scholarly journals The Mozart Effect: Evidence for the Arousal Hypothesis

2008 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 396-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward A. Roth ◽  
Kenneth H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Mean Difference ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Piano Sonata ◽  
Mozart Effect ◽  
Silent Condition ◽  
Graduate Record Exam ◽  
Analytical Section

This study investigated the effect of music listening for performance on a 25-question portion of the analytical section of the Graduate Record Exam by 72 undergraduate students ( M age 21.9 yr.). Five levels of an auditor condition were based on Mozart Piano Sonata No. 3 (K. 281), Movement I (Allegro); a rhythm excerpt; a melody excerpt; traffic sounds; and silence. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the stimuli. After a 5-min., 43-sec. (length of the first Allegro movement) listening period, participants answered the questions. Analysis indicated participants achieved significantly higher mean scores after all auditory conditions than those in the silent condition. No statistically significant pairwise mean difference appeared between scores for the auditory conditions. Findings were interpreted in terms of an arousal framework, suggesting the higher means in all auditory conditions may reflect immediate exposure to auditory stimuli.

scholarly journals Shifting Listening Niches: Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Rose Hurwitz ◽  
Carol Lynne Krumhansl
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Significant Others ◽  
New Music ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
New Normal ◽  
Listening Habits ◽  
Memory Associations

The term “listening niche” refers to the contexts in which people listen to music including what music they are listening to, with whom, when, where, and with what media. The first experiment investigates undergraduate students’ music listening niches in the initial COVID-19 lockdown period, 4 weeks immediately after the campus shut down abruptly. The second experiment explores how returning to a hybrid semester, the “new normal,” further affected these listening habits. In both experiments, the participants provided a list of their most frequently listened-to songs during the respective period of time. From these, they identified one song that seemed most associated with this period, their “signature song,” and stated why this song seemed relevant. These reasons were coded on nine underlying themes. Three clusters were found to underlie the themes: (1) emotional responses (2) memory associations, and (3) discovery of new music. We identified songs and reasons for selecting them that represented the three clusters and related these to the lyrical content. Compared to before the pandemic, participants in both experiments report listening more in general and on Spotify, but there were no differences in listening between lockdown and the new normal. Whom they were listening with shifted overtime from family members to significant others and finally to other friends and roommates. These results demonstrate how students listen to and find new music that is meaningful to them during this unprecedented pandemic.

Comparison of French and Japanese Individuals with Reference to Hofstede's Concepts of Individualism and Masculinity

2001 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kumi Hirokawa ◽  
Bruno Vannieuwenhuyse ◽  
Itsuko Dohi ◽  
Yo Miyata
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Mean Difference ◽  
Workplace Culture ◽  
Japanese Men ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Culture Education

The purpose was to examine whether Japanese individuals were oriented toward collective and masculine values attributed to cultures by Hofstede by comparing them with those of French individuals. There were 110 French participants (54 men, 56 women) and 128 Japanese participants (41 men, 87 women), selected from undergraduate students, employed workers, housewives, and retirees. Their occupational proportion and their ranges of age were balanced in both countries. Scales for Individualism and Masculinity dealt not only with work-related but also general items for workplace, culture, education, and family. Analyses generally showed that the Japanese individuals scored higher on the Masculinity scale and French participants scored higher on the Individualism scale. There was a mean difference between Japanese men and women in how they answered questions about the work-related items concerning Masculinity.

Using Contextual and Visual Cues to Improve Sung Word Recognition in Hearing Aid Users

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-405
Author(s):  
Lindsey A Wilhelm
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Music Therapists

Abstract Older adults commonly experience hearing loss that negatively affects the quality of life and creates barriers to effective therapeutic interactions as well as music listening. Music therapists have the potential to address some needs of older adults, but the effectiveness of music interventions is dependent on the perception of spoken and musical stimuli. Nonauditory information, such as contextual (e.g., keywords, picture related to song) and visual cues (e.g., clear view of singer’s face), can improve speech perception. The purpose of this study was to examine the benefit of contextual and visual cues on sung word recognition in the presence of guitar accompaniment. The researcher tested 24 community-dwelling older adult hearing aid (HA) users recruited through a university HA clinic and laboratory under 3 study conditions: (a) auditory stimuli only, (b) auditory stimuli with contextual cues, and (c) auditory stimuli with visual cues. Both visual and contextual nonauditory cues benefited participants on sung word recognition. Participants’ music background and training were predictive of success without nonauditory cues, and visual cues provided greater benefit than contextual cues. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that music therapists increase the accessibility of music interventions reliant upon lyric recognition through the incorporation of clear visual and contextual cues.

