EFFECTS OF VISUALLY PRESENTED LYRICS ON SONG RECALL: A COGNITIVE LOAD PERSPECTIVE
Open Access
- Author:
- Han, Yo Jung
- Graduate Program:
- Music Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- January 11, 2018
- Committee Members:
- Joanne Rutkowski, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Joanne Rutkowski, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Linda Carol Porter Thornton, Committee Member
Ann Callistro Clements, Committee Member
Peggy Van Meter, Outside Member - Keywords:
- visually presented lyrics
song recall
song learning
cognitive load
modality effect
verbal redundancy effect - Abstract:
- When learning a song aurally, verbal information (i.e., lyrics) and musical information (e.g., pitches and rhythm) are processed through the aural processor (aural channel). If a song has much information, only using the aural channel might cause cognitive overload thus hindering one’s ability to learn the song. However, if the learner sees the lyrics, verbal information can be processed dually – aurally and visually. This dual processing of verbal information might reduce cognitive load in the aural channel, leading to more capacity to process musical information. This dissertation comprises two studies based on these assumptions. In the first study, I investigated the effect of visually presented lyrics on song recall with members from auditioned choirs. While individually learning a difficult song, one group saw the lyrics, but the other group did not. When controlling for participants’ phonological working memory, the efficacy of instructional conditions depended on the participant’s level of musical expertise. Non-music majors benefited from seeing the lyrics whereas music majors did not. In the second study, I examined whether showing the lyrics to non-music majors induced less cognitive load in the aural channel compared to not showing the lyrics, leading to better recall accuracy of the learned song. Cognitive load was measured through reaction times in a single sound monitoring task while learning songs. Non-music majors, but not auditioned choir members, learned two songs: For one song, they saw the lyrics, and for the other song, they did not see the lyrics. The presentation order of instructional conditions and songs was counterbalanced. When seeing the lyrics, participants reacted faster than when not seeing the lyrics. A mediation analysis revealed instructional condition (seeing the lyrics or not) indirectly affected recall accuracy of lyrics and rhythm through cognitive load. Instructional design should be based on many considerations such as instructional time, goals, and characteristics of students. Given limited instructional time, several strategies should be considered to prevent learners from experiencing cognitive overload while learning a difficult song aurally. Showing the lyrics of a new song could be one strategy for that purpose, at least for young adults with low levels of musical expertise.