Research on the Effect of Background Music on Working Memory Based on Granger Causal Network

Working memory plays an important role in human advanced cognitive activities. In this research, we designed an improved Sternberg working memory task experiment. Three music conditions and twenty subjects without musical training were selected. The Electroencephalogram (EEG) data and the behavioral data of the subjects were collected. After necessary processing, we built the Granger Causal Network with the EEG data. T-test was used to detect the differences between characteristic attributes of networks in the same frequency band under different conditions. The behavioral data, the directional transfer function(DTF), information flow gains and connection densities from brain regions were selected, compared and analyzed. The conclusion is that background music interferes with the activities of the related brain regions and causes the increase of the brain load and the decline of the working memory.