Students study and work in different ways. For example, some may prefer to practice with flashcards, while others may prefer to create lung devices. A common study aid is listening to music. One might assume that music can act as a great distractor in the learning process, yet it continues to be a popular way of studying. In fact, a common belief is that music increases concentration and eliminates distracting background sounds. However, the impact of music on memory, as opposed to attention and concentration, is usually not taken into account. How does the presence of background auditory stimuli, particularly music, influence memory? One aspect of music that makes it unique is its immediate familiarity and the ease with which it can be remembered and engaged with. How does familiarity with music affect your ability to study? Also, how does the complexity of music affect memory? The negative effects of irrelevant auditory stimuli on short-term memory have been well documented and observed (D. Jones, 1999). Even at very low levels, irrelevant background speech can result in a 30% loss of performance during serial recall, in which participants must recite a previous list in the same order initially presented (Tremblay & D. M. Jones, 1998) (Beaman & D. M. Jones, 1997 ). These effects occur even when study participants are specifically asked to ignore background audio as these sounds are not part of the experiment (W.J. Macken, Tremblay, Houghton, Nicholls, & D.M. Jones, 2003b) (Tremblay, Nicholls, Alford and D.M. Jones, 2000c). Participants are often unaware of any effects that background sounds have on their ability to remember (Beaman & DM Jones, 1997). This overall event is called “irrelevant sound effect”. ISE appears to occur s...... middle of paper ......doi:10.1037/0096-1523.29.1.43Perham, N., & Vizard, J. (2010). Can background music preference mediate the irrelevant sound effect? Applied Cognitive Psychology, n/a. Schlittmeier, S. J., Hellbrück, J., & Klatte, M. (2008). Does irrelevant music cause a sound effect that is irrelevant to auditory elements? Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 20(2), 252.Tremblay, S., & Jones, D. M. (1998). Role of habituation in the irrelevant sound effect: Evidence for the effects of token set size and transition speed. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24(3), 659-671. doi:doi:10.1037/0278-7393.24.3.659Tremblay, S., Nicholls, A. P., Alford, D., & Jones, D. M. (2000c). The irrelevant sound effect: does the word play a special role? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26(6), 1750-1754. doi:doi:10.1037/0278-7393.26.6.1750