Mozart Effect: Waste of Space or an Increase in Spatial Reasoning

Great Debates
1

This concept has been pestering me for quite some time now, and I was hoping that some one of you could either put it down to rest or enlighten me.

For those of you who do not know, the Mozart Effect is a theory that puts forth the notion that listening to certain types of music can be beneficial to children in-utero or in the pre-toddler age group. Also noted, it is thought that adults listening to the music can recieve a temporary boost in spatial reasoning. The effect sometimes includes the body healing itself through the use of music.

I will admit I very skeptical about it having healing effects or the temporary effect on adults, but that will not stop me from a) listening to the music and b) subjecting my child to it ocassionaly. And no, I am not trying to make my child a genius or anything of the likes.

Me,
“Not having a quote since 1981”

2

You might want to consult the Skeptics Dictionary for an answer. Here’s the entry on the “Mozart Effect”.

I personally don’t believe (and the Skeptics Dictionary seems to agree) that simply listening to Mozart is going to allow for any appreciable boost in spatial reasoning. Unless there’s any deep processing of the arrangement of music it doesn’t seem that anything is developing except for appreciation of the music, which I still believe is pretty dang important.

Improved spatial reasoning or no, I plan on playing the music for whatever children I may have.

3

There is no mozart effect but music lessons at a young age do help increase IQ - it says this in my book from mensa BUT i am too thick to remember the exact quote and too lazy to go get it.

search le web…

its all about practice…