The Mozart effect : musical phenomenon or musical preference? : a more ecologically valid reconsideration / Hope Daniels Cassity, Tracy B. Henley, Robert P. Markley

The "Mozart effect" is the reported phenomenon of increased spatial abilities after listening to that composer's music. However, subsequent research suggests that the Mozart effect may be an artifactual consequence of heightened arousal and mood rather than the music of Mozart per se (e.g., Thompson, Schellenberg, & Husain, 2001). The present study considers if performance improvements in a scored computer game are consistent with the mood and arousal hypothesis. Indeed, the use of a computer game as the experimental vehicle makes this work notably the most ecologically valid study of the Mozart effect to date. Specifically, in this work, rat- ings of musical preference as well as the game performance of individuals listening to different types of music are compared. If arousal and mood are the real "Mozart effect," we hypothesized that the performance level of participants would increase when listening to the selections they most enjoy. Results supported this hypothesis.

Psychology.