The "Mozart Effect" does not exist

The German Ministry of Research has published a report challenging the popularity of the so-called "Mozart effect." Research has shown that passively listening to music, including Mozart's works, does not lead to increased intelligence. Although current literature reviews do not substantiate this phenomenon, the report's authors emphasize the need for further research on the impact of music lessons on children's IQ. Some studies suggest that music instruction may yield small but long-term benefits. The expert team emphasizes that the effects of music instruction are not sufficient to turn a child into a genius.

The German government has decided to investigate and definitively confirm or deny the existence of the so-called "Mozart effect."

Passively listening to Mozart—or any other music you enjoy—doesn't make you smarter. However, more research should be done to determine whether music lessons can raise your child's IQ in the long run, according to a scientific report analyzing the scientific literature on music and intelligence, published in early April by the German Research Ministry.

The ministry commissioned a report—the first to review the music literature on its impact on intelligence—from a team of nine German neuroscientists, psychologists, educationalists, and philosophers, all experts in music. Ministry staff felt compelled to address the issue because the ministry had recently been inundated with requests for funding for research on music and intelligence, with no clear understanding of how to evaluate the research.

Interest in this area of science grew rapidly after the publication in 1993 of a controversial report in the journal Nature, in which psychologist Frances Rauscher and her colleagues at the University of California, USA, found that people performed better on spatial tasks – such as pattern recognition or paper folding – after listening to Mozart's music for 10 minutes.

The "Mozart Effect" became a marketing tool for the music industry and private schools, even long after additional research began to cast doubt on the discovery. Amidst the commercial squall that often brought with it misinterpretation of information, issues of listening to music and actively practicing musical instruments often caused confusion in people's minds.

"We looked through the entire literature to see which questions were still open," says the report's author, Ralph Schumacher, a philosopher of piano performance at Humboldt University in Berlin. The report declared Rauscher's "Mozart effect" dead.Most studies on the effects of listening to music on intelligence—a work musicologists have dubbed "Mozart's Requiem"—were either unable to replicate the finding or found a transient effect lasting no longer than 20 minutes after listening. Even the transient effect wasn't specific to Mozart's music, but to a specific type of music, or even literary novels, that the subject enjoyed.

The report was more merciful about the reported effects of music lessons on IQ, especially in young children. Most published studies are small and difficult to interpret, and some do not suggest any lasting effect on IQ. "However, there were two large and rigorous studies that showed a small but significant effect of music lessons on IQ—an effect that can last for years," Schumacher says.

Even if the effects of music training are confirmed in subsequent studies, Schumacher admits, it's highly unlikely that it will make your child a genius. "If it were otherwise, it would be more visible in the current literature," Schumacher says. "The most interesting part will be trying to figure out how the effect of music training is produced in the brain, if such an effect exists."