The relaxing effect of music has been shown to reduce stress induced subjective anxiety and improve the performance of stressful cognitive tasks.
Objective
This experimental study evaluated the effect of music and induced mental load in a word processing task in terms of correct strokes and accuracy, typing force, variability of typing force and EMG (electromyography) of extensor digitorum muscle.
Methods
Eight subjects participated in the study. A 2 × 2 repeated measure design was adopted, with or without background music, and with or without induced mental load. A computer algorithm detected the shift, drift and fidget patterns of finger and hand movements, which caused the variation of the typing force.
Results
Although the overall typing productivity was compromised by music by 3.1%, the beneficial effect of music was the reduction of standard deviation of typing force by 23.2%, indicating a smoother or less erratic hand movement during typing.
Conclusions
The behavior change by music resulted in reduction in hand motions during typing may reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorder related to typing task.
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