Music with Lyrics Interferes with Cognitive Tasks (2023)

I used to work for a guy years ago who ran record labels that released almost entirely ambient electronic music and eventually I figured that it was because he was also a business terminator and workaholic alongside, and any music with too much going on like vocals or complexity would have distracted his concentration away from the important task of getting it sold and out of the door.

So a whole swathe of music buyers were convinced that this cutting edge music was hip and where the avant garde was happening when in reality it was mostly so he could concentrate on marketing to them. Any music out of that limited remit was rejected because he could listen and think about other things at the same time if the music was minimal and free of lyrics.

I've known this since I was 7 and started reading books, and couldn't sit in the living room because either (good) pop music was playing or the TV was on. Especially with my ADHD I take in a lot of the ambient world around me.

When I was reading books or anything as a teen in the 80's I started listening mostly to instrumental music, such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, ZTT 12"es with lots of instrumental content (FGTH/Propaganda/Art Of Noise etc.), Windham Hill albums, etc.

I've always told people to use instrumental music when doing cognitively demanding tasks, especially anything to do with language and words.

Instrumental music seems very popular with those who listen while working. Lyrics are noticeably distracting for me, unless I tune out the music altogether, but with instrumentals I can sort of work to a "rhythm" it feels like. So this was kind of intuitive knowledge, already, at least for me.

Because of this, I find myself listening to a lot of Jungle and DnB, jazz, fusion, and the occasional 30 minute Phish jam.

As a musician (piano), I've never been able to listen to music while working: it's too distracting, even without lyrics. That makes sense to me because for musicians, hearing just the music still makes your brain want to focus on the structure of it, time signature, rhythm patterns, interesting chords, key changes, etc. - things that a non-musician isn't so intellectually aware of, even if they like them in the music.

Almost all of the music I listen to is instrumental. Like the article says, lyrics distract me from whatever I'm doing, and I rarely listen to music for the sake of listening to music, it's always something I'm going while doing something else. At most I might listen to lyrics while driving, but I'll pause the music if the driving situation gets complicated (like in stop and go traffic where I need to get over 3 lanes)

I think (and agree for myself) this happens at a certain age I’m pretty sure it didn’t affect me personally when I was 20, and at some point between then and 30 this became apparently “so true.” I remember reflecting upon it.

I can totally relate. I often listen to instrumental music while I work. Lately I've listened to music with lyrics and I have a slightly harder time reading, writing and thinking. Not being a native English speaker and not understanding everything helps though.

A lovely example of a study that is both obviously true and misses the point.

Music with lyrics directly interferes with any task that has a verbal component, and the worse you are at multitasking, the worse the interference. Despite being terrible at multitasking, I still listen to music with lyrics. Why? Principally because the alternative, hearing all the conversations in my immediate vicinity, is usually both more distracting and less pleasant. But there are also auxiliary benefits, such as an increase in "work stamina" and a passive signal to coworkers to interrupt only if it's important.

Now, I could listen to lo-fi all day, or three-hour soundtracks on Youtube, and sometimes do, but it gets boring pretty fast!

Anyway: obviously true, still worth it because the alternative is worse.

(By the way, other mitigating strategies: listening to music in a language you don't understand, or listening to lyrics so familiar you can screen them out. My top Spotify songs all get played several hundred times a year.)

This is obvious.

i wonder what the results are with lyrics in languages that the listener doesn't understand.