Unit 2 Can Musical Experiences Enhance Intelligence?

?In a 1993 experiment, researchers reported that college students who listened to a Mozart sonata for a few minutes just before taking a test of spatial?reasoning abilities did better on the test than students who took the test after listening to relaxation instructions or sitting in silence (Rauscher, Shaw, & Ky, 1993). Strains?of Mozart, the investigators concluded, seem to induce?changes in the brain that “warm up” neural connections, thereby improving thinking. But the gain in performance—widely publicized as the “Mozart effect” —lasted only 15 minutes and proved difficult to replicate?(Pietschnig, Voracek, & Formann, 2010). Rather than involving a real change in ability, Mozart seemed to improve arousal and mood, yielding better concentration?on the test (Schellenberg et al., 2007).

?Despite mounting?evidence that the Mozart effect was uncertain at best, the media and politicians were enthralled with the idea that a brief exposure of the brain to classical music in infancy, when neural connections are forming rapidly, might yield lifelong intellectual benefits. For a time, the states of Georgia, Tennessee, and South Dakota provided free classical?music CDs for every newborn baby leaving the hospital.?Yet no studies of the Mozart effect have ever been conducted on infants! And an experiment with school-age children failed to demonstrate any intellectual gains as a result of simply listening to music?(McKelvie & Low, 2002).

Research suggests that to produce lasting gains in mental-test scores, interventions?must be long-lasting and involve children’s active participation. Consequently, Glenn Schellenberg (2004) wondered, can music lessons enhance intelligence? Children who take music lessons must practice regularly, exhibit?extended focused attention, read music, memorize lengthy musical passages, understand diverse?musical structures, and master technical skills. These experiences might foster cognitive processing, particularly during childhood, when regions of the brain are taking on specialized functions and are highly sensitive?to environmental influences.

Schellenberg recruited 132 six-year-olds—children just old enough for formal lessons. First, the children took an intelligence test and were rated for social maturity, permitting researchers to see whether music lessons would affect some aspects of development but not others. Next, the children were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. Two were music groups; one received piano lessons and the other voice lessons. The third group took drama lessons—a condition that shed light on whether intellectual gains were unique to musical experiences.?

The fourth group—a no-lessons control—was offered music lessons the following year. All music and drama instruction took place at the prestigious?Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where experienced teachers taught the children in small groups. After 36 weeks of lessons, a longitudinal （追蹤）?follow-up was conducted: The children’s intelligence and social maturity were assessed again.

All four groups showed gains in mental-test performance, probably because the participants had just entered grade school, which usually leads to an increase in intelligence test scores. But the two music groups consistently gained more than the control groups. Their advantage, though just a few points, extended across many mental abilities, including verbal and spatial skills and speed of thinking. At the same time, only the drama group improved in social maturity.

In sum, active, sustained musical experiences can lead to small increases in intelligence among 6-year-olds that do not arise from comparable drama lessons. But other enrichment activities with similar properties, such as reading, science, math, and chess programs, may confer similar benefits. All demand that children invest far more time and effort than they would in listening to a Mozart sonata. Nevertheless, despite absence of evidence to support their claims, music companies persist in selling CDs entitled “Tune Your Brain with Mozart” and “Mozart for Newborns: A Bright Beginning.”

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