The fact that music has an impact on the brain, is little surprising: the music is perceived, processed, memorized and enjoyed. However, there is more to music than just simple perception and processing. In 1993, it was claimed by Rauscher et al. that listening to a particular piece of music by Mozart enhanced short-term memory performance, and also spatial learning. This effect was called the Mozart Effect. IQ scores would get as much as nine full points higher in the study done by Rauscher et al., in which subjects listened to Mozart’s sonata for two pianos (K448) for ten minutes, before being asked to do small tests in the area of spatial learning. However, the effects of listening to Mozart’s sonata did not last longer than ten to fifteen minutes.

Since 1993, many studies have been done about the Mozart Effect, some with no significant results, but numerous with a clear enhancement in skills. However, until today, these studies have merely looked at actual performance: subjects were exposed to ten minutes of Mozart, and then they were submitted to doing small tests like short IQ tests. The question that now arises is: How come that listening to music brings on such surprising results in memory and spatial learning?  

The final report of our group can be see here: research report Pi