MOZART EFFECT

QUANTITATIVE METHOD AND STATISTICS IN PSYCHOLOGY

2011-2012

Mozart Effect on Spatial Reasoning



[Reg No.]

Abstract

This study, undertaken in Manchester, United Kingdom, sought to evaluate the hypothesized effect of Mozart's music on spatial-reasoning ability in comparison to other music or silence; using Paper Folding and Cutting task (PF&C) items from Stanford-Binet IQ Battery. The research participants were 511 men and women between the ages of 16 and 24. The participants were administered the PF&C subtest of the Stanford Binet IQ battery under three different conditions: Mozart's 'Sonata for two Pianos', Philip Glass 'Sadhanipa' and a silent control condition. In addition the experimental participants repeat the PF&C subtest after a period of 24 hours. The present study showed Mozart's music does facilitate significant gain in spatial reasoning in comparison to other music or silence. On one hand, several researchers' have presented similar results on the other hand; some others have not replicated these findings. A detailed analysis of the results has been presented in the results section that support the supposition related to Mozart effect on Spatial reasoning ability.

Mozart Effect on Spatial Reasoning

Introduction

Researchers argue that different types of music can affect positively on peoples behaviour especially on spatial reasoning. This phenomenon was supported and rejected at the same time. Rauscher, Ky, and Shaw first investigated the Mozart effect on spatial temporal reasoning in 1993. Their study focused on 36 undergraduates to participate in that research and after ten minutes of listening to Mozart's Sonata for two Piano (K.448) participants completed the Stanford-Binet Intelligent scale (Standing et al., 2008). The results highlighted that Mozart effect has a significant impact on the spatial temporal reasoning capability of individuals. In particular researchers found that IQ scores were 8 to 9 points higher after the participants had listened to Mozart music than after either being in to the other two conditions: relaxation and silence. Two years later, Rauscher, Shaw and Ky (1995) used a larger sample for their experiment, 79 college students participated on that study for five days and they have been divided in three groups with equivalent abilities.

They included 16 short term memory items of the Stanford- Binet's Intelligence scale and 16 PF&C (paper folding and cutting). The procedure in that study is more complicated, due to that fact that participants supposed to do different things on each day for example, the silence group sat in silence for ten minutes and then tested with 16 new PF&C items, Mozart group listened for ten minutes the Mozart Sonata (K. 448) and then were tested and the Mixed group listened for ten minutes something different everyday and they were tested on the same PF&C items (Rauscher & Shaw, 1998). Findings highlighted that college students produced significant short-term enhancement on spatial temporal reasoning after conditioning through Mozart music (Rauscher & Shaw, 1998).

The data of the Rauscher et al. (1993) showed that repetitive music significantly improves spatial temporal reasoning of the participant. More recently, Rauscher and Shaw (1998) presented the study “Key components of the Mozart ...