Discrimination Learning with Rhythmic and Nonrhythmic Background Music

Groups of rats learned a discrimination problem in a four-choice apparatus while exposed to one of six auditory stimulus conditions. The stimuli were: a selection of Mozart, an amelodic version of this piece, a selection of Schoenberg, an amelodic version of this piece, white noise, and quiet. None of the groups acquired the discrimination more quickly than quiet controls. Ss exposed to the Schoenberg music, the amelodic version of it, and to white noise performed more poorly than the controls. Presence of nonrhythmic auditory stimulation is detrimental to performance on a discrimination task.