The soothing sounds of binaural beats are believed to sharpen attention as we memorize information to our head. But new research has found that binaural beats can actually hinder learning rather than aid it. Michal Klichowski, a cognitive neuroscientist at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland, and colleagues wanted to find out if listening to binaural beats actually improves cognitive performance as advertised, or if it’s just a nice placebo effect.
They tested 920 Polish adults with samples of binaural beats, classical music, pure tone, or no sound at all in a series of online tasks involving abstract reasoning, active concentration and working memory. After evaluating the results of tests in humans, the researchers found that listening to binaural beats “caused the opposite of the hypothesized effects: it could weaken cognitive performance rather than support it.”
Binaural beats have become popular in recent years and are touted as a form of brain stimulation that provides a “genius brain frequency” or helps people “super focus.” Some people also report using them as “digital remedies” to reduce pain and reduce anxiety and depression. Carefully selected tonal sounds are designed to be played with headphones so that each ear hears the beats at a slightly different frequency.
It is believed that the brain then records and reflects this difference, producing the desired brain wave frequency. In the study, Klitschowski and colleagues tested 15 Hz binaural beats believed to improve concentration, memory and learning, and 5 Hz binaural beats said to produce calming theta rhythms, aid meditation and promote sleep.
Study participants completed computer tasks at home by simulating how people might use binaural beats as better learning tools than lab work. While research studies often involve short tests that last a few minutes, someone who studies at home can spend hours listening to binaural beats or other music noticing that it helps them focus.
This study better mimics these conditions by asking people to sit where they normally work. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of two tests lasting between 40 minutes and an hour; They supported it with headphones. To find a placebo effect, participants in the binaural beats group were either told that the sounds would improve brain function, kept neutral, or not mentioned at all.
Regardless of what the participants were told and which of the two frequencies of the binaural beats were assigned to, the binaural beats had the same effect: worsening the participants’ cognitive performance compared to their baseline performance. Other acoustic stimuli, such as quiet study, listening to classical music, or the hum of a single sound, had almost no effect on the participants’ performance.
In other words, the binaural beats were not a neutral cocoon, not even an increase in the placebo effect among those said the beats could stimulate the brain; performance was degraded when using binaural beats. While more research is needed, the team has a few hypotheses as to why this might be.
Klichowski suggests that binaural beats “may somehow interfere with brain waves and lower their frequency, making brain activity unrelated to the task at hand.” For example, if the brain produces theta waves, it can cause drowsiness that is not conducive to concentration.
Another possibility is that attempting to modulate a brain wave frequency can get in the way of normal brain processes that require various frequencies to calculate cognitive tasks. Future studies of brainwave recordings in discriminating listeners could help researchers see more clearly what’s going on. Source
Source: Port Altele
