Mozart effect

The Mozart effect refers to disputed scientific studies that test a theory suggesting that classical music increases brain activity more positively than other kinds of music, and that listening to certain kinds of complex music may induce a short-lived (fifteen minute) improvement in the performance of certain kinds of mental tasks known as "spatio-temporal reasoning". Two pieces of Mozart's music; Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major (K. 448) and Piano Concerto No. 23 (K. 488), were found to have this effect, giving it its name. Later research also suggested that K. 448 can reduce the number of seizures in people with epilepsy. Apart from K. 448, the composition "Acroyali/Standing in Motion" by Greek composer Yanni was also found to have the effect.

Theories

Alfred A. Tomatis

The concept of the "Mozart effect" was described by French researcher, Dr. Alfred A. Tomatis in his 1991 book Pourquoi Mozart?, which explored the broad applicability of Mozart; in particular, in achieving results in Tomatis' thirty years of work with primarily learning disabled children.

Rauscher and Shaw

The term first came to U.S. media attention in a 1993 paper by Frances H. Rauscher, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and Gordon Shaw, a physicist at the University of California at Irvine. The paper reported that brief exposure to a Mozart piano sonata produced a temporary increase in spatial reasoning scores, amounting to the equivalent of 8–9 IQ points on the Stanford–Binet IQ scale. The fact that IQ was mentioned at all, and the fact that the music used in the study was by Mozart had an obvious appeal to those who valued this music, and the Mozart effect was widely reported. In 1994, New York Times music columnist, Alex Ross, wrote in a light-hearted article, "researchers [Rauscher and Shaw] have determined that listening to Mozart actually makes you smarter," and presented this as the final piece of evidence that Mozart has dethroned Beethoven as "the world's greatest composer." A 1997 Boston Globe article mentioned some of the Rauscher and Shaw results. It described one study in which three- and four-year-olds who were given eight months of private piano lessons scored 34 percent higher on tests of spatio-temporal reasoning than control groups given computer lessons, singing lessons, and no training.

Chabris and Steele

The existence of the Mozart effect was challenged by two teams of researchers in 1999: Christopher F. Chabris, and Kenneth M. Steele et al. in a pair of papers published together under the title "Prelude or Requiem for the 'Mozart Effect'?" Chabris stated that his meta-analysis demonstrated "that any cognitive enhancement is small and does not reflect any change in IQ or reasoning ability in general, but instead derives entirely from performance on one specific type of cognitive task and has a simple neuropsychological explanation", called "enjoyment arousal". For example, he cites a study that found that "listening either to Mozart or to a passage from a Stephen King story enhanced subjects’ performance in paper folding and cutting (one of the tests frequently employed by Rauscher and Shaw) but only for those who enjoyed what they heard". Steele et al. found that "listening to Mozart produced a 3-point increase relative to silence in one experiment and a 4-point decrease in the other experiment".

Don Campbell

The 1997 book by Don Campbell, The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit, discusses the theory that listening to Mozart (especially the piano concerti) may temporarily increase one's IQ and produce many other beneficial effects on mental function. Campbell recommends playing specially selected classical music to infants, in the expectation that it will benefit their mental development. These theories are controversial. The relationship of sound and music (both played and listened to) to cognitive function and various physiological metrics has been explored in studies with no definitive results. After The Mozart Effect, Campbell wrote a followup book, The Mozart Effect For Children, and created related products. Among these are collections of music that he states harness the Mozart effect to enhance "deep rest and rejuvenation", "intelligence and learning", and "creativity and imagination". Campbell defines the term as "an inclusive term signifying the transformational powers of music in health, education, and well-being. It represents the general use of music to reduce stress, depression, or anxiety; induce relaxation or sleep; activate the body; and improve memory or awareness. Innovative and experimental uses of music and sound can improve listening disorders, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, autism, and other mental and physical disorders and injuries".

Bridget and Cuevas

Even if music improves performance in some settings and on some tasks, there is evidence that the effect is not general in the sense that it does not apply in other tasks. Bridget and Cuevas (2000) found that, when compared to a no-music condition, listening to music by Bach or Mozart for 10 minutes produced no effect on subsequent mathematical problem solving performance.

