An ERP-based Study On The Correlation Between Musical Preference And Visual Attention

Event Related Potential (ERP) was explored in this paper to study the correlation between the Music Preference in the area of music research and the Visual Attention in the area of psychology research. Both Music Preference and Visual Attention are topics that have been expansively studied in the area of music research and psychology research. The author of this paper has reviewed related literature from both domestic sources and international sources since late20th century, and found that there were few studies that concentrated on the relationship between Music Preference and Visual Attention. Previous studies mainly use questionnaires and behavior experiments, and most of them focused on the relationship of people and music preference. In China, the research on music preference is just in primary stage, most of which just used questionnaires. On the other hand, both domestic and international researches about attention are abundant, and most of them employed the instruments of brain science. Since the21st century, neuroscience and cognitive sciences have developed rapidly, especially the wide use of the instruments of brain science in the area of psychological research. In the area of music research, the employment of the instruments of brain science has emerged and developed gradually. Therefore, the study on the relationship between human development and music has entered an era of neuroscience investigation.In this experiment, music preference was selected as independent variables. The study tried to answer the question whether the shift and focus of attention can be affected by listening to music that one likes or listening to music that one hates, respectively. It has been widely conceived by the mass public that listening to music that one likes will promote the ability to shift attention and focus attention, vice versa. The results from this study showed that for individual who has been in the music profession for a long time, listening to music that one likes is inversely related to the ability to shift attention and focus attention; while for individual who has never been in the music profession, listening to music, no matter what kind of, will have a more significant impact on the ability to shift attention and focus attention, compared to the individual in the music profession. The conclusion reached in this paper will open a new area for related research in music education, music therapy and music psychology, and will provide guidance for individual selection of music in life, work and study. Therefore, this study will have considerable significance in both theory and practice.