Ask A Scientist General Science Archive

Question:  I am a musician, and I have herd that listning to Mozart
will make you "smarter"....is this true and is there any factual 
information on this?
      Thanks!
 lauren urban

Answer 1:  Well... if you understand Mozart's music then that might 
make you a smarter musician...
--- Jade

Answer 2:
This item appeared in UC Focus, December 1993/January 1994-
 
  Listening to 10 minutes of Mozart could be good for the
IQ, at least temporarily, researchers at UC Irvine say.
Scientists found that students who listened to Mozart's
"Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major" improved their test
scores on intelligence tests taken immediately afterward.
...  Researchers picked Mozart because of the complex,
non-repetitive character of the music.  "Listening to
such music may stimulate neural pathways important
to cognition," said research fellow Frances H. Rauscher.
Test scores generally improved, regardless of the students'
taste in music.
 grant l