Bakgrundsbrusets effekt på kognitiv prestation samt skapandet av falska minnen : Om bullrets inverkan i öppna kontorsmiljöer

Sammanfattning: This study aimed to explore how 31 collage students' cognitive performance and their ability to create false memories were affected by the exposure of an extraneous background noise. The studies main hypotheses were based on previous research on how extraneous noise affect the cognitive ability and the creation of false memories: 1) that an extraneous background noise increases the ability to create false memories, 2) that an extraneous background noise impairs the learning of cognitive information, 3) that an extraneous background noise contributes to an increased representation of fictional words, 4) that an extraneous background noise impedes the ability to understand speech . The results showed a tendency in which false memories increased in the condition without background noise, a result which goes in the opposite direction of the hypothesis. Furthermore, the result supported the hypothesis that the extraneous background noise impairs the learning of cognitive information. The results also showed that there was no effect between the conditions regarding the representation of fictional information. However, the result confirmed the hypothesis that a background noise impedes the ability to understand speech. The authors believe that studies like this are of great importance to the debate about how noise in open plan offices affect people's performance and the appearance of error information.