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Human brain hears music in many different aspects. How many factors we can hear depends on how
much musical we are. Relative to music sensitivity, people can recognise the tempo, key, dynamics,
rhythm or modulation of music. The study is dedicated to the analysis of the impact music makes on
human concentration. One way of collecting data on human concentration is measuring the
electroencephalographic signal (EEG) during solving mind-difficult problems. To collect data for this
study, a Mitsar 210 electroencephalograph and a dedicated game were used. Two scenarios were
developed: one for measurements without music, and the other one – for measurements with a music
background. Both scenarios used a dedicated game considering the patient's ability to perform tasks
that require cognitive skills. The game envisaged 90 tasks, of which a single one consisted of two
figures: a 3 symbols question board to memorise and an answer with one symbol. The symbols were
placed on a 2x2 board. If the symbol in the answer figure was in the same position as in the question
board, the test participants were supposed to click the right mouse button. The first scenario was
performed in silence while the second scenario provided a musical background. The music presented
in the second scenario was divided into 3 fragments. Each one took 1:33 minutes and was varied for
composition. The first music fragment played was sad, the second – cheerful, the third – chaotic. All
songs presented instrumental music versions without words. Measure of concentration was described
as amount of correct and wrong answers while the game was played; as well as that, the EEG-evoked
potential and EEG spectra-based features were analysed. The study was conducted on 6 men aged
approximately 24 years. Based on an interview after the tests, three sample persons were musically
active, and another three were not. The results showed that music had a little impact on making
decisions and challenged the thesis about its negative influence on concentration. The study was
performed as a student project. The tests were performed in Laboratory of Motion Analysis and
Interface Ergonomics, at the Lublin University of Technology, Poland.
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