Chapter 12 - Listening to Mozart Sonata (K.448) Enhances Spatial-Temporal Reasoning: The “Mozart Effect”

Abstract

This chapter examines how listening to Mozart Sonata (K.448) enhances spatial-temporal reasoning. It makes a point that, if music training might yield a long-term enhancement of spatial-temporal reasoning, then perhaps even listening to music might produce a short-term enhancement. Experiment is performed to test this hypothesis using U.C. Irvine college students as subjects. Three listening conditions are used: silence, a relaxation tape, and a selection by Mozart. Immediately after each listening condition, the student is tested on one of three spatial tasks from the Stanford-Binet intelligence tests namely paper folding & cutting (PF&C), pattern analysis, and matrices. Data entered in computer are analyzed statistically. The result showed the students did much better in the spatial reasoning after listening to the first 10 minutes of the Mozart Sonata (K.448) than after listening to silence or to the relaxation tape. The design helped to conclude that the enhancing effect of the Mozart listening condition does not last much beyond the 10- to 15-minute period during which the subjects were engaged in each spatial task.