Abstract:

Existing research on the effects of background music on learning remains controversial, potentially due to differences in learner characteristics. This study investigated the effects of popular background music on college students’ leisure reading in the digital age, with a focus on learners’ prior knowledge and music familiarity. Two experiments were conducted with university students as participants. Experiment 1 found that the addition of background music delayed learners’ initial attention to the titles, reduced effective reading speed and reading comprehension rates, and impaired both retention and transfer test performance. Experiment 2 revealed that, compared to low prior-knowledge learners, high prior-knowledge learners perceived the reading material as less difficult, fixated on both the article title and body text faster, exhibited longer initial processing time, achieved higher effective reading speed, and demonstrated superior retention test performance. Additionally, the high music-familiarity groups showed faster reading speed, higher comprehension rates, and better retention test scores than the low-familiarity groups. These results demonstrate that even for contemporary university students accustomed to multitasking, popular background music exerts a detrimental effect on reading, particularly for learners with low prior knowledge or low familiarity with background music. This study provides novel empirical evidence for understanding how background music influences learning in digital contexts, offering critical implications for designing effective learning strategies in technology-mediated environments.

Key words: popular background music, leisure reading, prior knowledge, music familiarity, eye movements

摘要：

现有研究关于背景音乐对学习的影响存在争论，可能受到学习者特征的影响。本研究以大学生为被试，通过两个实验考察在数字时代背景下流行背景音乐对大学生休闲阅读的影响，以及学习者先前知识经验水平和背景音乐熟悉度的作用。实验1发现，背景音乐的加入会延迟学习者首次注视到题目的时间，降低有效阅读速度和阅读理解率，降低保持和迁移测验成绩。实验2发现，与低知识经验者相比，高知识经验者阅读时感知到的难度更低，更快地注视到题目和内容且首次加工时间更长，有效阅读速度更快，保持测验成绩也更好。与低背景音乐熟悉度组相比，高背景音乐熟悉度组的有效阅读速度更快，阅读理解率和保持测验成绩更高。结果表明，即使对于习惯于多任务处理的当代大学生，流行背景音乐仍会对阅读产生消极影响，对低知识经验者和低背景音乐熟悉度者更为明显。本研究为在数字时代背景下理解背景音乐如何影响学习提供了新的实证证据，对数字环境下的学习策略设计具有重要启示。

关键词: 流行背景音乐, 休闲阅读, 知识经验, 音乐熟悉度, 眼动