Fashion Innovators, Sensation Seekers, and Clothing Individualists

1995 ◽  
Vol 81 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1203-1210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Stanforth
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Mean Difference ◽  
Opinion Leadership ◽  
Scale Analysis ◽  
Sensation Seeking Scale

The purpose was to investigate the association of fashion consumer groups' scores on sensation seeking and clothing individuality. Fashion innovators are expected to be sensation seekers and to use clothing to express their individuality. 142 undergraduate students were administered Hirschman and Adcock's Measure of Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership, Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale, and the Creekmore Clothing Interest Scale. Analysis showed that there was a significant mean difference between fashion innovators and fashion followers as sensation seekers and in using clothing to express individuality. Results suggest that fashion innovators may have a greater need for experiences than do fashion followers.

scholarly journals Unconvincing Evidence That Rats Show a Mozart Effect

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 455-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth M. Steele
Keyword(s):  
Human Subjects ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Piano Sonata ◽  
Mozart Effect ◽  
Learning Differences ◽  
Music Structure ◽  
Effect Literature

F. H. Rauscher, J. D. Robinson, and J. J. Jens (1998) reported that rats learned to complete a T-maze more quickly if they had been reared listening to a Mozart piano sonata. They interpreted this result as a demonstration of a “Mozart effect” in rats. Steele (2003) compared rat and human audiograms, in the context of piano note frequencies, and suggested that rats were deaf to most of the notes (69%) in the sonata. Steele concluded that the learning differences among the groups were not due to a Mozart effect. Rauscher (2006) argued for the use of a different rat audiogram which would increase the number of notes potentially heard to 57%. This is not a refutation of Steele’s conclusion that rats would not hear major portions of the sonata. These missing portions will deform the music structure heard by the rats. Whatever the rats hear, it is not the sonata written by Mozart. Additional comments are made about the current status of the Mozart-effect literature with human subjects.

scholarly journals Do Rats Show a Mozart Effect?

2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
KENNETH M. STEELE
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Reasoning ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
In Utero ◽  
In Utero Exposure ◽  
Random Assignment ◽  
Piano Sonata ◽  
Successful Performance ◽  
Mozart Effect ◽  
Adult Rats ◽  
Experimenter Effects

The ““Mozart effect”” is an increase in spatial reasoning scores after listening to a Mozart piano sonata. Both the production and interpretation of the effect are controversial. Many studies have failed to replicate the original effect. Other studies have explained a Mozart effect as being caused by changes in arousal or differences in preferences of the listener. F. H. Rauscher, K. D. Robinson, and J. J. Jens (1998) reported that rats learned to complete a T-maze more quickly if they had been exposed in utero and reared hearing a Mozart piano sonata. They concluded that the result indicated a direct effect of the music on brain development and contradicted competing accounts of arousal or preference. This article is an analysis of the experiment by Rauscher et al. The in utero exposure would have been ineffective because rats are born deaf. A comparison of human and rat audiograms, in the context of the frequencies produced by a piano, suggests that adult rats are deaf to most notes in the sonata. The successful performance of the Mozart group may be explained by the incomplete use of random assignment of subjects to groups and by experimenter effects in the construction of groups. The results of Rauscher et al. (1998) do not provide strong support for the existence of the Mozart effect.

