If you’ve ever switched on some background music to help you learn, you’re onto something. Music doesn’t just help you relax, it wields a potent influence on how your brain processes and retains information. A recent study in Nature Communications delves into how this happens.

it’s long been recognised that music  has a significant effect on moods and emotions, but its impact on learning is just starting to be understood.  Researchers from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) have discovered that the mood changes you experience when listening to music create ‘boundaries’ between the events you experience. Those boundaries make it easier to remember what is seen and when you have seen it.

Essentially, the boundary-creation process helps your brain group and categorise  information.  This, in turn, helps you remember and organise new concepts more readily. Psychologists call this “contextual binding,” and it’s a powerful tool for learning.

Think of it this way. Your brain is involved in a perpetual tug-of-war between binding memories together and separating them. This push-and-pull process helps you store and process information efficiently. When you listen to music, it is easier for your brain to create the event boundaries needed to form strong memory recall.

As a result, your brain changes the way it binds information together. Which means it can learn more efficiently.

So, why not give it a shot? Switch on your favourite tunes while tackling that challenging task or learning something new. You may be surprised at how much easier it becomes to remember and process information. Find out more from the original article here.

This article summary was created by Eleanor Shakiba

Eleanor is a leadership trainer, success coach and people skills expert. She helps managers and business owners build thriving teams and organisations, using tools from Positive Psychology. She's trained more than 60,000 people during her career as a corporate trainer and professional development consultant. Her mission is inspiring talented people to become leaders who make a difference.