This is interesting because it represents Daniel Willingham backing off a bit from a strict and unthinking application of the cognitive load theory. The idea of cognitive load is that we can only handle so much information at a time, and so in the past we've been told we should eliminate any distraction - extra content, background music, whatever. This would drive me crazy, in no small part because I have tinnitus and have to have background noise. And what's important here is that Willingham explicitly recognizes that sometimes background music, and even background talking, might actually help a person learn. "While mean of the grand distribution may show a small hit to comprehension when background music plays, it's NOT the case that every child reads a little worse with background music on." So, this is great. Understanding individual variability is key to understanding research in education.
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