The Mozart Effect

'Any gain spatial intelligence lasts for only 10-15 minutes and no other noise should be heard while Mozart is being played in order to ensure the brain's capacity to infuse the music.'
Society has often hoped for a quick and simple way of increasing intelligence. In 1993, such a possibility was offered by researchers at the University of California, Irvine. Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993) found that a group of 36 college undergraduates improved their spatial-temporal intelligence (the ability to mentally manipulate objects in three-dimensional space) after listening to 10 minutes of a Mozart sonata. Results showed that student' IQ scores improved by 8-9 points and lasted for 10-15 minutes. The findings, which were later dubbed the Mozart effect, have spawned both criticism and support for music's ability to alter intelligence.
Listening to Mozart will purported to improve only spatial intelligence, not general intelligence.

Why might the Mozart effect happen?
a biological argument for music was developed by the original researchers using the biological functioning of the human brain.

The original Mozart effect researchers based their rationale on the trion model of the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is a part of the brain that helps with, among other things, motor control, speech, memory, and auditory reception. The trion model, developed by Shaw, showed that similar neural firings patterns occur when listening to music and performing spatial tasks (Leng & Shaw, 1991). Rauscher and Shaw hypothesized that listening to certain types of complex music may "warm-up" neural transmitters inside the cerebral cortex and thereby improve spatial performance.
Other researchers have been wary of the findings presented by Rauscher and colleagues. Instead, Mozart effect critics have claimed the spatial intelligence increase to be nothing more than a shift in participants' arousal, which then produces better spatial test scores (Steele, 2000; Thompson, Schellenberg, & Husain, 2001). In essence, their argument is that listening to Mozart's music causes either an increase or decrease in someone's arousal and mood to a level that is more optimal for testing. Personal preference for the music heard in Mozart effect testing may also be a possible influence on increasing spatial test scores (Nantais & Schellenberg, 1999).

How much is spatial intelligence increased?

No evidence exists that supports a direct link between greater math ability and listening to Mozart's music.
No psychological study that has attempted research in the area of Mozart and physical wellbeing.
The first Mozart effect publication showed participants' spatial intelligence scores improved by 8-9 points, by far the largest increase reported in the literature. A meta-analysis of Mozart effect research showed an increase of 1.4 general IQ points between participants listening to Mozart or silence (Chabris, 1999). However, this IQ score included studies that did not strictly measure for spatial intelligence. When analyzing studies that only used spatial intelligence, results showed an increase of 2.1 general IQ points (Chabris, 1999). The IQ scores created by the meta-analysis may not be particularly promising since they are less than the normal standard deviation (15 points) found in the Fourth Edition of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test, which includes the prominent spatial subtest used in Mozart effect research. Additionally, the meta-analysis IQ scores were not specifically calculated for spatial ability, but instead present an overall intelligence increase, which is beyond the scope intended by the original Mozart effect authors.


Who has been tested?
Mozart effect research has never been conducted with babies or infants.
The majority of Mozart effect research has been conducted on college undergraduates. Although some media outlets have claimed Mozart's music improves a baby's intelligence, as yet, no test involving the possible influence of this music on infants' spatial intelligence has been conducted. The youngest group of participants that have been tested had a mean age of 11.95 years (McKelvie & Low, 2002). Currently, no testing has been done on older adults, adolescents, or other developmental levels.

What music has been used?
The music used in the first Mozart effect experiment was Mozart's Sonata for two pianos in D-major, K.448. This has continued to be the primary song used in Mozart effect research. Other styles of also been attempted such as Yanni, which was believed to have similar musical properties as Mozart, minimalist music by Philip Glass, the dance group Aqua, and pieces by Albinoni and Schubert. Some non-musical selections have also been compared to Mozart music, such as a George Carlin comedy performance and a Stephen King story read aloud. Of these different selections, the music of Yanni and Mozart have been the only styles to increase spatial scores. To date, no published research on the Mozart effect has used any other non-classical musical pieces.


Problems with Mozart effect research
Georgia Governor Zell Miller proposed to spend $105,000 on classical music CDs for newborns before a record company offered to provide them at no cost (Sack, 1998).
Many of the current Mozart effect studies contain faulty research procedures. The use of an independent control group has not been used in several studies (Hughes, 2001; Rauscher, Shaw and Ky, 1993; Rideout & Taylor, 1997; Rideout, Dougherty, & Werner, 1998; Steele, Bass, & Crook, 1999; and Steele, Brown, and Stoecker, 1999), and thereby does not allow a comparison of scores between listening to Mozart and merely attempting the spatial problems. Besides Steele, Ball, and Runk (1997), the Stanford-Binet spatial subtest (paper folding and cutting questions) has been the only spatial measure used within Mozart effect research. Using only one test limits the understanding of the Mozart effect to the criteria seen in the lone spatial measure. Additionally, no study has provided demographic descriptors of their participants (e.g., race, gender, socioeconomic status), which may influence intelligence test scores. These are a few of the problems that severely hinder the legitimacy of any results garnered from Mozart effect research.


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