The acoustic environment as a factor in critical thinking

Context and relevance. Although critical thinking is traditionally viewed as an autonomous and rational process, contemporary research highlights its sensitivity to external context. One such contextual factor is the sound environment, which is rarely considered a variable capable of influencing critical thinking itself. Meanwhile, acoustic parameters are increasingly becoming a focus in educational and cognitive studies. Objective. To systematize the current state of research on the soundscape as a factor affecting critical thinking by identifying the key mechanisms of this influence and outlining corresponding theoretical directions for the further interdisciplinary studies. Hypothesis. The sound environment is a modifying factor in the realization of critical thinking, impacting the emotional, cognitive, and social components of the process. Methods and materials. The study was conducted as a conceptual review aimed at theoretically substantiating the influence of the sound environment on the implementation of critical thinking. The source materials include scientific publications from cognitive psychology, educational psychology, and sound ecology. Sources are selected based on their relevance to the active impact of sound environments on critical thinking. A focused conceptual analysis method was applied to identify intersections between the study of acoustic environment and higher-order cognitive processes. Results. The findings indicate that the sound environment can affect critical thinking through three mechanisms: affective modulation (emotional influence on evaluative judgments), cognitive modulation (redistribution of working memory resources in response to acoustic load), and social modulation (the impact of sound environments on the perception of role expectations and acceptable forms of expressing thoughts). These mechanisms do not operate in isolation and form a part of integrated sensory ecosystem of critical thinking. Conclusions. The results support the need to reconsider the sound environment as a functionally significant parameter. The outlined approaches offer an alternative to prevailing views that isolate critical thinking from sensory experience and reduce the sound environment to a distracting factor.

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