mozart effect

ADITI HANDA

ABSTRACT

The objectives of the experiment were to investigate

Does listening to Mozart music or Contemporary pop music lead to a greater number of common words being recalled?
Do males and females perform differently following learning while listening to Mozart Music and contemporary music

The hypothesis made was that the population, both male and female, when listening to the Mozart music will have a higher memory for common words than the ones who are subjected to the contemporary pop music.

The results opposed the hypothesis completely by showing that the listening to contemporary pop music affected the memory of common words more positively than listening to Mozart music when considering the whole population. Also, more men showed a higher memory of words when listening to tiesto than Mozart than women. Also, the difference between the words recalled when listening to Tiesto and Mozart was higher in men which means that performance was affected more in men than in women which is a fact seen outside the hypothesis.

INTRODUCTION

The effect of background noises on learning ability have been of interest for psychologists for a long time. The research conducted by Rauscher, Shaw and Ky who were the founders of the theory of the Mozart effect suggested that musical experiences of short duration can have a direct causal influence on spatial reasoning on both a short term and a long term basis (Rauscher, 1997). Various other studies suggested otherwise, for example, Kirkpatrick (1943) found that music hinders performance on tasks demanding mental concentration while McGhee and Gardner(1949) suggested that music actually had no effect on tasks involving mental concentration. In some way or the other music is seen to affect human behaviour. Exposure to music is an established mood-induction technique, and musical selections by Mozart have been used to induce a mood of elation(Kenealy,1997; Westerman, Spies, Stahl, & Hesse,1996).

Even though the Mozart effect has been debated in the past, it is a theory which today is accepted by the majority. The aim of the experiment conducted was deepen insight on the Mozart effect by finding out the effect of music on the memory of people for common words. This meant not only investigating the effect of different kinds of music on the memory for words but also if males and females perform differently following learning while listening to different kinds of music. The experiment contributes to the definition of the Mozart effect as it tries to bring out the magnitude of effect on the population of the experiment depending on the different pieces of music used. It is hypothesised that the population, both male and female, when listening to the Mozart music will have a higher memory for common words than the ones who are subjected to the Dj Tiesto track.

METHOD

Design

The investigation was by the means of an experiment using the repeated measures design. In this design all the participants undergo both conditions.

The independent variable were the 2 conditions of the task: music by Dj Tiesto and by Mozart

The dependent variable was the no. of words recalled by the participants in both the conditions

The repeated measures design was used to avoid the difference between the participants affecting the results. If other variables are controlled then we know what effect the independent variable creates. Order effects are one of the ...