This review aims to address the debate as to whether or not playing classical music enhances the cognitive development of infants. This question is raised in response to the claim made by music educator Don Campbell (1997), who states that ‘playing Mozart to babies makes them smarter’, by aiding their intellectual and creative development. It is important to determine if there is sufficient evidence behind this statement as people are paying money for their children to experience the claimed effects. This review will draw upon, analyse and interpret a range of empirical research studies involving school-aged children to adults exposed to different forms of music (including Mozart) to measure the effects. Campbell’s claim will be critically evaluated and proved otherwise that playing Mozart to babies does not improve overall intelligence. It will be argued that the empirical studies are based on children and young adults not infants, that the effects were found to be temporary and relative to specific measure on intelligence, and that other forms of music can influence spatial reasoning. The extent of empirical evidence available concerned with testing the Mozart effect fails to include babies as participants and is instead limited to testing children to adults. A study conducted by Jones and Estell (2007) attempted to test the neurological and arousal theories of the Mozart effect and fill the gaps of previous experiments that were typically conclusive of college-aged students. The study included 86 high school participants aged between 14 and 18 who were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. The experimental group were exposed to a 7.5-minute segment of Mozart’s sonata whilst sitting quietly in a classro... ... middle of paper ... ...). The Mozart effect. (pp.13 - 30). New York: Avon Books Hui, K. (2006). Mozart effect in preschool children? Early Child Development and Care, 176, 411-419. doi: 10.1080/03004430500147540 Ivanov, K. V., & Geake, J. E. (2003). The Mozart effect and primary school children. Psychology of Music, 31, 405-412. DOI: 10.1177/03057356030314005 Jones, M. H., & Estell, D. B. (2007). Exploring the Mozart effect among high school students. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 1, 219-224. DOI: 10.1037/1931-3896.1.4.219. Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Ky, K. N (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365, 611-611.doi: 10.1038/365611a0 Schellenberg, E. G., & Hallam, S. (2005). Music listening and cognitive ability in 10- and 11- year olds: The Blur effect. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1060, 202- 208. doi: 10.1196/annals.1360.013
There have been many studies done to find how music influences a child’s development. The College Entrance Examination Board discovered that students who took music appreciation classes had higher verbal and math scores than those who did not take the classes. (Stephens 2003) The U.S. Department of Education found that in 25,000 secondary schools, students who were highly involved in the music program did much better in math than any other students. (Stephens 2003) These studies and more have found that involvement in music increases chi...
...ether or not the Mozart effect could be applied to them in a school setting. Positively, it was shown that the children scored higher on a spatial ability task of paper folding after listening to Mozart, although the results, just like every other study concluded, seemed to last only for the duration of the test which was around 10-15 minutes. One must also keep in mind that many tests never endeavoured to delve into whether or not the results could be reproduced later without the need of Mozart’s sonata.
Mcelvie, P., Low, J. (2002). Listening to Mozart does not improve children's spatial ability: Final curtains for the Mozart effect. The British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20(1), 241-259. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/218679147
There is limited literature centered on an infant age group to support the notion that babies will become smarter through exposure to Mozart’s symphonies. Rauscher, Shaw and Ky (1993) devised an experiment initiating the theory now known as the ‘Mozart Effect’. The study examined the possible effect the exposure to three differing conditions; silence, a relaxation tape and a Mozart piece had on college student’s ability to perform spatial tasks, and hence the effect on their spatial IQ scores (Rauscher et al. 1993). Rauscher et al. (1993) concluded there was an increase in these scores for studen...
Although the Mozart effect has shown a varied enhancement of participants’ spatial cognition the claim that ‘Mozart makes babies smarter’ is completely discredited. Through the aforementioned analysis of arousal and mood factors it is clear that cognitive enhancement relies strongly on the participants’ reaction to any stimuli, rather than specifically Mozart. Additionally, the lack of dependency on just one form of stimuli to achieve result indicates that the phenomenon is not specific to Mozart’s sonata. Finally, the limited longevity discredits the importance of the speculated phenomenon as it does not have any long term benefits to the user. Overall, this claim, despite having partial merit is fundamentally incorrect, despite its wide-spread popularist acceptance.
