IMPACT OF LISTENING TO FAVORITE MUSIC ON THE COGNITIVE LOAD OF GRADUATE-LEVEL STUDENTS AT KARACHI

Abstract

All Working and professional individuals to continue their higher education generally prefer a weekend program; mostly, there are 6 to 9 hours of classes, which causes a high cognitive load after the first three hours of class, where there remains no further mental capacity to process additional information. Based on the cognitive load theory and technique “desuggestopedia” suggested by Dr Georgi Lozanov, the action approach was used in an experiment by introducing listening to the favourite music to release the cognitive load after the hours of study. With a mixed method approach, N=100; participants from SMIU, IOBM, and Bahria University rated their cognitive load on the subjective loadometer by Fabio Pereira and Galdino (Pereira, 2021), and in words, the key themes were drawn out from the words responses about their cognitive load before, and after listening to their favourite Music. The findings from this research validate the cognitive learning theory and the use of desuggestopedia in de-suggesting the higher education setting, using active listening to release cognitive load and increase the intellectual productivity of students in higher education. Hence, playing at the beginning of the class and during the break effectively improves students' intellectual productivity in processing given information.