Classical music, educational learning, and slow wave sleep: A targeted memory reactivation experiment

• Published in: Neurobiology of learning and memory 2020-05, Vol.171, p.107206-107206, Article 107206
• Main Authors: Gao, Chenlu, Fillmore, Paul, Scullin, Michael K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Achievement gap; Knowledge transfer; Memory consolidation; Sleep disparity; STEM learning
• ISSN: 1074-7427; 1095-9564
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2020.107206

•Classical music TMR improves next-day performance on STEM learning content.•TMR is particularly beneficial for test items that measure knowledge transfer/integration.•TMR techniques can potentially be used to bridge gender achievement gaps in STEM. Poor sleep in college students compromises the memory consolidation processes necessary to retain course materials. A solution may lie in targeting reactivation of memories during sleep (TMR). Fifty undergraduate students completed a college-level microeconomics lecture (mathematics-based) while listening to distinctive classical music (Chopin, Beethoven, and Vivaldi). After they fell asleep, we re-played the classical music songs (TMR) or a control noise during slow wave sleep. Relative to the control condition, the TMR condition showed an 18% improvement for knowledge transfer items that measured concept integration (d = 0.63), increasing the probability of “passing” the test with a grade of 70 or above (OR = 4.68, 95%CI: 1.21, 18.04). The benefits of TMR did not extend to a 9-month follow-up test when performance dropped to floor levels, demonstrating that long-term-forgetting curves are largely resistant to experimentally-consolidated memories. Spectral analyses revealed greater frontal theta activity during slow wave sleep in the TMR condition than the control condition (d = 0.87), and greater frontal theta activity across conditions was associated with protection against long-term-forgetting at the next-day and 9-month follow-up tests (rs = 0.42), at least in female students. Thus, students can leverage instrumental music—which they already commonly pair with studying—to help prepare for academic tests, an approach that may promote course success and persistence.