Can Cultural Bias in Background Music Influence Task Performance in Working Memory?

Abstract

Indian music and the cognition of the Indian population giving weightage to culture and history is a relatively unexplored area of research. The study explores the new and emerging concept of Bimusicalism, which may be defined as the dual enculturation of memory and emotion, thus making all Indians born in the postcolonial era and being exposed to music of India and the West, Indian Bimusicals. This explorative study aims to determine the effect of Indian classical and Western classical music on Working Memory (WM) among Indian Bimusical Population this will show if a culture bias affecting cognition in Indians exists. The procedure involved exposing Indian Bimusicals to music of Western and Indian subcultures and conducting cognitive task performance in WM. There are two components of WM (Visuospatial Memory (VSPM) and Verbal Memory (VM)). VSPM was tested through the Corsi Block Test and VM was tested through the Digit Span test. This is done through a within groups design with a Western classical music (W Group) and an Indian classical music (I Group) condition for each test. The results of the study analysed through Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test show that Indian music significantly increased the VM span and accuracy of recall among Indian Bimusicals. No significant effect was seen in the VSPM of Indian Bimusicals between the two conditions. The results prove that Indians have enhanced cognitive abilities only when exposed to music of their own culture. This shows a subconscious preference towards elements of one’s own culture, or a cultural bias which significantly effects cognition. Hence, the study adds towards a better understanding of the effect of culture on the cognition of Indians and explores the effect of Indian music on the cognition of Indians.