The Effect of Background Noise on a “Studying for an Exam” Task in an Open-Plan Study Environment: A Laboratory Study

Students can be disturbed by background noise while working in an open-plan study environment. To improve the acoustic quality of open-plan study environments a study was done on the influence of different sound scenarios on students working on a typical student task, “studying for an exam”. Three sound scenarios and a quiet reference sound scenario were developed, based on the sound environment of a real open-plan study environment, with a varying number of talkers in the background and different reverberation times of the study environment. Seventy students worked on a set of tasks simulating a “studying for an exam” task while being exposed to the sound scenarios. This task comprises a reading comprehension task with text memory by delayed answering questions about the text, with additional tasks being performed in the gap between studying the text and retrieving. These additional tasks are a mental arithmetic task and a logical reasoning task. Performance, self-estimated performance and disturbance of students were measured. No significant effect of the sound scenarios was found on performance of students working on the reading comprehension task with text memory and the mental arithmetic task. However, a significant effect of sound was found on performance of students working on the logical reasoning task. Furthermore, a significant effect of the sound scenarios was found on self-estimated performance and perceived disturbance for all tasks from which the reading comprehension task with text memory was the most disturbed task. It is argued that the absence of a detrimental sound effect on the performance of students working on a reading comprehension task with text memory is a result of focusing due to task engagement and task difficulty, both aspects working as a “shield against distraction”.

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Investigating the effects of background noise and music on cognitive test performance in introverts and extraverts: A cross-cultural study

Psychology of Music ◽

10.1177/03057356211013502 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 030573562110135

Author(s):

Wilson Lim ◽

Adrian Furnham ◽

Alastair McClelland

Keyword(s):

Test Performance ◽

Background Noise ◽

Mental Arithmetic ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Cognitive Test ◽

Arithmetic Task ◽

Performance Differences ◽

Two Samples ◽

Mental Arithmetic Task ◽

Silence Condition

Previous research found that introverts performed worse than extraverts on cognitive tasks in the presence of noise or music in a Western sample but not in an Asian sample. This is a cross-cultural part replication of these studies using a Western (British; N = 45) and Asian (Singaporean; N = 45) sample. Participants engaged in three cognitive tests in the presence of pop songs, background noise, and in silence. It was predicted that for British participants, introverts would perform worse than extraverts on all three tasks in the presence of background sounds, and performance would be worse in the presence of background sounds than in silence, but not for the Singaporean participants. The results did not show any performance differences between the background sound conditions for any of the tests across the two samples, nor any performance differences between extraverts and introverts across the background sound conditions, with three exceptions: extraversion for the British was a significant predictor of performance on the Raven’s test in the silence condition, extraversion was a significant predictor of performance for both groups on the mental arithmetic task in the silence condition, and extraversion was a significant predictor of performance for Singaporeans on the mental arithmetic task in the music condition.

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Estimation of Cognitive Distraction from Driver Gazing

International Journal of Software Science and Computational Intelligence ◽

10.4018/ijssci.2017040104 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 50-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Akira Yoshizama ◽

Hiroyuki Nishiyama ◽

Hirotoshi Iwasaki ◽

Fumio Mizoguchi

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Data ◽

Mental Arithmetic ◽

Support Vector ◽

Simulation Environment ◽

Time Intervals ◽

Arithmetic Task ◽

Task Load ◽

Cognitive Distraction ◽

Mental Arithmetic Task ◽

Using Data

In their study, the authors sought to generate rules for cognitive distractions of car drivers using data from a driving simulation environment. They collected drivers' eye-movement and driving data from 18 research participants using a simulator. Each driver drove the same 15-minute course two times. The first drive was normal driving (no-load driving), and the second drive was driving with a mental arithmetic task (load driving), which the authors defined as cognitive-distraction driving. To generate rules of distraction driving using a machine-learning tool, they transformed the data at constant time intervals to generate qualitative data for learning. Finally, the authors generated rules using a Support Vector Machine (SVM).

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Intranasal oxytocin reduces heart rate variability during a mental arithmetic task: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study

Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.08.016 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 81 ◽

pp. 408-415 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Lincoln M. Tracy ◽

Stephen J. Gibson ◽

Izelle Labuschagne ◽

Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis ◽

Melita J. Giummarra

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Heart Rate Variability ◽

Mental Arithmetic ◽

Double Blind ◽

Arithmetic Task ◽

Double Blind Placebo ◽

Mental Arithmetic Task

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Causal coherence analysis of heart rate variability and systolic blood pressure variability under mental arithmetic task load

Biological Psychology ◽

10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.07.001 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 69 (2) ◽

pp. 217-227 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Kohzoh Yoshino ◽

Katsunori Matsuoka

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Heart Rate ◽

Blood Pressure Variability ◽

Mental Arithmetic ◽

Coherence Analysis ◽

Arithmetic Task ◽

Task Load ◽

Mental Arithmetic Task ◽

Systolic Blood Pressure Variability ◽

Causal Coherence

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Does visual exposure to one's pet regulate stress levels during the mental arithmetic task?

10.32920/ryerson.14657019 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Natalie Ein

Keyword(s):

Stress Reactivity ◽

Mental Arithmetic ◽

Self Report ◽

Induce Stress ◽

Psychosocial Stressor ◽

Arithmetic Task ◽

Visual Exposure ◽

Physiological Assessment ◽

Mental Arithmetic Task

This thesis examined the role of viewing a picture of one’s pet as a mechanism for alleviating the symptoms of stress. The mental arithmetic task (MAT), a psychosocial stressor was used to induce stress. Participants were randomly assigned into one of six visual conditions: either a picture of their personal pet (n = 9), an unfamiliar animal (n = 9), a person who is supportive and important to the participant (n = 9), an unfamiliar person to the participant (n =8), a pleasant image (control 1) (n = 8) or no image (control 2) (n = 8). Stress reactivity, both physical (e.g., blood pressure) and subjective (self-reported anxiety), were measured. Findings indicated that contrary to the hypothesis, viewing a picture of one’s personal pet did not reduce stress reactivity, measured either subjectively (self-report) or objectively (physiological assessment). However, the study suggests that various images can influence stress reactivity.

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Do Reward-Related Distractors Impair Cognitive Performance? Perhaps Not

Collabra Psychology ◽

10.1525/collabra.169 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dorottya Rusz ◽

Erik Bijleveld ◽

Michiel A. J. Kompier

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Mental Arithmetic ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Arithmetic Task ◽

Bayesian Analyses ◽

Monetary Rewards ◽

Mental Arithmetic Task ◽

Task Irrelevant ◽

Math Problems

Over a hundred prior studies show that reward-related distractors capture attention. It is less clear, however, whether and when reward-related distractors affect performance on tasks that require cognitive control. In this experiment, we examined whether reward-related distractors impair performance during a demanding arithmetic task. Participants (N = 81) solved math problems, while they were exposed to task-irrelevant stimuli that were previously associated with monetary rewards (vs. not). Although we found some evidence for reward learning in the training phase, results from the test phase showed no evidence that reward-related distractors harm cognitive performance. This null effect was invariant across different versions of our task. We examined the results further with Bayesian analyses, which showed positive evidence for the null. Altogether, the present study showed that reward-related distractors did not harm performance on a mental arithmetic task. When considered together with previous studies, the present study suggests that the negative impact of reward-related distractors on cognitive control is not as straightforward as it may seem, and that more research is needed to clarify the circumstances under which reward-related distractors harm cognitive control.

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