Does Listening to Mozart Really Improve Brain Function and Intelligence?

The general idea is that listening to Mozart music, especially as a young child, will improve brain performance and make you "smarter" and therefore more successful in life. Parents wanted a quick fix to make their kids smarter faster so they believed this and it was popularized throughout society worldwide.

But, this idea has been disproved several times over the last 25 years 

One of the first research tests done in 1993 on this idea proved that listening to Mozart only gave about a 15 minute boost of concentration or “smarts”, but it wore off shortly after. Therefore it was debunked that listening to Mozart music gives kids a lifetime of enhanced intelligence and brain power. Since then other researchers, like at the University of Vienna have  also concluded over 40+ tests on this theory, and all have found no evidence to prove that listening to Mozart music enhances brain function or intelligence permanently. 

Yet, music can still help kids boost brain function and improve academic achievement in other ways than listening.

While simply listening to music can’t help improve your IQ or brain power, musical training has proved to have many benefits in helping kids become more successful long-term. A psychology study done by Psychology Today found that “Prating a musical instrument regularly engages all four hemispheres of your brain at an electrical, chemical, and architectural level which optimizes brain power”. The study also found that it improves focus, reduces stress levels, and can be a way for kids to relax and destress over things like testing. Playing and studying music through playing instruments also has also been found to connect the right and left hemispheres of the brain better, and the more these hemispheres are linked the more cognitive abilities one has, or “intelligence”.

Here are some other benefits and facts regarding musical studying and how it can improve brain function and learning!

- It improves memory

- It improves communication

- It improves multi-tasking 

- It increases blood flow to the brain, which is optimal for best learning conditions 

- It improves executive functions 

- It thickens gray and white matter of the cortex, which improves sensory and learning perception, and connectivity

- It reduces academic achievement gaps

- It helps kid build persistence, patience, resilience and dedication, which helps in improving long term success in life

- It improves emotional control and emotional fitness







Sources: https://dinnertablemba.com/the-mozart-effect/