The purpose of the present research was to examine whether different music settings could influence one’s cognitive function – particularly memory. The examined sample consisted of 168 college students with a male:female ratio of 1:2.2. The participants were asked to complete a short-term memory test regarding word recollection while exposed to auditory stimuli. They were divided into three groups, each experiencing very different auditory stimuli (classical music; heavy metal music; no music). The results indicated that gender (as a single parameter) played a significant role in the recall process, with female subjects achieving significantly higher scores than males (p-value=0.006). Music as an external stimulus was also found to affect the recall process significantly (0.02<p<0.04). Gender did not present any statistically significant association with specific music genres although, based on the limitations of this study, findings are in need of further exploration. The results of the present study may direct forthcoming research to address this issue further by examining additional variables as well.

本研究的目的是检验不同的音乐设置是否会影响一个人的认知功能，尤其是记忆力。所调查的样本包括168名男女比例为1：2.2的大学生。要求参与者在暴露于听觉刺激时完成有关单词记忆的短期记忆测试。他们分为三组，每组经历非常不同的听觉刺激（古典音乐；重金属音乐；无音乐）。结果表明，性别（作为一个参数）在召回过程中起着重要作用，女性受试者的得分明显高于男性（p值= 0.006）。音乐作为一种外部刺激也被发现会极大地影响召回过程（0.02 <p <0.04）。性别并未显示出与特定音乐流派有任何统计学上的显着关联，尽管基于这项研究的局限性，发现尚需进一步探索。本研究的结果可能会指导即将进行的研究以通过检查其他变量来进一步解决该问题。