The Mozart effect: what it is and what science says about classical music and babies

What is the Mozart effect?

It's the name that popularized the idea that listening to Mozart's music improves intelligence or mental performance. Its origins are much more modest: a 1993 scientific paper described a brief improvement on a spatial reasoning test after listening to a Mozart sonata.

Over time, the term was stretched to mean things the study never claimed: that classical music makes children smarter, helps you study better, or should be played for babies even before birth. When someone mentions the “Mozart effect,” it's worth asking which of these versions they mean.

What did the 1993 study actually show?

Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw and Catherine Ky published an experiment involving 36 college students in the journal Nature. Before completing several spatial reasoning tasks, the students listened to 10 minutes of Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major (K. 448), a relaxation recording, or silence. On a paper-folding and cutting task, those who listened to Mozart performed better.

According to Scientific American, the improvement was equivalent to about eight or nine points on a spatial IQ scale, on that task and immediately after listening. General intelligence was not measured, and the students were not followed over time. In other words, this was a temporary advantage on a specific task in young adults.

• Participants: 36 college students, not babies or children.
• What was measured: spatial tasks, such as mentally folding and cutting paper.
• When it was measured: immediately after listening, not weeks or months later.
• What was not measured: general intelligence or long-term learning.

How did it become “Mozart makes babies smarter”?

The media summarized the finding as “Mozart makes you smarter,” and from there it was extended to children and babies without studies to support it. A Scientific American article notes that extending the effect from college students to children and fetuses was never supported by evidence.

The best-known leap was political. In 1998, Georgia's then-governor, Zell Miller, pushed for every mother of a newborn in the state to receive a classical music CD. That same year, Florida passed a law requiring state-funded day care centers to play at least one hour of classical music daily, according to the summary from Universidad de Viena.

From there, “Mozart-style” recordings, toys and apps for babies multiplied. Rauscher herself has said there is no convincing evidence that children who listen to classical music improve their cognitive abilities.

What did later analyses conclude?

When other teams tried to replicate the result, the effect was small, inconsistent and limited to one task. Two reviews are consistently cited: Chabris's 1999 review and the 2010 meta-analysis by Pietschnig, Voracek and Formann.

Lead author Jakob Pietschnig summed it up this way: he recommends listening to Mozart to everyone, but it will not meet expectations of improving cognitive abilities. Chabris, for his part, noted that the small improvement could be due to natural variation between two testing sessions.

Why did some studies find an improvement?

One well-supported explanation involves mood and arousal. In a study by Thompson, Schellenberg and Husain (2001), participants listened to a Mozart sonata, a slow, sad adagio by Albinoni, or sat in silence, and then took a spatial test. Only those who listened to Mozart performed better than under the silence condition.

But the two pieces of music produced different levels of enjoyment, arousal and mood, and when the authors statistically controlled for those differences, the effect disappeared. They concluded that the Mozart effect is an artifact of arousal and mood.

Put simply: listening to something pleasant and upbeat can leave you more alert and in a better mood for a while, and that shows up on a test. It isn't something Mozart has that other music doesn't. Nor is it a lasting change in intelligence.

What actually helps babies through music?

For babies, the strongest support is for participating, not simply listening. In a study by Gerry, Unrau and Trainor (2012), published in Developmental Science, 6-month-old babies were randomly assigned to six months of active music classes with adult participation or a similar amount of passive music listening.

The babies in the active classes acquired knowledge of Western tonality earlier—in other words, how the music of their culture sounds—and showed more advanced communicative gestures and social behavior before they could speak. This is a single study that should be replicated, and the published abstract does not cover every detail, but it points in a useful direction.

• Sing to your baby and move while holding them, instead of just leaving music playing.
• Repeat your baby's favorite songs, with gestures and clapping games.
• Let your baby touch and tap objects that make sounds: spoons, rattles and small drums.
• Respond when your baby babbles or moves, as you would in a conversation.

You can find more ideas by age in music for babies: musical stimulation from ages 0 to 2 and benefits of music for children.

So, should you play classical music for your baby?

Yes, if you and your baby like it: classical music is beautiful, and sharing it is a lovely thing to do. You shouldn't expect it to affect your baby's intelligence or feel bad if you prefer vallenato, cumbia or a lullaby you sing yourself.

• Avoid products that promise to raise IQ: we found no evidence to support that claim.
• Keep the volume moderate and include quiet moments, too.
• Mix genres: classical, traditional music and children's songs.
• If you want music before your baby is born, see music for babies in the womb.
• If you're looking for music for sleep, read white noise for babies.

If your child is already between 3 and 5 years old and you want an introduction to music, read what early music education is.

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