最新研究发现，考前复习时边听音乐边学习并非明智之举：因为背景音乐会降低你的记忆力。
Studying for an exam while listening to music is not smart， because background music can impair your ability to perform memory tasks， new research has found.
研究人员为参与调查者播放8个辅音字母，要求他们按照播放顺序进行复述。背景声音分5种：安静环境、喜欢的背景音乐、不喜欢的背景音乐、数字不断变化的响声，数字不变的响声（例如：3，3，3，3）。
Study participants were asked to recall a list of eight consonants in the order they were presented. They did this while in five different sound environments： quiet surroundings； music they liked； music they disliked； changing state （a sequence of random digits）； and steady state （a sequence of steady digits such as “3， 3， 3， 3”）。
结果显示，无论背景音乐他们喜欢与否，在播放音乐和数字不断变化的声音环境里，被调查者的记忆力都最差。该研究发现刊登在《应用认知心理学》上，称安静环境下人的记忆力最高。
The participants‘ recall ability was poorest when listening to music， regardless of whether they liked or disliked it， and in changing-state conditions. The most accurate recall occurred when participants performed the task in steady-state environments， according to the study published online in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.
“音乐与不断变化的声音会让人表现较差，这是因为那些环境的声音变化会影响人们复述测试内容的能力，”威尔士大学卡地夫学院的首席研究员Nick Perham在该期刊的新闻发布会上说。
“The poorer performance of the music and changing-state sounds are due to the acoustical variation within those environments. This impairs the ability to recall the order of items， via rehearsal， within the presented list，” explained lead researcher Nick Perham， a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff， in a news release from the journal‘s publisher.
“心算也需要通过练习在短时间内记住信息的顺序，因此也可能受到背景环境的影响，”Perham补充道。
“Mental arithmetic also requires the ability to retain order information in the short-term via rehearsal， and may be similarly affected by their performance in the presence of changing-state， background environments，” he added.
Perham建议，如果要进行一项具有挑战性的脑力劳动，就应该找一个安静的环境。
When performing a challenging mental task， do it in silence， Perham recommended.
相关词汇
consonant 辅音字母
Applied Cognitive Psychology 认知心理学
Mental arithmetic 心算
mental task 脑力劳动
background music 背景音乐