You've heard of the Mozart effect, right? If not, here's a little background information for ya.
In the '90s, there was a study done by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky that pointed to the theory that Mozart's music had an effect on spatial reasoning. Although the study only showed that it made temporary increases in spatial reasoning the findings were peddled to the masses through books and CDs under the false pretense that his music made your baby permanently smarter.
A report, published in the journal Pediatrics, said it was unclear whether the original study in 1993 has detected a "Mozart effect" or a potential benefit of music in general. But they said a previous study of adults with seizures found that compositions by Mozart, more so than other classical composers, appeared to lower seizure frequency. One team said it was possible that the proposed Mozart effect on the brain is related to the structure of his compositions, as Mozart's music tends to repeat the melodic line more frequently. In more condemning evidence, a team from Vienna University's Faculty of Psychology analyzed all studies since 1993 that have sought to reproduce the Mozart effect and found no proof of the phenomenon's existence. Overall, they looked at 3,000 individuals in 40 studies conducted around the world. It did not even need Bach to have the same effect: "Those who listened to music, Mozart or something else – Bach, Pearl Jam – had better results than the silent group. But we already knew people perform better if they have a stimulus," said Jakob Pietschnig, who led the study. "I recommend everyone listen to Mozart, but it's not going to improve cognitive abilities as some people hope," he added. In 1999, psychologist Christopher Chabris, now at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., performed a meta-analysis on 16 studies related to the Mozart effect to survey its overall effectiveness. "The effect is only one and a half IQ points, and it's only confined to this paper-folding task," Chabris says. He notes that the improvement could simply be a result of the natural variability a person experiences between two test sittings. In almost every study done, there were little to no improvements on any level.
However, playing an instrument is a different ball game. Instead of listening to music passively, Rauscher advocates putting an instrument into the hands of a youngster to raise intelligence. She cites a 1997 University of California, Los Angeles, study that found, among 25,000 students, those who had spent time involved in a musical pursuit tested higher on SATs and reading proficiency exams than those with no instruction in music. Other effects of playing an instrument are learning how to listen, increased memory capacity, sharper concentration, growth of perseverance, improvement of non-verbal communication skills, an increased sense of responsibility, better coordination, stress relief, growth of creativity, better memory recall, organizational skills and time management, help with crowd anxiety, people skills, and growing of a social network within the people you play with. In other words, either learn how to play an instrument or have your children learn how to play an instrument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_effect
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130107-can-mozart-boost-brainpower
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/11500314/Mozart-effect-can-classical-music-really-make-your-baby-smarter.html
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-babies-ex/
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