The Effect of Music Tempo on Memory Matthew Le Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology Students commonly listen to music while studying for tests or exams. However, music’s effect on studying and specifically memorization has not been studied extensively in current teenagers. This study investigates the effects of different music tempos on teenage memory. The hypothesis was that music of a slower tempo would have a beneficial effect on memory. There were a total of twenty-five participants, divided into five groups, with a control group of no music and four groups of differing beats per minute ranges. Study participants were given one minute to memorize a pattern of letters and numbers while music of a specific tempo played. After a minute, participants were asked to recall the pattern, and their recollection was scored out of ten. After analysis of the data using an ANOVA test, the results were that the music tempo had no statistically significant effect on memory. Some notable results were derived from the data, including that the faster tempos of music had a higher overall mean compared to the other tempo ranges. So overall, music tempo showed no statistically significant effect on memory, but further study into music’s effect on memory may yield more significant results. Abstract Introduction Students often listen to music while studying for exams and tests. Music has been shown to have both positive, negative, and no effect on memory ability. Music has been seen to have positive effects on memory and intelligence. However, music has also been seen to have a negative effect on memory and no significant effect on memory. Methods Participants The sample groups of this study consisted of high school students (aged 14-18) from the Rockdale Magnet School. Procedure Twenty-five participants were selected and were then split into five groups of five people. The five groups represent the four experimental groups (60-80 BPM, BPM, BPM, BPM) and the control group of no music. Participants were given one minute to memorize a pattern of letters and numbers while music of a specific BPM range played and after the minute were asked to recall the pattern. Their recollection of the pattern was scored out of 10. Results After analysis of the data, the results showed a trend of a higher mean score in the groups with a faster BPM range ( BPM, BPM), contrary to the hypothesis, which was that a lower BPM would have a beneficial effect on memory retention. However, after analysis of the data using an one-way ANOVA test, the difference was not statistically significant (F= 2.01; df= 4; p= ), resulting in an accepting of the null hypothesis. There was an overall trend that the higher BPM ranges had the most beneficial effect on memory retention. Conclusions The scores varied within each group. This variance can be explained by the number of trials done and the natural variance in each participant’s memory retention ability. Acknowledgements Previous studies on music tempo’s effect on memory found no statistical significance so the data collected from this study coincides with earlier studies. However, further studies examining other age groups other than teenagers and other variables within music could potentially reveal useful information on music’s effect on memory and possibly other faculties of the human body. I would like to thank Mrs. Amanda Baskett for her assistance in accomplishing this project. I would also like to thank all of the participants of this study for making all of this possible. The research was done at the Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology in Conyers, GA. This research was conducted under the supervision of an experienced teacher and followed state and federal regulatory guidance applicable to the humane and ethical conduct of such research.