BEHV1016 Psychology: Behavioural Science Assignment 1: Report

Individual/Team task: Individual

Word/time limit: 1000 words (maximum)

Weighting: 40%

Due date: 11.59pm AEST Monday 13 July 2026 (Week 9)

After you have read this information, go to the Assignment 1 Q&A discussion board to ask any questions and see what your peers are saying about this assignment

Assignment overview

To pass this subject of study, you must achieve an aggregated grade of at least 50%. Although this assignment is not a mandatory submission, completing this assignment will give you the best chance of achieving this minimum requirement.

This assignment requires you to carry out a brief investigative study. It provides you with an opportunity to engage, observe, interact and communicate with participants in various settings. There are three topics/articles to choose from and you must choose one to complete the corresponding investigative study.

This assignment supports Subject Learning Outcomes 1, 3 and 4.

Use of generative artificial intelligence

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to brainstorm ideas, summarise reading material or to edit your submission is permitted. The content of your final submission must be your original work. Be aware that the output from generative AI tools may be incorrect, incomplete or biased. Working with another person or technology in order to gain an unfair advantage in assessment or improperly obtaining answers from a third party including generative AI to questions in an examination or other form of assessment may lead to sanctions under the Student Misconduct Rule. More information is available on the Library web page Turnitin's AI writing detector (Library Study Smart, 2023).

Please visit Studying with Integrity (Library Study Smart, 2025) to find out more.

If your studies have been adversely affected by circumstances beyond your control, you may request an extension using the following options. Note: A request for a short extension must be made within two working days and a request for special consideration must be made within five working days. Supporting documentation for applications of less than three days is optional but may be requested later.

Assignment details

Work your way through the following steps to meet the requirements of this assignment:

Step 1: Study Information

Read through the following information on the study.

Aim: The study aimed to examine whether there is a difference in reading comprehension due to the type of background music that is played (fast-paced versus slow-paced).

Research question: Is there a difference in reading comprehension scores due to the type of background music played (fast-paced versus slow-paced)?

Independent variable: Music type (fast-paced or slow-paced music)

Dependent variable: Reading comprehension

Hypothesis: You will develop your own hypothesis, for example: “The slow-paced music group will perform better in reading comprehension than the fast-paced music group”

Step 2: Method and Results

Read the Method and Results sections as they are critical for your understanding of the research and its outcomes. Your research report needs to be written based on these. You should not amend the Method and Results sections in any way. You do not need to include Method and Results sections in your research report submission. You can go from the Introduction section straight to the Discussion section, and you are strongly encouraged to do so. You will not get a penalty if you include Method and Results sections.

Step 3: Your Partial Report

Write a partial research report on this experiment using APA7 guidelines and formatting. As such, you will need to:

a. Include a title page.

b. Write the abstract

c. Write the introduction

d. (method already written for you - you do not need to include these in the report)

e. (results already written for you - you do not need to include these in the report)

f. Write the discussion

g. Include the reference list

h. Include the AI and writing technologies use checklist after your reference list

Only the Abstract, Introduction and Discussion count in the 1000-word count. The Title, Method, and Results sections, as well as the Reference list, do not count towards the 1000-word limit. The research report should be double spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman font, with 2.5 cm margins.

Supporting Documents

Starter articles

These articles are provided to assist you in reading the relevant literature in relation to this assessment. You are encouraged to also search for your own literature.

A stressful task is when to turn off the music: Effect of music on task performance mediated by cognitive effort (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0305735621996027) (Arboleda, Arroyo, Rodriguez & Arce-Lopera, 2022).

Music-Assisted Training for Dart Throwing Novices: Post-Training Effects on Heart Rate and Performance Accuracy (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00315125211050629) (Tso, Law & Wong, 2021).

The effect of preferred background music on task-focus in sustained attention (Kiss & Linnell, 2020).

Slower tempo makes worse performance? The effect of musical tempo on cognitive processing speed (https://doaj.org/article/6f93b901028d4962b5304eae21106962) (Lin, Kuo & Mai, 2023)

Studying the effect of self-selected background music on reading task with eye movements (Que, Zheng, Hsiao & Hu, 2023)

Fast and loud background music disrupts reading comprehension (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0305735611400173) (Thompson, Scgellenberg & Katharine, 2012).

The effect of background music and noise on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts (Dobbs, Furnham & McClelland).

Submission details overview

This assignment will be submitted through Canvas. When you are ready to submit your assignment, select the 'Start Assignment' button at the top of this page. You will be taken to the 'File Upload' tab where you can choose your file or submit your URL. Please note: When you submit your assignment through Canvas, you are also submitting the assignment through Turnitin, which is a text-matching service that compares your work with an international database of information sources. You will need to agree to using it. Once you have submitted your assignment, select 'Submission Details' on the right of your screen to view your originality report if you haven't already done so. Please allow a 24-hour turnaround for an originality report to be generated