UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

An investigation of cognitive test performance across conditions of silence, background noise and music as a function of neuroticism.

Reynolds, J; McClelland, A; Furnham, A; (2013) An investigation of cognitive test performance across conditions of silence, background noise and music as a function of neuroticism. Anxiety Stress Coping , 27 (4) pp. 410-421. 10.1080/10615806.2013.864388. Green open access

[thumbnail of 10.1080-10615806.2013.864388.pdf]
Preview
PDF
10.1080-10615806.2013.864388.pdf

Download (236kB)

Abstract

The present study investigates the role of trait neuroticism on cognitive performance under distraction. Seventy participants were given a personality test and then undertook a number of different cognitive tasks in silence, in the presence of popular music and in background noise. It was predicted that performance on a general intelligence test, a test of abstract reasoning, and a mental arithmetic task would be adversely affected by background sounds. It was predicted that neuroticism would be negatively correlated with performance on the mental arithmetic task but only when the individuals were working in the presence of background sound. Stable vs unstable participant's performance on a mental arithmetic task during noise was significantly higher as predicted The results provided partial support for the hypotheses and are discussed with respect to previous findings in the literature on personality (particularly Introversion-Extraversion) and distraction on cognitive task performance. Limitations are noted.

Type: Article
Title: An investigation of cognitive test performance across conditions of silence, background noise and music as a function of neuroticism.
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2013.864388
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2013.864388
Additional information: © 2013 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Experimental Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1423154
Downloads since deposit
290Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item