The correlation between music and individuals is a very heavily researched topic. This literature review will critically evaluate the claim made by Don Campbell (1997, p.24) that ‘playing Mozart makes babies smarter’. This review will look at the history of the Mozart effect and also look at a range of sources that support and also go against the claim that the Mozart effect makes babies smarter. These claims will be analysed through the three main measurements in relation the Mozart effect these are spatial reasoning, arousal and also mood.
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...
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Husain, G, Schellenberg, G & Thompson, W. (2002). Effects of Musical Tempo and Mode on Arousal, Mood, and Spatial Abilities. Music Perception, 20(2), 151-171. Retrieved from http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3psygs/Husain.pdf
Jones, S & Zigler E. (2002). The Mozart Effect: Not learning from history. Applied Developmental Psychology, 23(3), 355-372. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0193397302001132 Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Ky, K. N (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365(6447), 611. doi:10.1038/365611a0
Sack, K. (1998, January 15). Georgia's Governor Seeks Musical Start for Babies. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/15/us/georgia-s-governor-seeks-musical-start-for-babies.html
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...
Linder, Todd. “The Effects of Music on People's Behavior”. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec 2013. .
Three aspects of this topic will be discussed throughout this report to analyse why the Mozart Effect is being misrepresented. The difference between music listening and music instruction will be examined, as well as the different methodologies used in literature, and an alternate explanation for why a temporary increase in IQ ...
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?
Many people do not realize the positive effect that popular music has on children. At a young age one of the breakthroughs for children is music’s benefit for language development. According to the Children’s Music Workshop, the effect of music education on language development can be seen in the brain. Studies have indicated that musical training develops the left side of the brain known to be involved in processing language and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. The relation between both music and language development can also have advantages children. Listening to music can also improve children test scores and IQ levels. Dr. Schellenberg found that a small increase in the IQs of six year olds who were given weekly vocal and piano lessons. This leads to the fact that music is very helpful when it comes to education. Professor Christopher Johnson revealed that students in elementary schools with better music education programs sc...
Music is a wonderful thing. I can listen to it when I'm lifting, when I need to sleep, when I want to get away. I can listen to it when I’m say, or angry of to make me happy. I can recall things when it comes to my favorite music. One thing I always wondered is how can music be such a multifaceted factor in making me feel these different ways, and remember like I do. How does my brain factor into all of this too. Since music is a major and constant variable in today’s society In this paper I will discuss these things and how music affects the brain when it comes to certain things; long and short-term memory, how it affects our moods, how our day is going, our health and rehabilitation, and even therapy for mental illnesses? This includes listening, performing, composing, reading, writing and any other activities like expressing one’s self through music.
British Psychological Society (BPS) (2013) Making music may improve young children's behavior. Available at: http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=134087&CultureCode=en (Accessed: 17 January 2014).
Vaidya, Geetanjali. "Music, Emotion and the Brain." Serendip. N.p., 2004. Web. 7 Jan 2012. .
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. .
Scientists and skeptics have different beliefs about the benefits of the Mozart Effect. Scientists found that Mozart “enhanced synchrony between the neural activity in the right frontal and left tempoparietal cortical areas of the brain,” and that this effect continued for “over 12 minutes” (Rauscher & Shaw, 1998, p. 839). Based on these results, Leng and Shaw speculated that “listening to Mozart could be stimulating the neural firing patterns in the parts of the cerebral cortex responsible for spatial-temporal skills, which subsequently enhances the spatial-temporal abilities that are housed in those parts of the cortex”[Dowd]. However nonbelievers suggest that the research is incomplete and misleading. The Irvine study that launched the phenomenon has been widely criticized. The Startling results announced by the initial paper were misleading. First, the researchers claimed that the undergraduates improved on all three spatial-reasoning tests. But as Shaw later clarified, the only enhancement came from one task—paper folding and cutting. Further, the researchers presented the data in the form...
Music and the Brain. (n.d.). Music and the Brain. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from http://tdlc.ucsd.edu/research/highlights/rh-music-and-brain-2011.html
"The Mozart Effect." Index Page - PositiveHealth.com - United Kingdom. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. .
The first theoretical statement of the middle-range MMM theory is that music produces the psychological response of altered mood leading to improved health outcomes (Murrock & Higgins, 2009). Based on the musical elements of rhythm, melody, pitch, harmony, and interval there are psychological responses that are elicited once music passes through the auditory cortex of the brain to process it (Murrock & Higgins, 2009). The right hemisphere of the brain helps with response and cognitive recognition of music and in turn is able to alter the mood, leading to various health outcomes (Murrock & Higgins, 2009). In a stu...
Cooper, Belle. " How Music Affects and Benefits Your Brain."lifehacker.come. N.p., 11 22 2013. Web. 3
Weinberger, Norman M. “Music and the Brain.” Scientific American Special Edition 16.3 (2006): 36-43. Health Source- Consumer Edition. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.