Myths and famous claims
Does listening to Mozart make you smarter?
What is documented
Listening to Mozart does not make you smarter. The 1993 study behind the idea found spatial reasoning scores 8 to 9 points higher after 10 minutes of Mozart, an effect that lasted only 10 to 15 minutes. A 2010 meta-analysis of about 40 studies found no support for gains specifically from Mozart.
Want your own number? The test is 25 visual puzzles, about 12 minutes, no sign-up.
The myth
The "Mozart effect" is the belief that listening to Mozart, or classical music in general, makes people smarter. In its strongest form it says that playing Mozart to babies raises their IQ.
The short verdict
The original finding was real but tiny and short-lived, it concerned one kind of spatial task, and its own author said it did not raise general intelligence. Later reviews found little or nothing left of it.
Where it came from
The idea began with a one-page letter in Nature in 1993 by Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw and Catherine Ky, titled "Music and spatial task performance" (Rauscher, Shaw & Ky 1993). In that study, spatial reasoning scores after 10 minutes of Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos (K448) were 8 and 9 points higher than after relaxation instructions or silence, and the effect lasted only 10 to 15 minutes (Jenkins 2001). Rauscher herself stressed that the effect was limited to spatial-temporal reasoning and did not raise general intelligence.
The public version grew much larger than the finding. In 1998 Georgia's governor proposed giving every mother of a newborn a free classical music CD, and Florida required state-funded day-care centers to play classical music daily (Univ. of Vienna / ScienceDaily 2010).
Try one · Spatial Reasoning
Which option is the same shape, only rotated?
Tap the option you think is right, or show the answer.
Show the answer
Option 2 is the original figure turned a quarter turn counterclockwise.
How to solve it
- Pick a landmark: the marked cell or the end of the longest arm.
- Turn the figure in your head and watch where that landmark goes, and which side the other cells end up on.
- Turning the figure a quarter turn counterclockwise gives option 2.
- Each of the other options is a mirror image: flipping it over would match, but no turn does.
That was 1 puzzle. The full test has 25.
What the evidence shows
- 1999. Psychologist Christopher F. Chabris pooled the studies in a meta-analysis and found that any enhancement was small and limited to one specific type of task (Chabris, 1999).
- 2010. A University of Vienna meta-analysis of about 40 studies with more than 3,000 participants found no support for spatial gains specifically from listening to Mozart (Pietschnig et al., 2010) (Univ. of Vienna / ScienceDaily 2010). Its lead author said listening to Mozart is fine but will not boost cognitive abilities.
- 2006. A critical review grouped the Mozart effect with multiple intelligences and emotional intelligence as ideas that lack adequate empirical support for use in education (Waterhouse, 2006).
What about learning an instrument?
That is a different question from listening, and it has been studied separately. A 2020 multilevel meta-analysis of 54 studies, 254 effect sizes and 6,984 participants found that once study quality is controlled, the overall effect of music training programs on children's cognitive and academic skills is about zero (Sala & Gobet, 2020). Small effects appeared only in weaker studies, without random allocation and with non-active control groups. The evidence does not support learning an instrument as a way to raise IQ. The page on whether you can increase your IQ covers other methods.
Why it persists
A small lab result met a large public appetite, and it was turned into policy and products within a few years. Once a claim has reached state programs, a quieter correction in a journal does not travel as far.
What is actually true
A brief, small change on one spatial task, not a rise in IQ. For what does move measured intelligence, see can you raise intelligence. Related myths: brain training games and learning styles. If you want to try spatial puzzles yourself, the rotation puzzles are free.
Sources
- Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Ky, C. N. (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365, 611. doi:10.1038/365611a0 www.nature.com/articles/365611a0
- Jenkins, J. S. (2001). The Mozart effect. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 94(4), 170-172. doi:10.1177/014107680109400404 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1281386/
- Chabris, C. F. (1999). Prelude or requiem for the "Mozart effect"? Nature, 400(6747), 826-827. doi.org/10.1038/23608
- University of Vienna (2010, May 10). Mozart's music does not make you smarter, study finds. ScienceDaily (press release on Pietschnig, Voracek & Formann, 2010, Intelligence 38(3), 314-323, doi:10.1016/j.intell.2010.03.001) www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100510075415.htm
- Pietschnig, J., Voracek, M., & Formann, A. K. (2010). Mozart effect-Shmozart effect: A meta-analysis. Intelligence, 38(3), 314-323. doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2010.03.001
- Sala, G., & Gobet, F. (2020). Cognitive and academic benefits of music training with children: A multilevel meta-analysis. Memory & Cognition, 48, 1429-1441. doi.org/10.3758/s13421-020-01060-2
- Waterhouse, L. (2006). Multiple intelligences, the Mozart effect, and emotional intelligence: A critical review. Educational Psychologist, 41(4), 207-225. doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4104_1