December brings fall-semester's final exams and some students turn to music to help while they study. But is that a good idea?

A September article from University of Maryland Global Campus touts the relaxing benefits of listening to the right music while studying.

"Studying can be stressful, and excessive anxiety can hinder learning and memory consolidation," wrote Phyllis Medina, PhD, program director of psychology at University of Maryland Global Campus, in an email to USA TODAY. "The right choice of music, such as instrumental or ambient music, can help block out distractions, improve concentration, and maintain attention during study sessions."

But other psychology and music experts are less optimistic about its benefits, with studies often showing that that it's usually better to avoid music while studying, as it can be more distracting than helpful.

Several pieces of peer-reviewed research show that music doesn't improve cognitive functions while studying or completing schoolwork for most people. That's especially true about songs with lyrics.

The researchers of a 2023 study published in the Journal of Cognition found that music with lyrics "hindered verbal memory, visual memory, and reading comprehension" while instrumental music "did not credibly hinder or improve performance."

Another 2017 study of 81 college students shows there were "no main effects of background music or working memory capacity."

Daniel Levitin, a neuroscientist and professor of psychology, behavioral neuroscience and music at McGill University, said he supports the findings of those studies.

"There is no evidence that listening to music while you study will help get a better grade -- unless you're studying for a music exam and you're listening to that exact music," he wrote in an email to USA TODAY.

Levitin said he often assigns students to study whether their roommates and friends score better on exams when they study with music playing and the results support his conclusion.

"The experiments are properly conducted, with random assignment, and it always comes out that music is distracting," Levitin said.

On the contrary, he said that listening to music can create a state of "divided attention" and can worsen your grade.

When someone listens to music while reading or trying to solve a math problem, their brain shifts attention back and forth between both actions, said Anthony Sali, an assistant professor of psychology at Wake Forest University.

There's a behavioral cost anytime the brain prepares to make a shift in attention, he said.

"The brain does a really good job picking up on how likely it is to be shifting attention," Sali said. "The brain gets ready to shift and it ends up in a cost in accuracy."

While studies show that listening to music isn't necessarily beneficial for comprehending information you'll need for a test, experts told USA TODAY that music can be a helpful study tool in other ways.

Music can reduce stress for people who face anxiety around a test, Sali said.

Songs can also motivate people to start to study or to regain motivation while they study, said Patrick Schmidt, a professor of music and music education at Columbia University's Teacher College.

This method often works best when music is routinely used as a study habit and the music is familiar to the learner, he said.

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Contact Kayla Jimenez at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.