Prelude or requiem for the ‘Mozart effect’?

The "Mozart Effect": Hard Science or Hype

The positive effects of the music of Wolfgang Amadaus Mozart on spatial reasoning ability have become a popular topic. Some studies suggest that listening to Mozart has a short-term positive effect on spatial IQ. Others suggest that prenatal and early childhood exposure to music can lead to long-term positive effects. However, some attempts to duplicate and generalize these findings have failed...

The Mozart Effect: Neurological Miracle, Artefact or Suggestive Influence

In its basic form, the Mozart effect refers to a temporary increase in the visual-spatial tasks performance, following the exposure to Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (K. 448) by Mozart. These results have stirred a scientific, social and commercial interest. Despite their popularity, the initial findings have proved to be very difficult to replicate, generating numerous conflicting results. I...

Mozart Effect

Steele (2003) raised several concerns regarding Rauscher, Robinson, & Jens’ (1998) study that found improved maze running following early music exposure in rats. Steele’s primary criticisms were that the rats in the Rauscher et al. study were only able to hear 31% of the notes, and that a selection bias resulting in pre-existing differences between groups could account for the disparity in thei...

Death of the clinician: requiem or reveille?

MICHAEL J. LEPORE, Death of the clinician: requiem or reveille?, Springfield, Ill., Charles C Thomas, 1982, 8vo, pp. xviii, 359, $27.50. This book is an autobiographical polemic which is, at times, disguised as history, about the organization and financing of medical education in the contemporary United States. Lepore is, however, an engaging storyteller. Many of his anecdotes will amuse reader...

Requiem for the "Jaga"