“Listening to Mozart's music increases cognitive intelligence in babies.”

After listening to Mozart's sonata for two pianos (K448) for 10 minutes, normal subjects showed significantly better spatial reasoning skills. The mean spatial IQ scores were 8 and 9 points higher after listening to the music than in the other two conditions. The enhancing effect did not extend beyond 10-15 minutes. At the end of training all the children were able to perform simple melodies by Beethoven and Mozart. When they did they were then subjected to spatial-temporal reasoning tests calibrated for age, and their performance was more than 30% better than that of children of similar age given either computer lessons for 6 months or no special training (*P* <0.001).

Results: We included 27 studies: 26 on typically developing children and one on children with acquired brain injuries. The cognitive domains addressed included executive functioning (16 studies), attention (nine studies), intelligence and learning (seven studies), sensory processing (five studies), mathematical skills (three studies) and self-regulation (two studies). In total, 23 studies reported a positive effect of music and rhythm on at least one cognitive domain, most commonly executive functioning, attention and intelligence. Conclusion: Music and rhythm-based interventions show promise to assess and improve cognitive development in typically developing children.

The answer is no. No research has ever demonstrated that merely listening to Mozart's music can have a lasting impact on general intelligence or IQ. It’s funny that people often associate the Mozart effect with babies, because (as far as I can tell) nobody has ever offered persuasive evidence that Mozart’s music delivers cognitive benefits to *human* *infants.* So the evidence for a Mozart effect among human infants is lacking.

Infants and young children do not seem to derive any special mental benefit from hearing classical music, particularly with respect to mathematical or spatial skills. Researchers working with children have not replicated the effect found with adults. For example, in another study, preschoolers who listened to classical music showed no change in their tested spatial intelligence (McKelvie & Low, 2002). It would appear that the Mozart effect is a scientific legend.

In 1993 Rauscher et al. made the surprising claim that, after listening to Mozart's sonata for two pianos (K448) for 10 minutes, normal subjects showed significantly better spatial reasoning skills than after periods of listening to relaxation instructions designed to lower blood pressure or silence. The enhancing effect did not extend beyond 10-15 minutes. Rauscher has stressed that the Mozart effect is limited to spatial temporal reasoning and that there is no enhancement of general intelligence.

The Mozart effect is a scientific legend. It's the idea that playing Mozart's music to a baby will make them smart. We know it isn't true. Many researchers tried to reproduce the Mozart effect study in one way or another, and in 1999, the journal Nature published a scathing meta-analysis of 16 of these studies. The largest meta-analysis done on this topic came up empty.

Berkman Professor of Psychology, found that music training had no effect on the cognitive abilities of young children. “More than 80 percent of American adults think that music improves children’s grades or intelligence,” Mehr said. “Even in the scientific community, there’s a general belief that music is important for these extrinsic reasons. But there is very little evidence supporting the idea that music classes enhance children’s cognitive development.”

But a study in Nature in 1999 by Christopher Chabris, a psychologist, adding up the results of 16 studies on the Mozart effect, found only a one and a half point increase in IQ and any improvements in spatial ability limited solely to a paper-folding task. Other researchers say there is no evidence that playing Mozart (or Beethoven or Bach) to babies before or after birth increases IQ.

In fact just recently, a Harvard University study illustrated that music does not enhance childrens' cognitive abilities. Additionally, the original 1993 report which led to the invention of the “Mozart Effect” found that cognitive gains from listening to Mozart only last for about 10 minutes. The “Mozart Effect” is shrouded in myths and has always been an unreliable theory.

Two new studies from the Brain and Creativity Institute at USC show that as little as two years of music instruction has multiple benefits. Music training can change both the structure of the brain's white matter, which carries signals through the brain, and gray matter, which contains most of the brain's neurons that are active in processing information. Initial results published last year showed that music training accelerates maturity in areas of the brain responsible for sound processing, language development, speech perception and reading skills.

Exposing babies to classical music, even in utero, boosts their IQ and other aspects of their cognitive development. But is there any truth to the Mozart effect? Its primary scientific support comes from a 1993 study showing that classical music temporarily improved college students’ scores... Subsequent studies have found classical music improved preschoolers’ performance on paper folding and cutting tasks. But the kids did just as well after they’d heard stories or listened to children’s music. What’s more, their performance depended on how much they liked the music or stories.

Scientists have discredited claims that listening to classical music enhances intelligence, yet this so-called “Mozart Effect” has actually exploded in popularity over the years. The original 1993 experiment had found only a modest and temporary IQ increase in college students performing a specific kind of task while listening to a Mozart sonata.

A two-year study by researchers at the Brain and Creativity Institute (BCI) at the University of Southern California shows that exposure to music and music instruction accelerates the brain development of young children in the areas responsible for language development, sound, reading skill and speech perception. The results showed that the auditory systems of the children in the music programme had accelerated faster than the other children not engaged in music.

Multiple meta-analyses, including Pietschnig et al. (2010) in Intelligence journal and Jakubowski & Thompson (2020), have concluded no reliable evidence for lasting IQ gains from passive Mozart listening in adults or children; effects are small, transient, and preference-dependent, not specific to Mozart or classical music.

Scientific research confirms that listening to Mozart's music can improve concentration and attention in young children. His compositions are rich in diverse sounds and melodies, which stimulate the brain to focus and process information better. Studies have shown that listening to Mozart's music can improve memory in young children.