An investigation of cognitive test performance across conditions of silence, background noise and music as a function of neuroticism.
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.
a Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology , University College London , London , UK.
James
J
Reynolds
Alastair
A
McClelland
Adrian
A
Furnham
D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology*; D000075384:Neuroticism; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010556:Personality Tests; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
distraction; neuroticism; personality; test performance