The Mozart Effect: Music Listening is Not Music Instruction

2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances H. Rauscher ◽  
Sean C. Hinton
Keyword(s):  
Music Instruction ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Mozart Effect

A Mozart Effect for Women on a Mental Rotations Task

2003 ◽  
Vol 96 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1086-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen S. Gilleta ◽  
Mirna I. Vrbancic ◽  
Lorin J. Elias ◽  
Deborah M. Saucier
Keyword(s):  
Mozart Effect ◽  
Listening Condition ◽  
The Past ◽  
Mental Rotations ◽  
Silent Condition ◽  
Paper Folding ◽  
And Task

During the past decade, there have been numerous reports of a brief, but statistically significant, improvement in immediate spatial-temporal performance after listening to 10 min. of Mozart's Sonata K.448, known as the “Mozart effect.” The purpose of the present study was to assess whether production of the effect is influenced by length of listening conditions or sex. Each of 52 right-handed participants (26 females, 26 males) completed a paper-folding and cutting task and a Mental Rotations task following a listening condition in which the Mozart sonata was played and a silent condition (no music was played). A significant 3-way interaction among sex, listening condition, and task indicated that an effect was present only for women on the Mental Rotations task. As such, researchers should investigate the role of sex in production of the Mozart effect.

scholarly journals A within-subject comparison of different relaxation therapies in eliciting physiological and psychological changes in young women

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9217
Author(s):  
Sarah Dib ◽  
Jonathan C.K. Wells ◽  
Mary Fewtrell
Keyword(s):  
Young Women ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Random Order ◽  
Mean Difference ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Physiological Outcomes ◽  
Reducing Stress

Background Stress reactivity can be different in women compared to men, which might consequently influence disease risk.Stress in women may also generate adverse physiological effects on their offspring during pregnancy or lactation. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of different relaxation interventions on physiological outcomes and perceived relaxation in healthy young women, to assist in identifying the most appropriate intervention(s) for use in a subsequent trial for mothers who deliver prematurely. Methods A within-subject study was conducted in 17 women of reproductive age comparing five different relaxation interventions (guided-imagery meditation audio (GIM), music listening (ML), relaxation lighting (RL), GIM+RL, ML+RL), with control (silence/sitting), assigned in random order over a 3–6 week period. Subjective feelings of relaxation (10-point scale), heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), and fingertip temperature (FT) were measured before and after each technique Results All interventions significantly increased perceived relaxation and FT, while music also significantly reduced SBP (p < 0.05). Compared to control, HR significantly decreased following GIM (mean difference = 3.2 bpm, p < 0.05), and FT increased (mean difference = 2.2 °C, p < 0.05) and SBP decreased (mean difference = 3.3 mmHg, p < 0.01) following ML. GIM + RL followed by GIM were the most preferred interventions. Conclusions Based on preference, simplicity, and the physiological and psychological effects, GIM and ML were identified as the most effective tools for reducing stress and improving relaxation. These techniques warrant further research in larger samples and other populations.

scholarly journals MOZART EFFECT AND MUSIC PSYCHOLOGY: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-5
Author(s):  
Vaitsa Giannouli
Keyword(s):  
Adult Students ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Mozart Effect ◽  
Music Psychology ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
A Minor

The field of Music Psychology has grown in the past 20 years, to emerge from being just a minor topic to one of mainstream interest within the brain sciences (Hallam, Cross, & Thaut, 2011). Despite the plethora of research attempts to examine the so-called hotly disputed “Mozart effect” which was first reported by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993, 1995), we still know little about it. This group of researchers were the first to support experimentally that visuospatial processing was enhanced in participants following exposure to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (K.448). Although the first research attempts referred to the Mozart effect as an easy way of improving cognitive performance immediately after passive music listening to Mozart’s sonata K. 448 (Chabris, 1999), after which healthy young adult students could perform with enhanced spatial- temporal abilities in tasks such as the Paper Folding Task (PFT), nowadays there is a number of studies indicating that this specific music excerpt does not necessarily have this magical influence on all cognitive abilities (e.g. on the overall Intelligence Quotient) in humans and on the behavior of animals (for a review see Giannouli, Tsolaki & Kargopoulos, 2010). In addition to that, questions arise whether listening to this ‘magic music excerpt’ does indeed have benefits that generalize across a wide range of cognitive performance, and if it can induce changes that are of importance for medical and therapeutic purposes in patients with neurological disorders (e.g. epilepsy) or psychiatric disorders (e.g. dementia, depression) (Verrusio et al., 2015).

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