The Mozart Effect: What is it?

What is the Mozart Effect?

In 1993, an experiment (10) was done where college students were asked to listen to Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos, (K 488) before taking a spatial IQ Test.

The study was repeated in 1995 with the same clinicians with the exact results. As a result of these two experiments much misinformation regarding the Mozart Effect circulated throughout the public. Listening to ten minutes a day of Mozart will not necessarily make your child's SAT math scores jump 100 points. It will not necessarily allow your child to win on either Jeopardy nor your state's chess tournaments.

The following excerpt is taken from The Mozart Effect: A Small Part of the Big Picture by Norman M. Weinberger

In 1993, Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw and Katherine Ky asked whether brief exposure to certain music could increase cognitive ability. Thirty-six college students were divided into three groups which spent ten minutes in one of three conditions: listening to (1) a piano sonata by Mozart (sonata for two pianos in D, K 448), (2) a tape of relaxation instructions or (3) silence. They were then tested on spatial/temporal reasoning. The measurements of spatial/temporal (S/T) reasoning were obtained using subtests from a standard intelligence battery (group) of tests, the Stanford-Binet Test. The important subtest was a paper folding and cutting task (PF/C). The subject has to imagine that a single sheet of paper has been folded several times and then various cut-outs are made with scissors. The task is to correctly predict the pattern of cut-outs when the paper is unfolded.

The results?

The authors found significantly higher scores for the Mozart group than for the relaxation or the silence groups. The differences translated into spatial IQ scores for the Mozart group that were 8-9 points higher than the other two groups.

However, the effect was very brief; it did not last beyond 10-15 minutes

The authors did not say that the effects would be limited to Mozart's music but did think that the benefits to Spatial Temporal reasoning would require complex rather than repetitive music. However no further definitions of complexity were presented. Also, the authors did not claim that the effects would be found for other aspects of intelligence, such as verbal reasoning or short-term memory, but suggested that these be tested.

What listening to Mozart's piece (K488) did was to "temporarily" increase spatial IQ (reasoning). The following is a concise definition of spatial: Spatial abilities are the perceptual and cognitive abilities that enable a person to deal with spatial relations, in other words the visualization and orientation of objects in space. Put simply spatial skills assess your ability to manipulate 3D objects by flipping and rotating them.

Spatial intelligence questions test raw intelligence without the influence of prior knowledge and as such performance on this scale is indicative of general intelligence. At a first glance, such questions may appear daunting but the trick is not to give up too quickly. A second look at the problem will reveal a different approach, and a solution will appear because the brain has been given the opportunity to process information further.

This study has caused much public confusion. While the results of this study did not prove that listening to Mozart for ten minutes a day will increase your child's IQ by 10 or more points, it did demonstrate that there was a temporary increase in the capacity for spatial skills acquisition involving short-term memory. There was no meaningful long-lasting increase in intelligence. For any real benefits from music one must be involved in music study and/or music making.

The following results were reported by Drs. Judith Burton, Robert Horowitz and Hal Abeles, from the Center for Arts Education Research at Columbia University . This study included 2,046 children in grades 4, 5, 7, and 8 in 12 public schools in New York , Connecticut , Virginia and South Carolina . (These are just some of the findings for a more thorough look and detailed observations please refer to reference below.)

Music influences: Expression: better able to express their thoughts and ideas to teachers and peers and to do so in different ways.

Risk-taking: they were more willing to take a risk, showing an increased willingness to try new things, use new materials and approaches, even at the risk of failing; more willing to risk expressing their own novel ideas to peers and parents

Cooperation: they worked better with peers and with teachers

Synthesis: better at unifying divergent thoughts, feeling and facts

Higher self-concept in reading, math and general academics

Teachers rated them as having more self-confidence.

Solutions: a greater number of ideas or approaches to solve problems

Originality: more innovative approaches to solving problems

Elaboration: mentally constructing more detail in formulating solutions

Resistance to Closure: tendency to keep an open mind, to avoid rushing to premature judgments or being satisfied too quickly with a possible solution

The ability to express ideas and feelings.

The ability to form relationships among different items and arrange them to solve problems. The ability to imagine a problem from different points of view and work toward a resolution.

The ability to organize thoughts and ideas into meaningful units.

The ability to engage in sustained and focused attention.

Summary:

As shown by many research studies, instrumental, classical (and in some cases music you are familiar with, excluding heavy metal or rap) music influences positively cognitive development; language development, reading-readiness and reading; verbal abilities; abstract conceptual thinking and reasoning; creativity and originality; memory; play improvisation; motor development and coordination; positive attitudes toward school, improved personal and social adjustment and stress reduction. To see any results one must dedicate time and energy into pursuing music.

 

10 Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L. and Ky, K.N. (1993) Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365:611.