The power of music

Medscape recently published an interesting piece on music therapy that discusses how the human brain seems to have an overwhelming number of circuits dedicated to the processing of music, and how the power of music can be successfully applied to brain disorders, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Read it here: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/773401?src=mp

When it comes to music in the workplace, given the clinical evidence that music–particularly rhythmic music–can enhance cognition, the question arises: Is a workplace order forbidding cubicle workers to listen to music through headphones or ear buds counter-productive? One  argument for prohibition is that managers like to be able to get employees’ attention without having to overcome the attention deficit created by the music. Another is that the music distracts workers from their task at hand, ala the “myth of multi-tasking.” Perhaps some empirical research is in order.