[Discussion Thread] Music and cubing

Does music effect your times?

I want everyone to help.
The scrambles for 3x3 are
B' F D L R D' B2 L2 F' L B' U F L U' B R' B2 L' B2 L' F' R D2 U'

F2 L D2 B2 D' U L2 B2 F D L' B D2 B2 U L B F2 R B F L2 D B' R

B F U2 L' R' D U R2 B U F2 L2 U2 R' U L' F2 D2 B2 L R F2 L' U2 F'

B F2 R' F' R' D B' R' U2 L2 R2 F R2 U2 L' D U2 L' D2 U' L' F L2 R' D'

L2 R' F U F2 U2 R' B2 U' B R2 F' D L F2 L R D2 F' L F2 L U F' R2

Now do that AVG with no music

then do it with
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIpt_BIrIzM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJWw1m2TtMg

I want to see what the results are with these songs. The final results will be collected on new years day.
 
*DOES!

yeah, i'm getting slightly faster.
maybe because they are the same scrambles.
but i don't really know.
dose this happen to other people?
 
That70sShowDude said:
You can't use the same scrambles multiple times
Click to expand...

For a science experiment there's some variables that always stays the same.

Like lets say your trying to find out if light affects the growth of a plant everything stays the same except for how the plaint is receiving the light.

so the scramble have to stay the same.
 
Michael Womack said:
For a science experiment there's some variables that always stays the same.

Like lets say your trying to find out if light affects the growth of a plant everything stays the same except for how the plaint is receiving the light.

so the scramble have to stay the same.
Click to expand...
If you already know the outcome of the scrambles then your solve will be faster.
 
Michael Womack said:
For a science experiment there's some variables that always stays the same.

Like lets say your trying to find out if light affects the growth of a plant everything stays the same except for how the plaint is receiving the light.

so the scramble have to stay the same.
Click to expand...

So the fourth time I do the scramble should theoretically be the same...

But I've just seen it three times. I know exactly what's going to happen.
 
Michael Womack said:
For a science experiment there's some variables that always stays the same.

Like lets say your trying to find out if light affects the growth of a plant everything stays the same except for how the plaint is receiving the light.

so the scramble have to stay the same.
Click to expand...

Then you would need 10 scrambles, all of equal difficulty. An Ao5 with and an Ao5 without music. This is because you need to avoid 'practice' effects and differences in the difficulty of each scramble affecting the times.

As already mentioned there are so many other factors involved when you're just solving at home: what you've eaten/drunk today, room temperature, light in the room, time of day, whether you've already practiced today, other background noises distractions and so many more. Not to mention the inconsistencies of people measuring their own times on a computer timer qqtimer/whatever, since we don't all have stackmat timers. You would need to control all of these otherwise the result is meaningless.

It's a nice idea. But you could've looked up some previous research with similar hypotheses. A lazy Google search brought this up, for example.

Not to be pedantic or mean either, but it's "does music AFFECT your times?"
 
Last edited:
I was like "ohhh, we already had this post before" then I realized the procedure of the experiment and I went all like "Should I laugh or cry?".

I would actually have bothered trying if I had a 3x3x3 lying around, because it would actually be funny just to see if the times actually DOES decrease dramatically when you do the same scrambles over.
 
It'd be better to do two averages of 50, or something similar. The increase in time between repeated scrambles may allow you to forget specifically what the solve will entail when you encounter it the second time.

Also, affect*.
 
Maybe a better way to do this would be to first simplify by using only one music selection. Have a third of the cubers do it without music first, then with music; another third of the cubers do with music first, then without music; the last third of the cubers do without music and then repeat also without music.

Edit: Oh, and I refuse to listen to heavy metal.
 
Last edited:
If anyone wants an answer, I think (for me, at least) it does affect solve times by a bit. Many months ago I sat down to do some solves with random music on, and when I realized that I was just sucking, I thought "Hey, what if..." Then I took my headphones out and did ~50 or so more solves. After comparing, the second average of 50 was 1-1.5 seconds faster in silence. (This was wayy back when I averaged mid-18s and I was getting about 20 with music on)

My hypothesis is that the speed of music affects time in the way a metronome does. When I have fast music on, I tend to rush and turn faster; when there's no music, I take my time and look ahead; when there's slow music, I seem to just disregard speed entirely. Another factor could be that music took some brainpower away (it was actually harder to look ahead) because without music, I was able to concentrate more.

But that might just be me. I know some people use music to help them concentrate.

[EDIT]
The music had lyrics
 
Last edited:
googlebleh said:
If anyone wants an answer, I think (for me, at least) it does affect solve times by a bit. Many months ago I sat down to do some solves with random music on, and when I realized that I was just sucking, I thought "Hey, what if..." Then I took my headphones out and did ~50 or so more solves. After comparing, the second average of 50 was 1-1.5 seconds faster in silence. (This was wayy back when I averaged mid-18s and I was getting about 20 with music on)

My hypothesis is that the speed of music affects time in the way a metronome does. When I have fast music on, I tend to rush and turn faster; when there's no music, I take my time and look ahead; when there's slow music, I seem to just disregard speed entirely. Another factor could be that music took some brainpower away (it was actually harder to look ahead) because without music, I was able to concentrate more.

But that might just be me. I know some people use music to help them concentrate.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it also depends how sensitive to music you are, whether the music has lyrics or not, and other such factors.
 
I listen to a lot of classic rock, mainly the doors, queen, led zeppelin, and a lot of AC DC. Calm music slows me down, I like more exciting and hard driving stuff while I'm cubing.
 
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