What Makes a Rhythm Hard to Remember? A New Rhythm Memory Task

• In Event: 28.091 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Two - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 28.091-2 - Acquiring Musical Skill and Knowledge

Abstract

Music ability and education are intertwined, with research clearly demonstrating that rhythm and reading ability are connected (Kraus & White-Schwoch, 2017) and that students who receive music training perform better academically than those without music training (Holochwost, et al., 2017). It is important, therefore, to study the connection between music and information processing, specifically memory. However, no memory task has been designed that adequately captures memory for rhythms. To address this gap, a rhythm memory task was created using varying levels of rhythm length, speed, and complexity. Results from this study support existing memory theory and provide a rhythmic memory task that can be used to support music and education research.

Authors

• Alice J. Corkill, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Elizabeth Hofschulte Collins, University of Nevada - Las Vegas