Staying Sharp | Your Brain on Music
By: Phil Scott Source: NRTA Live & Learn Date Posted: November 17, 2006
In 1993, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, published a paper in the journal Nature titled “Music and Spatial Task Performance.” They found that after listening to 10 minutes of Mozart, a group of 36 college undergraduates improved their spatial-temporal intelligence (the ability to mentally manipulate objects in three-dimensional space) by 8 to 9 IQ points. Dubbed the Mozart Effect, it soon had pregnant women playing classical music to raise fetal intelligence.
Obviously a daily dose of Amadeus was just what the doctor ordered, except that no one has studied the effect of Mozart on babies' intelligence. And subsequent research couldn't duplicate the results. Anyway, according to the original study, the IQ boost lasts only 10 to 15 minutes. David Huron, a musicologist at Ohio State University, says that one researcher even discovered a similar Grateful Dead Effect.
Is music's effect on human emotions just a lot of white noise? Of course not. Can music help people who've grown well beyond the fetal stage? You bet. “Of all the things said about it, the Mozart Effect has a persistent and real effect on spatial skills, such as judging the distance to that stop sign, or remembering where you put your keys,” Huron says. “We don't know why. I don't even know of a decent theory or speculation.”
“Music is drugs without the drugs,” Huron adds. “You can use it as a stimulant or a depressant.” Unlike “It's Raining Men” by the Weather Girls, a Chopin étude would be an odd choice of music for an aerobic routine, but music can change your mood, lower your blood pressure, or reduce pain by releasing endorphins. Which is why “people, especially young people, listen to music all day long, like a soundtrack to their daily life,” Huron says.
And what about playing an instrument? As reported here previously, learning an instrument hones manual dexterity while playing a tune helps exercise the memory. “I know many people who retired young and took up a musical instrument because they had always wanted to,” says former rock producer Daniel Levitin, now a McGill University neuroscientist whose new book is This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession. “Music is different because the rewards are immediate. If you take up cabinetry you work for a month before a piece is finished. But the song is right there.” Huron agrees, if you choose your instrument wisely. Violins, for example, are notoriously difficult. But “with the piano, the moment you hit the key there's the gorgeous piano sound,” he says.
Don't play Requiem for the Mozart Effect just yet. New Scientist has reported findings that rats who listened to Mozart expressed higher levels of several genes involved in stimulating and changing connections between brain cells. So give Mozart a chance. Or the Grateful Dead.
Phil Scott is the author of Hemingway's Hurricane: The Great Florida Keys Storm of 1935 (McGraw Hill).
Share
preview