Immediate effect of listening to Indian raga on attention and concentration in healthy college students: A comparative study

Abstract

Background: Many studies with western music have shown enhancement in the cognitive performance task. The factors influencing the performance are a selection of dependent measures, choice of the piece of music, presentation order of the conditions. Research has shown that the specific choice of musical composition may help in the improvement of the particular cognitive task. Objectives: We chose to study the impact of Indian Raga on a memory task. Methods: In twenty-six volunteers both male and female (group average age ± S.D., 18.84±3.53 years) the immediate effect of two musical conditions and No music condition was studied on memory. All participants were assessed before and after (i) Indian Raga Bhupali(R) for 10 minutes on day one; (ii) an equal duration of Pop music (P); and (iii) an equal duration of Silence or no music (S) on next two different days respectively. A Section of the Wechsler memory scale (WMS) was used to assess; (i) attention and concentration (digit span forward and backward) before and immediately after the intervention. Results: There was a significant improvement in digit forward (P<0.05, increase of 3.17%) and backward span score after (p<0.05, an increase of 5.26%) immediately after the exposure to Indian Raga Bhupali. Conclusions: The combination of notes in Indian Raga Bhupali is said to instill Shringara rasa or the aesthetic mood of Love. The improvement is significant compared to the Pop music that is much preferred by the college students and Silence or No music conditions. It was concluded that Memory scores improved immediately after listening to Indian Raga Bhupali.