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

The April 2001 edition Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine assessed the possible health benefits of the music of Mozart.

Professor John Jenkins

Professor John Jenkins assesses international evidence on the effect of music on the brain, and calls for more work to be done to discover the key ingredient in the Mozart effect. Scans have shown that the human brain uses a wide distribution of areas to listen to music. Rhythm and pitch tend to be processed in the left side, timbre and melody on the right. Those parts of the brain which we use for spatial/temporal tasks actually overlap with the music processing parts. Professor Jenkins suggests that "listening to music would prime the activation of those areas of the brain which are concerned with spatial reasoning". More recent work with epilepsy patients has indicated what Professor Jenkins calls "a more impressive indication of a Mozart effect". Once again, sonata K448 was played to participants, most of whom showed a decrease in their epileptiform activity - the patterns in the brain that produce epileptic seizures. Computer analysis of pieces by various composers showed that the music of Mozart and Bach shared a common factor, a high degree of ‘long-term periodicity’, in other words, wave forms repeated regularly, but not very close together, throughout the piece of music. By contrast, music which had no effect on either spatial reasoning or on epileptic seizures did not have this factor. Professor Jenkins commented, "It is suggested that music with a high degree of long-term periodicity... would resonate within the brain to decrease seizure activity and to enhance spatial-temporal performance". Professor Jenkins concludes that any health benefits of listening to music are "not specific to Mozart’s compositions", and calls for more research to be done on music other than K448, with longer listening times. For the benefits to be of real use, we need to discover exactly what musical qualities have to be present for the "Mozart effect" to take place.

German Research Ministry

A report published by the German Research Ministry in 2007 and analyzing presumably all the scientific literature on music and intelligence, concluded that "... passively listening to Mozart — or indeed any other music you enjoy — does not make you smarter. But more studies should be done to find out whether music lessons could raise your child's IQ in the long term".

Thompson, Schellenberg, Husain

Research by William Forde Thompson, Glenn Schellenberg, and Gabriela Husain (University of Toronto) suggests that the Mozart effect can be attributed to temporary changes in mood and arousal that result from prolonged exposure to music (e.g., 8-10 minutes). Not all music generates the Mozart effect, however. The music must be perceived as having an energetic and positive emotional quality.

Zell Miller

The popular impact of the theory was demonstrated on January 131998, when Zell Miller, governor of Georgia, announced that his proposed state budget would include $105,000 a year to provide every child born in Georgia with a tape or CD of classical music. Miller stated "No one questions that listening to music at a very early age affects the spatial-temporal reasoning that underlies math and engineering and even chess." Miller played legislators some of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" on a tape recorder and asked "Now, don't you feel smarter already?" Miller asked Yoel Levi, music director of the Atlanta Symphony, to compile a collection of classical pieces that should be included. State representative Homer M. DeLoach said "I asked about the possibility of including some Charlie Daniels or something like that, but they said they thought the classical music has a greater positive impact. Having never studied those impacts too much, I guess I'll just have to take their word for that."

Examples

According to the British Epilepsy Organization, research has suggested that Mozart's K 448 can have the Mozart effect, in that listening to the piano sonata improved spatial reasoning skills and reduce the number of seizures in people with epilepsy. Apart from another Mozart work, the piano concerto K 488, only one other piece of music has been found to have a similar effect, a song by the Greek composer Yanni, entitled "Acroyali/Standing In Motion", which is featured on his album Yanni Live at the Acropolis. It was determined to have the "Mozart effect", by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine because it was similar to Mozart's K 448 in tempo, structure, melodic and harmonic consonance and predictability.

See also

• "Mozart For Baby? Some Say, Maybe Not", Erica Goode, The New York Times, August 3, 1999 p. f1: Rauscher, "the money could be better spent on music education programs."

External links

• Skeptic's Dictionary - The Mozart Effect

Suggested Reading A. Walter, ed, Aspects of Music in Canada (1969); J.Paul Green and Nancy F. Vogan, Music Education in Canada: A Historical Account (1991);Encyclopedia of Music in Canada 2nd edition (1992)