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There has been much talk recently concerning the effects of classical music on cognition. One popular view is that exposure to Mozart’s music may improve spatial reasoning. In the past two years, Don Campbell has brought this idea to the forefront with his 1997 book, The Mozart Effect (see review in The Sound Connection, 1997, Vol. 5, No., 2), and in a series of compact discs and audiocassettes in 1998. Dr. Alfred Tomatis has, for many years, stressed the importance of listening to Mozart music on one’s general well-being; and this style of music is an integral part of his method.
The ‘Mozart Effect’ received a great deal of media attention in 1993 after the publication of a study conducted by Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw, and Katherine Ky in 1993 at the University of California at Irvine (Dr. Rauscher is a former cellist and is now at the University of Wisconsin). This study was published in the well-respected scientific journal, Nature (1993, vol. 365, p. 611). In their study, 84 college students participated in one of three conditions for 10 minutes: (1) they listened to Mozart’s ‘Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major,’ (2) they listened to a relaxation tape, or (3) they did not listen to sound (silence). The participants then completed a spatial-reasoning test which was taken from the Stanford-Binet intelligence test. The results indicated that those students who listened to the Mozart piece scored 8 to 9 points higher than those in the other two conditions. However, this 'Mozart effect' lasted for only 10 to 15 minutes.
Some people have taken this finding several steps further by assuming that listening to this particular piano sonata, listening to Mozart music in general, and/or simply listening to classical music for a longer period of time may have an impact on one's thinking processes and possibly on intelligence. In fact, after hearing about the 'Mozart effect,' Governor Zell Miller of Georgia announced a "health-related" program last year in which classical music would be played to every newborn baby in the state in order to improve his/her abilities in spatial, temporal reasoning. (The audiocassettes and compact discs were not purchased using tax payer money, but rather, they were donated by major music companies.)
Since the publication of Rauscher et al. study, research has been somewhat mixed. Several follow-up studies by Rauscher and her colleagues provide additional support for the 'Mozart effect.' In 1995, Rauscher and her colleagues investigated spatial reasoning abilities in 79 college students who listened to Mozart's piano sonata, listened to various other musical pieces, or did not listen to music. Subjects who listened to the Mozart music performed significantly better than the other two control conditions. In 1998, Rauscher and her colleagues studied the 'Mozart effect' in laboratory rats. These rats were exposed to Mozart's piano sonata in utero and for two months postpartum. There were several other comparison groups in the study including rats who listened to minimalist music, rats who listened to white noise, or rats who heard no sound (silence). The rats who were exposed in the Mozart group learned to maneuver in a T-maze much faster and with fewer errors than rats in the other three groups.
Three studies by Dr. Rideout at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania provide further evidence in support of the 'Mozart effect.' In 1997, Rideout and Taylor replicated the 'Mozart effect' in 32 college studies using two different spatial-reasoning tasks. In 1996, Rideout and Laubach studied 8 college students who listened to Mozart's piano sonata in one condition and no music in another condition. Changes in EEG (i.e., brain wave activity) were examined prior to and while engaged in two spatial-reasoning tasks. Rideout and Taylor found that subjects performed better on these tasks after listening to the Mozart music. In addition, the EEG recordings were slightly correlated with the students' performance (i.e., increased activity was associated with increase in performance).
In 1998, Hughes, Daaboul, Fino, and Shaw, researchers at the University of Illinois Medical Center, had patients with seizures listen to Mozart's piano sonata. In 23 of 29 instances, there was a dramatic decrease in epileptic activity while listening to this music. Interestingly, these researchers also documented a substantial decrease in epileptic activity in a comatose patient while being presented with Mozart music.
In 1998, Johnson, Cotman, Tasaki, and Shaw studied the effects of Mozart music on a set of twins who were both suffering from Alzheimer's disease. One twin listened to Mozart's piano sonata and the other twin listened to songs from the 1930's in one condition and no music in another condition. The twin who listened to Mozart's piano sonata performed much better on a spatial-temporal task than the twin who participated in the two placebo conditions.
Similar to most areas of research, there are studies which do not support the 'Mozart effect.' Rideout, Dougherty, and Wernert (1998) instructed college students to perform a spatial performance task involving folding and cutting paper after participating in one of three conditions. The three conditions were: (1) listening to Mozart's piano sonata, (2) listening to a contemporary music piece with similar characteristics as Mozart, or (3) listening to a relaxation tape. Subjects in both music conditions performed much better on the spatial performance task than those who listened to the relaxation tape. This finding indicates that the 'Mozart effect' may not be dependent on Mozart's music specifically, but this effect may be dependent on one or more characteristics the music.
In 1995, two years following the publication of Rauscher's first study on the 'Mozart effect,' two studies failed to replicate the effect. In one study conducted by Newman and his colleagues, 114 college students listened to Mozart music, a relaxation tape, or no music. These researchers did not find any differences among these three groups on a spatial reasoning task. In a second study, this one conducted by Carstens, Huskins, and Hounshell, 51 students first listened to either Mozart's piano sonata or no music, and then worked on a spatial task called the 'Revised Minnesota paper Form Board.' There were no reported differences between these two groups.
Two additional studies, both published in 1997, did not support the 'Mozart effect.' Steele, Ball, and Runk presented 36 college students a backwards digit span task, i.e., recalling 9-digit strings in reverse order. Using a within-subject design, the students participated in three conditions--Mozart music, a recording of rain, or no sound. The results indicated no difference between these three conditions. Carlson and his colleagues attempted to document the 'Mozart effect' in monkeys using a memory task. These subjects participated in various experimental conditions including Mozart music, simple rhythms, white noise, and no sound. Interestingly, the monkeys performed best in the white noise condition and worst in the Mozart music condition.
In a paper published in Perception and Motor Skills in 1998 (Vol. 86, p. 835-841), Rauscher and Shaw noted that studies designed to find the 'Mozart effect' have employed a variety of populations (e.g., humans, mice, monkeys) and methodological designs (e.g., music compositions, dependent measures). This may be the reason why some research studies support the "Mozart effect" whereas others do not.
Listening to music is non-invasive, is usually a pleasant experience, and may have the potential to affect cognition positively. More research is needed to assess the validity of the 'Mozart effect' as well as to determine whether this effect can last longer than 10 or 15 minutes. The 'Mozart effect' is clearly a fascinating subject which has the potential to have far-reaching implications.
Editor's Note: There is also a growing body of evidence indicating that active involvement in music, such as singing and/or playing a musical instrument, may improve spatial as well as verbal abilities. An article summarizing several of the major studies on this topic will be published in the next issue of The Sound Connection.