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Mozart Effect

In 1993 Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky reported that 36 college students increased their mean spatial-reasoning scores the equivalent of 8 to 9 IQ points on portions of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale after listening to ten minutes of Mozart's sonata for two piano parts in D major rather then listening to relaxation instruction or sitting in silence (Steele, 1999). The Stanford-Binet intelligence scale is a standardized test that assesses intelligence and cognitive abilities in children and adults aged two to 23. Since the 1993 report, there have been many failed attempts to replicate what has commonly become known as the Mozart effect. Since the failed attempts there have been doubts about the researches reliability, although the original researchers and a few others have replicated the effects. Making sense of these findings entails examining several variables.
In an examination of neural firing patterns, Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky based their rationale on the Trion model of the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is a part of the brain that helps with, among other things, motor control, speech, memory, and auditory reception. The Trion model, developed by Shaw, showed that similar neural firings patterns occur when listening to music and performing spatial tasks. Rauscher and Shaw hypothesized that listening to certain types of complex music may "warm-up" neural transmitters inside the cerebral cortex and thereby improve spatial performance (Plucker, 2003). Although there is an increase in spatial abilities, the small intermittent effect probably arises from "enjoyment arousal" induced by music that is not produced by sitting in silence or listening to a relaxation tape (Thompson, 2001).
To tests the hypothesis of the Mozart effect, Steele based his method of research from the Rauscher et al. 1995 study. A Mozart sonata for two pianos in K, which lasts eight minutes and 24 seconds, unlike the Rauscher study which described the sonata used as being ten...