In research conducted by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993), the result of listening to music composed by the musician Mozart was an short-term improvement in tasks associated with spatial-temporal reasoning. The researchers hypothesized that higher brain functions correlate with music cognition. Dubbed the “Mozart Effect” by Dr. Alfred Tomatis, subsequent experiments differed on whether the influence is significant. While some studies support the proposed impact (Ivanov & Geake, 2003; Rauscher, Robinson, and Jens, 1998; Rideout & Laubach, 1996), others do not (Chabris, 1999; Mehr, Schachner, Katz, & Spelke, 2013; Steele, Bass, & Crook, 1999). This paper is an analysis of the research by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993) and a discussion of the article by Jenkins (2001) while incorporating results from other research.
The initial study investigating the influence on spatial task performance of listening to music, specifically Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K. 448 (Rauscher, Shaw, & Ky, 1993). The hypothesis of the researchers was that listening to the composition for ten minutes would significantly improve spatial reasoning skills as compared to ten minutes of instructions on relaxation techniques. Independent variables are manipulated by the researcher and offer different conditions for the experimental group and the control group; in the case of the Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky study (1993), they are listening to silence, a relaxation tape, or Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (K. 448). The dependent variable is the studied effect; the dependent variable for the experiment discussed was the test scores for spatial reasoning which was measured from one of three evaluation tasks. A researcher also has to consider variables that are present that may influence the result of the study and attempt to control them. For instance, the relationship between the music and the influence on spatial ability contains the confounding variable of arousal and an increase in mood. An effort was made to control the effect of arousal by monitoring pulse rates taken before and after the exposures. The lack of differences ruled out arousal as a confounding variable in the study. Another confounding factor may have been an individual ability to perform one or two of the three intelligent quotient (IQ) tests more efficiently than others. Therefore, three tests were randomly assigned to the participants. All three tasks were determined to be significant at a level of 0.01. The same control compensated for differences in participant gender, age, education, and other variables.
After the exposure to silence, the relaxation tape, or the Mozart sonata, tests from the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale were administered consisting of either an evaluation of pattern analysis, a multiple choice matrix, or a multiple choice paper cutting and folding task. The results indicated that the IQs of study participants who listened to Mozart rose 8 to 9 points as compared to the IQ scores of the participants listening to the relaxation tape or to silence, which did not change. A 10 to 15 minute delay between testing after the first post-listening period and another testing controlled for a variable of effect decay. This third test was the reasoning to declare the effect is temporal. This empirical evidence was the basis for the conclusion of the researchers that listening to Mozart has a significant impact on the IQ of the listener for a period of 15 minutes or less. Considering the methodology of the experiment and the empirical evidence produced, the conclusion is justified.
Jenkins (2001) is a proponent of the claims associated with the Mozart Effect. Three reasons he presented for his support are: 1) Positron emission tomography (PET) scans indicate that the areas of the brain affected by particular ingredients in a piece of music overlap the areas associated with spatial temporal task performance, 2) patterns of electrical discharge in the brain as measured by an electroencephalogram (EEG) show improved adjuvant left temporoparietal and right frontal areas after listening to music compared to listening to a story, and 3) Jenkins performed a similar experiment with epileptic patients and reported that 23 of the 29 subjects showed EEG readings with significantly lower epileptiform activity after listening to Mozart, including one patient who was comatose. Differences in IQ pre- and post-exposure were not measured because the hypothesis of the Jenkins study was not to determine if there was a change in the ability to perform spatial-temporal tasks, but rather to measure changes in EEG readings of brain activity. Individual differences in the ability to perform the spatial tasks were not specifically addressed in the article “Music and spatial task performance”, but random assignment to the three possible tasks offered a control method. An attempt to replicate the study using 1014 subjects reported a temporary increase in IQ enhanced by individual differences in gender, innate ability to perform spatial tasks, previous musical training, musical taste, and cultural background. More detailed correlations are needed in future research to determine the strength of the individual traits on the outcomes of the testing.
Modifications in the original study performed by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993) were suggested by the researchers to generalize the results of the Mozart effect: for instance, other measures of intelligence were used instead of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale or other types of music may be used. Wilson and Brown (1997) reported the Mozart effect when using Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (K. 488) and another study stated the same response using Greek composer Yanni’s "Acroyali/Standing in Motion" (Rideout, Dougherty, & Wernert, 1998). There were no indications of a Mozart effect when pop music was tested with an EEG (Hughes, Daaboul, Fino, & Shaw, 1998) or minimalist music (Rauscher, Shaw, & Ky, 1995) using spatial temporal tests. In an attempt to discover the components of music affecting temporary increase in IQ, Huges and Fino (2000) compared analyses of 39 Chopin pieces, 67 pieces composed by J.S. Bach, 81 Mozart compositions, and 148 musical pieces by 55 other composers and determined that much of the music composed by Mozart and at least two pieces composed by Bach contained a high amount of periodicity that is long-term, within the range of 10 and the 60s. There is particular emphasis on the notes G3 (registering 195 Hz), B5 (measuring 987 Hz), and C5 (showing 523 Hz). The minimalist music of Philip Glass and pop music from early years of the genre, which had been shown to have no effect on symptoms of epilepsy or on the ability to perform tasks measuring spatial behavior, demonstrated small amounts of longer-term periodicity. The researchers suggested that when music contains a high amount of long-term periodicity, resonation in the brain is responsible for the Mozart effect.
There are potential methods to promote the Mozart effect more generally. There is a possibility of research bias since subsequent replicating studies have not always achieved the same results. Some proponents, such as Jenkins, have taken the hypothesis in new directions other than increase in intelligence. After the results concerning resonance were published by Huges and Fino (2000), the components of the works of Mozart may be generalized across other compositions and types of sound exposures. It may be that music is not the variable causing the effect, but rather the frequencies in it. For that reason, the variable of individual exposure to music in the participant’s background could be eliminated as a confounding factor. Another alteration would be to incorporate more specific criteria for participant selections, refining characteristics such as gender or age, to determine if personal traits have a significant influence on the effect. For instance, it may be concluded that women aged 20 to 30 years are more likely to demonstrate significant response to the Mozart effect than women that are older or younger. This would open new avenues for research into the functioning of the brain based on specified biological parameters. Finally, it is possible that the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is not the most appropriate measurement for the hypothesis and additional research may attempt to achieve supporting conclusions in replicating studies using other forms of measurement; for example, a possible alternative may be Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) (Raven & Court, 1992).
In conclusion, the theory of the Mozart effect is not universally accepted. Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993) state that discrepancies in results are related to methodology variances in the research. However, there does seem to be substantiation in documented empirical conclusions regarding activation of brain centers dealing with spatial-temporal reasoning and decreased epileptic behaviors caused by electrical events in the brain. The Mozart effect has been determined to influence a temporary increase in IQ in large numbers of studies, but the impact has not been found to have long-term outcomes. The implication of the Mozart effect is the concept promoting intelligence through the use of high degrees of long-term periodicity similar to those discovered in compositions of Mozart and J.S. Bach. There is also promise of effective treatment of epilepsy and other disorders resulting from dysfunctional electrical activity in the brain through the use of directed resonating sound waves. If it is found that individual traits developed during growth and development predispose a person to reacting positively to sound for increasing intelligence, methods of teaching and child rearing may be significantly affected. While these types of applications of the Mozart effect lie in the fruit of future research, the ground has been broken through the development of technology capable of investigating, evaluating, and implementing the components of music that literally touch the mind.
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