University of California at Irvine was from where one of the modern myths originated: the myth >that listening to Mozart can make you smarter . The truth is not that you are beyond redemption and can never be made smarter, but that learning music is the key; not just listening to it. You do not have to force yourself or your child to plod through sessions of Mozart if bhangra music is more your style. Any music you enjoy can make you perform better due to “enjoyment arousal”. But if you want a permanent boost, catch them young and teach them music, says this podcast.
The idea began in the 50’s when an ENT doctor Alfred A. Tomatis said that playing Mozart to certain of his patients drastically aided in fixing speech and auditory disorders, among other things. In 1991, he published a book on this subject titled Pourquoi Mozart in which he explained he felt that listening to Mozart helped retrain the ear by providing varying frequencies for the ear to perceive...and promoted healing and development of the brain.
Then came the research by the University of California which was a small study making a limited claim. They studied 36 students in groups categorized as, silence, listening to non-Mozart music and listening to Mozart music. In all three situations, the students were given an IQ test. Then they came out with the statement that this increased the spatial IQ score by an average of 8 points due to increased performance in specific types of spatial-temporal tasks.
“The ‘Mozart Effect’ was trademarked by musician Dan Campbell…the researchers claim was only that it seemed to increase subject’s abilities in certain spatial-temporal tasks. They never said anything about increasing ability anywhere else or in a person’s general IQ, as their study was only on the effects of Mozart on spatial-temporal reasoning. The media of course proceeded to blow these results out of proportion and say that this study showed that listening to Mozart makes you smarter in general, not just concerning spatial tasks…and so companies like Baby Genius came to be,” says the podcast. It adds, “...other researchers have had very little success in replicating the original results and found zero evidence of any “ Mozart effect”. However, a few others have found some evidence of a “Mozart Effect”. So what’s going on here?”
In 1999 some researchers came up with the idea of ‘enjoyment arousal”…it simply means that if you are enjoying yourself, to some extent, you will perform better at certain tasks you are given. “On that note, another study showed that listening to Mozart only boosted performance in spatial-temporal tasks in those subjects who enjoy listening to Mozart…” The study also showed that anything you enjoy doing will have the same effect on your performance.
The findings were further strengthened by the research by William Forde Thompson, Gabriela Husain, and Glenn Schellenberg, in 2001. They measured the moods and energy levels of people listening to music. If they listened to music that depressed them, they did not perform well, whoever the musician or composer.
The key, however, is that there are many studies that show music lessons, particularly for kids, improves their ability to concentrate, helps their confidence, co-ordination and seems to boost their intelligence as well among other positive changes in the brain. Says the podcast, “…the boost is significantly higher than even the most optimistic of the ‘Mozart Effect’ claims. And best of all, these effects seem to last for years, some of them for the entire life of the individual and the improvements aren’t subtle. Indeed, one experiment showed that even just eight months- worth of regular piano lessons on preschoolers will increase their spatial reasoning IQ on average about 50 per cent. That’s not even including all the other benefits; that’s just talking about the spatial reasoning boost.”
