The Mozart Effect Does classical music really help you study better? Many recent research studies show that music idoes in fact improve cognitive thinking. In 1993, researchers at the University of California at Irvine discovered the so-called Mozart Effect - that college students “who listened to ten minutes of Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D major K448 before taking an IQ test scored nine points higher” than when they had sat in silence or listened to relaxation tapes. Other studies have also indicated that it doesn’t matter the artist; people retain information better if they hear classical or baroque music while studying. The most easily influenced stage of human life is early childhood, therefore it is encouraged that children listen to classical music. The researchers at Irvine recently found that preschoolers who had received eight months of music lessons scored “eighty percent higher on object-assembly tasks” than did other children who received no musical training. It was concluded that students who listened to music had high a greater ability to think abstractly and to visualize. These tasks are necessary to understand difficult theorems and equations in math and engineering. German scientists discovered an amazing difference in musicians who have the ability to recognize notes by ear and who began studying music before the age of seven. The plenum temporal, which is the area on the brain's left side that processes sound signals, mostly language, is three times the average size. The age of the musician matters because the brain generally stops growing after age 10. Besides being beneficial for young children, music is useful to many adolescents, especially to those with learning problems. Exposing music constantly to children with severe learning deficiencies has been known to show positive results. A study was done by the researchers at Irvine on a seven-year-old girl with an autistic condition, which caused her to use gestures and occasional words instead of full sentences. The young girl's speaking ability “improved remarkably” after she had lessons in a class that combined sounds from a piano with dialect. College students can also benefit from classical music. To test this, college students were exposed to three different types of music and were given standard reasoning tests, each for ten minutes. The research showed that the scores ... ... middle of paper ... ...one energy to work out; listening to a soft, relaxing song might put a person to sleep; and listening to Mozart may enhance “spatial reasoning” and memory in the brain. Whatever the situation may be, music seems to have a benefiting effect. Bibliography 1. Campbell, Don. The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.: 2001 2. Carroll, Robert Todd. The Mozart Effect available from http://skepdic.com/mozart.html; Internet, accessed April 29, 2004 3. Church, Ellen Booth. Learning Through Play: Music and Movement. New York: Scholastic Inc.: 1992 4. Eliot, Lise. What’s Going on in There?: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life. New York: Bantam Books: 2002 5. Machlis, Joseph and Kristine Forney. The Enjoyment of Music. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2003 6. Ortiz, John M. Nurturing Your Child with Music: How Sound Awareness Creates Happy, Smart, and Confident Children. Oregon: Beyond Words Publishing: 1999 7. Ortiz, John M. Nurturing Your Child with Music: How Sound Awareness Creates Happy, Smart, and Confident Children. Oregon: Beyond Words Publishing 1999
..., D. (1993). Music and the Mind. MENC, Retrieved August 25, 2003 from MENC, Academic Achievement and Music database.
...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.
Pietschnig, J., Voracek, M., Formann, A. (2010). Mozart effect–Shmozart effect: A meta-analysis. Intelligence, 38(3), 314-323. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0160289610000267
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.
The Mozart effect is falsifiable as the original study conducted by Rauscher et al (1993) proved no long-term improvement on intelligence. In the study participants were exposed the condition of silence, relaxation audio or Mozart’s sonata for two pianos in D major, followed by a spatial reasoning task from the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale (Rauscher et al, 1993). Despite the Mozart group yielding the most significant improvement in IQ scores (eight-nine points) and an increase in spatial reasoning, no permanent effect endured after testing had concluded (Rauscher et al, 1993). These findings render the Mozart effect questionable, as t...
No matter what you listen to, music has a way to “play with our emotions”. For example, if you listen to Tchaikovsky (classical) you may feel calm, and if you listen to Eminem (rap) you may feel hyper. If the music you listen to makes you feel good, it is good for you, Daniel Levitin, a Neuroscientist who focuses mainly on music, explains in an interview.
Linder, Todd. “The Effects of Music on People's Behavior”. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec 2013. .
Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Ky, K. N (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365(6447), 611. doi:10.1038/365611a0
Dowd, Will. "The Myth of the Mozart Effect." Skeptic 13.4 (2007): 21-23. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.)
Savill, Agnes. "Music and Letters." Physical Effects of Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan 2012. .
Campbell, D. G. (1997). The Mozart effect: tapping the power of music to heal the body, strengthen the mind, and unlock the creative spirit. New York: Avon Books.
For some people, music serves as a distraction, but this does not apply for everyone. It should also be recognized that music helps keep the brain relaxed, happy, and alert(“Listening to music while you study makes you smarter” par. 5). As stated in an article "Music and Learning" on thelearningweb.net website, "Music relaxes the mind and lowers stress levels that inhibit learning” (qtd. in Petersen par. 2).“Ms. JenniferEllingson, a teacher at Floyd Dryden Middle School says, "Music is the best thing ever created. Music can be relaxing, because it helps you forget about things that are stressful and help you to focus” (Petersen par. 3).
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...
Weinberger, Norman M. “Music and the Brain.” Scientific American Special Edition 16.3 (2006): 36-43. Health Source- Consumer Edition. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.