Doing math sums while listening to your favourite songs may not help you focus better - in fact it could cut down your performance in the exam.

It also questions whether the cognitive benefit still the same if we listen to music whilst performing a task, rather than before it.
The results of the study showed that recall ability was approximately the same, and poorest, for the music and changing-state conditions.
But it was most accurate when participants performed the task in the quieter, steady state environments.
Thus listening to music, regardless of whether people liked or disliked it, impaired their concurrent performance.
Lead researcher Nick Perham explained, "Most people listen to music at the same time as, rather than prior to performing a task.
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This study is published in the September 2010 issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology.
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