How Music and Coffee Can Improve Cognitive Performance
Introduction
Listening to music and drinking coffee are simple pleasures that many people enjoy in their daily lives. However, recent research from NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering has shown that these activities can have a significant impact on a person’s brain activity, leading to improvements in cognitive performance.
The MINDWATCH Algorithm
The study conducted by NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering utilized MINDWATCH, an innovative brain-monitoring technology developed by Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering Rose Faghih. MINDWATCH is an algorithm that analyzes a person’s brain activity using data collected through wearable devices that can monitor electrodermal activity (EDA). This activity reflects changes in electrical conductance caused by emotional stress, which is linked to sweat responses.
The Study: Music, Coffee, and Perfume
In the study, subjects wore skin-monitoring wristbands and brain-monitoring headbands while completing cognitive tests. They were exposed to different stimuli, including listening to music, drinking coffee, and smelling perfumes that reflected their individual preferences. The subjects also completed the tests without any of these stimulants.
The MINDWATCH algorithm revealed that music and coffee had a significant impact on the subjects’ brain arousal, putting them in a physiological state of mind that could enhance their performance on working memory tasks. Specifically, the algorithm showed increased “beta band” brain wave activity, which is associated with peak cognitive performance. Perfume also had a modest positive effect on cognitive performance, suggesting the need for further study in this area.
The Impact of Music
The researchers tested three types of music: energetic and relaxing music familiar to the subjects, as well as AI-generated novelty music that reflected their tastes. Previous MINDWATCH research has shown that familiar energetic music provided greater performance gains compared to relaxing music. AI-generated music produced the highest gains among the three, indicating its potential for enhancing cognitive performance. However, further research is necessary to confirm these results.
The Role of Coffee
Drinking coffee also led to notable improvements in cognitive performance. While the gains were not as pronounced as those from music, they were still significant. The caffeine in coffee is known to increase alertness and focus, which can positively impact cognitive tasks. However, it is important to note that individual responses to coffee can vary, and some people may experience negative effects such as increased anxiety or restlessness.
Understanding Working Memory Tasks
The specific cognitive test used in the study was the n-back test, which assesses working memory. In this test, subjects are presented with a sequence of stimuli, such as images or sounds, one by one. They need to indicate whether the current stimulus matches the one presented “n” items back in the sequence. The study included both a 1-round test and a more challenging 3-round test.
The Profound Effect of Interventions
Performance gains under all stimulations were found to be greatest in the 3-back trials, suggesting that interventions such as music and coffee may have the most profound effect when the cognitive load is greatest. This highlights the importance of implementing these interventions during challenging tasks that require high levels of cognitive engagement.
The Potential of MINDWATCH
MINDWATCH has the potential to revolutionize the way we monitor brain cognitive activation in real time. The goal of this technology is to allow individuals to detect moments of acute stress or cognitive disconnection, and provide simple and safe interventions to improve their cognitive state. For example, if someone is feeling overwhelmed or disconnected, MINDWATCH could “nudge” them towards listening to music, which can help them feel better and perform tasks more successfully.
The Future of MINDWATCH
While MINDWATCH is still in development, ongoing experimentation by the research team will continue to confirm its efficacy in consistently monitoring brain activity and the success of various interventions in modulating that activity. It is important to note that what works for one person may not work for another, and further research is needed to determine individualized successful interventions. The diverse data set from this study is available to researchers, allowing for additional investigations into the use of safe interventions to modulate cognitive states of the brain.
The Impact of Everyday Stressors
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the mental well-being of people worldwide. The need to seamlessly monitor the negative impact of everyday stressors on cognitive function has become more crucial than ever. MINDWATCH has the potential to contribute to technology that can help individuals better understand and manage the effects of stress on their cognitive performance. By identifying moments of acute stress or cognitive disconnection, MINDWATCH can empower individuals to take simple and safe interventions to regulate their cognitive states.
Conclusion
Listening to music and drinking coffee are not just enjoyable activities, but they can also have a positive impact on cognitive performance. The MINDWATCH algorithm has shown that music and coffee can increase brain arousal and enhance cognitive functioning, especially on tasks that require concentration and memory. While further research is needed, these findings suggest that incorporating music and coffee into daily routines could potentially improve cognitive performance. As technology continues to advance, tools like MINDWATCH could help individuals optimize their cognitive states and navigate the challenges of daily life more successfully.