As Bob Marley once said, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” Studies shown that classical music, specifically Mozart, help you engage in your studies better and as a result showed high test scores according to a test scientist at Stanford University held. Did you ever imagine how powerful a piece that was composed in the 1780’s could be?
Schlaug, Gottfried, Andrea Norton, Kate Overy, and Ellen Winner. Effects of Music Training on the Child’s Brain. The Musician's Brain. New York Academy Of Sciences, 2005. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. .
Many parents are under the influence that their child will be better in school and life, increasing their I.Q. scores by listening to Mozart at an early age; any child would want their child to better. This idea first came into light in 1993 with an article describing an improvement in spatial reasoning testing for college students after 10 minutes of listening to Mozart compared to a control group who did not. This study only focuses on one attempt at the test. The study only found that listening to Mozart immediately helped with cognition. However, businesses capitalized on this and began marketing to parents that the “Mozart Effect” can help with mental development in young children, so millions of cassette tapes and CDs were sold to parents under the false pretenses of helping children, when it is a confusion between correlation and causation. Over 70% of Americans including average and psychology students believe that the Mozart effect would increase your intelligence. This belief was so popular that some state governors directed funding to have Mozart played in daycares and other places were infants are heavily
The idea of the Mozart effect began in 1993 with a study conducted by Rauscher, Shaw & Ky. This study involved 36 university students taking three different IQ spatial reasoning tasks and for each test used either Mozart’s sonata for two pianos in D major and relaxation music was played, silence was also used. The results of this experiment showed that students who had listened to the music of Mozart had better results for the spacial reasoning tests in comparison to silence or relaxation music. The results also showed that the impact of Mozart’s music was only temporary and only lasted for 10-15 minutes. Overall this study was very basic and had numerous flaws such as the sample size and also the variety of tests used to look at the impact of music (Rauscher, Shaw & Ky, 1993). In 1997 Don Campbell’s book The Mozart effect popularised the claim that music makes children smarter. This book created a public interest in music and brain development. The book uses Rauscher’s experiment as an example of what Mozart’s music can do which in this experiment shows a temporary increase in spatial reasoning, this however was misinterpreted by the public as an increase in IQ. The popularisation of the...
Fordahl, Matthew. “Mozart Won’t Help Smarts: Studies.” Entertainment, 26 Aug. 1999: Research Library, Lexis Nexis. Web. 15 March 2011.
Hui, K. (2006). Mozart effect in preschool children? Early Childhood Development and Care, 176(3-4), 411-419.
It is common for educators to discourage the use of headphones and listening to music in school. Administration of many schools in the United States believe that music is distracting and should not draw attention to the more important schoolwork. The educators are correct in some aspect; however, it depends on the style of music. Songs with lyrics are more likely to take away from a student’s focus than those without lyrics. A study by titled “Singing in the Brain: Independence in Lyrics and Tunes” was conducted to test the difference between both instrumental and lyrical music to uncover each style’s effect on the brain. Their reseach concluded that music and lyrics compete with each other for attention from the brain (Besson, et. al, 1998). While this study does support the dismissal of lyrical music in academia, that does that mean that classical or instrumental music cannot be incorporated. Another study done at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications says otherwise about music incorporated in learning. Qian Su and Fei Wang studied forty students broken into two groups. Group A was presented a song with a fast tempo, while at the same time being tested on cognitive memory. The other group was played a song at a slow tempo. Their study found that the studies conducted proved that music of a quicker tempo proved to be more distracted than music of a slower level,
"The Mozart Effect." Index Page - PositiveHealth.com - United Kingdom. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. .
Listening to music releases dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is known not only for improving mood but also increasing motivation and emotional stamina. But the benefits that come from listening to music affect more than just the way we feel. Studies have shown that when listening to the right style of music at the right decibel level, students have been able to concentrate better. For studying purposes, this mainly applies to classical music. Many school teachers and professors argue that music is simply distracting, or so stimulating that it inhibits a student’s ability to focus. However, when classical music has few words, or as is often found, few English words, the mind isn’t as easily distracted by the meaning or idea of the song. In fact, what is sometimes interpreted as chaotic in classical music can provide a high enough level of exertion for your brain to comprehend, that it stimulates high l...