engaged during a long study session, music may help make the work feel more manageable. However, once it starts to interfere with concentration, it may be time to switch to white noise, especially when studying in a distracting environment, like a busy library or a loud coffee shop.

Reading and writing both rely heavily on language processing. Songs with prominent lyrics may make it harder to focus on reading and writing. In my study, the students who were the best at setting up their study space chose instrumental music over lyrical music, often to drown out distracting background noise and improve their focus.

As one 20-year-old female student majoring in secondary education explained, “I would probably start without it, and then if I notice myself really struggling, put it on and see if it helps.”