SUMMARY:
The recent study conducted by NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering revealed that listening to music and drinking coffee can improve cognitive performance. Using the MINDWATCH algorithm, the researchers found that these activities increase brain arousal and enhance cognitive functioning on tasks that require concentration and memory. The study also highlighted the potential of AI-generated music and the need for further research on the effects of perfume. These findings have significant implications for understanding the impact of everyday activities on cognitive states and could contribute to the development of technologies that help individuals monitor and optimize their cognitive function.
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Listening to music and drinking coffee are the kinds of everyday pleasures that can affect a person’s brain activity in ways that improve cognitive performance, even on tasks that require concentration and memory.
That’s a finding from a new study from NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering involving MINDWATCH, an innovative brain-monitoring technology.
Developed over the past six years by NYU Tandon Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering Rose Faghih, MINDWATCH is an algorithm that analyzes a person’s brain activity from data collected through any wearable device that can monitor electrodermal activity. (EDA). This activity reflects changes in electrical conductance caused by emotional stress, linked to sweat responses.
In this recent MINDWATCH study, published in Nature Scientific Reports, subjects wearing skin-monitoring wristbands and brain-monitoring headbands completed cognitive tests while listening to music, drinking coffee, and smelling perfumes that reflected their individual preferences. They also completed those tests without any of those stimulants.
The MINDWATCH algorithm revealed that music and coffee significantly altered the subjects’ brain arousal, essentially placing them in a physiological “state of mind” that could modulate their performance on the working memory tasks they were performing.
Specifically, MINDWATCH determined that the stimulants triggered increased “beta band” brain wave activity, a state associated with peak cognitive performance. Perfume also had a modest positive effect, suggesting the need for further study.
“The pandemic has affected the mental well-being of many people around the world and now more than ever there is a need to seamlessly monitor the negative impact of everyday stressors on cognitive function,” Faghih said. “At the moment, MINDWATCH is still in development, but our ultimate goal is for it to contribute to technology that could allow anyone to monitor their own brain cognitive activation in real time, detecting moments of acute stress or cognitive disconnection, for example. In At those times, MINDWATCH could ‘nudge’ a person towards simple and safe interventions, perhaps listening to music, so they can get into a brain state where they feel better and do work or school tasks more successfully.”
The specific cognitive test used in this study, a working memory task called the n-back test, involves presenting a sequence of stimuli (in this case, images or sounds) one by one and asking the subject to indicate whether the current the stimulus matches the presented “n” items in the sequence. This study employed a 1-round test (the participant answered “yes” when the current stimulus is the same as the one presented with a return item) and a more challenging 3-round test, asking the same questions for three items of lap.
The researchers tested three types of music: energetic and relaxing music familiar to the subject, as well as AI-generated novelty music that reflected the subject’s tastes. According to previous MINDWATCH research, familiar energetic music provided greater performance gains, as measured by reaction times and correct responses, than relaxing music. While AI-generated music produced the highest gains among the three, more research is needed to confirm those results.
Drinking coffee led to notable but less pronounced performance gains than music, with perfume having the most modest gains.
Performance gains under all stimulations tended to be greatest in the 3-back trials, suggesting that the interventions may have the most profound effect when the ‘cognitive load’ is greatest.
Ongoing experimentation by the MINDWATCH team will confirm the efficacy of the technology’s ability to consistently monitor brain activity and the overall success of various interventions in modulating that brain activity. Determining a category of generally successful interventions does not mean that any individual person will find what works for them.
The research was conducted as part of the Faghih National Science Foundation CAREER Award in the Multimodal Intelligent Non-Invasive Brain State Decoder for Wearable Adaptive Closed-Loop Architectures (MINDWATCH) project. The study’s diverse data set is available to researchers, allowing for additional investigations into the use of safe interventions in this study to modulate cognitive states of the brain.
Faghih served as the lead author on this article. The first author on it is Hamid Fekri Azgomi, who earned his Ph.D. under Faghih and is now a neurological surgery postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.
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