Distracting Task

If you're a senior citizen, music in the background may be distracting. But for younger people experts at multitasking, it's apparently no big deal. That's according to a study in the journal Gerontologist. Researchers recruited 103 people half between the ages of 18 and 30, the others between 60 and 75. The volunteers then took part in memorization exercises and a drill where they had to quickly match a photo of a face with the same face in an array of unfamiliar faces. Some participants did the exercises in silence. Others performed the tasks while listening to white noise or instrumental jazz, blues, classical and electronic music.