Arousal and Mood Factors in the "Mozart Effect"

Some investigators of the "Mozart effect" have not controlled for the influence of differences in arousal or mood induced by treatment conditions. Studies by Rideout and colleagues reported differences in spatial reasoning after listening to a Mozart sonata compared against a relaxation instruction tape. The conditions may have affected subjects’ arousal differentially, with the sonata increasing arousal and the relaxation instructions decreasing arousal, which could have affected spatial reasoning performance. Evidence is cited in support of this suggestion and indicates the importance of analyzing the influence of arousal differences in Mozart effect research

Contribution of Arousal and Mood States to Mozart Listening: Audiovisual Integration Study

Several scientific evidences confirm that arousal and mood influence performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. We examined whether the Mozart effect is a consequence of between-condition differences in arousal and mood after simultaneously music and visual graphic presentation. Follow-up analyses were conducted separately for each musical excerpt, visual graphic piece, and simultaneously music and visual graphic presentation. The three posttest measures of arousal and mood were examined separately with mixed-design ANOVAs that had one within-subjects variable and one between-subjects variable. We found that effects of music attributed to differences in arousal and mood, as well as enjoyment. Participants who listened to Mozart scored significantly higher on positive mood and arousal and significantly lower on negative mood compared with their counterparts who listened to Albinoni. Enjoyable stimuli statistically induced positive affect and heightened levels of arousal, which lead to modest improvements in performance on visual graphic perception. Listeners’ use of music shows as an agent of emotional change. Our results support previous studies suggesting that the short-term effects of listening to Mozart on spatial ability are an artifact of arousal and mood. The present investigation is the first to examine directly the contribution of arousal and mood to the Mozart listening compared to seeing visual graphic condition. Changes in mood may be induced by giving participants a visual graphic, and changes in arousal occur in response to environmental events. Keywords: Music; Arousal and Mood; Audiovisual perception; Mozart; AlbioniRésumé: Plusieurs évidences scientifiques confirment que l'excitation et l'humeur influencent la performance dans une variété de tâches cognitives. Nous avons examiné si l'effet Mozart est une conséquence de différences entre les conditions de l'éveil et de l'humeur après une présentation simultanée de la musique avec des visuels graphiques. Des analyses suivies ont été réalisées séparément pour chaque extrait musical, chaque morceau visuel graphique, et chaque présentation simultanée de la musique avec des visuels graphiques. Les trois mesures post-test de l'exitation et de l'humeur ont été examinés séparément avec le design mixte d'ANOVA qui avait une variable d'intra-sujets et une variable inter-sujets. Nous avons constaté que les effets de la musique attribuaient à des différences dans l'excitation et l'humeur, ainsi que la jouissance. Les participants qui écoutaient Mozart avaient eu des notes plus élevées dans l'humeur positive et l'excitation et des notes plus faibles sur l'humeur négative par rapport à leurs homologues qui ont écouté Albinoni. Le stimulus agréable induit statistiquement un affect positif et augemente des niveaux d'excitation, qui conduisent à des améliorations modestes dans la performance sur la perception visuelle graphique. L'utilisation de musique se montre en tant qu'un agent de changement affectif. Nos résultats confirment des études antérieures suggérant que les effets à court terme de l'écoute de Mozart sur la capacité spatiale sont un artefact de l'excitation et de l'humeur. La présente enquête est la première à examiner directement la contribution de l'excitation et de l'humeur à l'écoute de Mozart, comparée à la condition de visualisation graphique. Changements d'humeur peuvent être induits en donnant aux participants une image visuelle, et des changements dans l'excitation se produit en réponse aux événements environnementaux.Mots-clés: musique; exitation et humeur; perception audiovisuelle; Mozart; Albion

Music listening and cognitive abilities in 10 and 11 year-olds: The Blur effect

The spatial abilities of a large sample of 10- and 11-year-olds were tested after they listened to contemporary pop music, music composed by Mozart, or a discussion about the present experiment. After being assigned at random to one of the three listening experiences, each child completed two tests of spatial abilities. Performance on one of the tests (square completion) did not differ as a function of the listening experience, but performance on the other test (paper folding) was superior for children who listened to popular music compared to the other two groups. These findings are consistent with the view that positive benefits of music listening on cognitive abilities are most likely to be evident when the music is enjoyed by the listener

Music listening and cognitive abilities in 10 and 11 year-olds: The Blur effect

The spatial abilities of a large sample of 10- and 11-year-olds were tested after they listened to contemporary pop music, music composed by Mozart, or a discussion about the present experiment. After being assigned at random to one of the three listening experiences, each child completed two tests of spatial abilities. Performance on one of the tests (square completion) did not differ as a function of the listening experience, but performance on the other test (paper folding) was superior for children who listened to popular music compared to the other two groups. These findings are consistent with the view that positive benefits of music listening on cognitive abilities are most likely to be evident when the music is enjoyed by the listener

Mozart Effect in Musical Fit? A Commentary on Yeoh & North

Musical fit, the congruence between music and product leading to improved response, is presented as an explanation of differences in recall of food items from two cultures. Musical fit predicts that, in this case, more Indian food items would be recalled when Indian music was playing, and more Malay food items would be recalled when Malay music was played. The underlining premise of this prediction is priming (the music primes memories of associated food items, facilitating recall). The testing was performed using three ethnic groups of participants, Indian, Malay, and Chinese. The priming effects were only identified among the Chinese group. A reanalysis of the data presented here indicates that the overall recall of food items is best facilitated by Indian music, regardless of whether the food item is Indian or Malay, and further, each ethnicity reported more items in the Indian music condition. The Mozart effect was also based on the premise of priming activation and was later debunked in favor of an arousal-mood hypothesis. This commentary discusses whether arousal-mood, a more generalized activation leading to improved performance than priming, might better explain the results. While priming and congruence more plausibly explains musical fit than the Mozart effect, the possibility of testing other hypotheses are considered worthwhile

An investigation of the role of background music in IVWs for learning

Empirical evidence is needed to corroborate the intuitions of gamers and game developers in understanding the benefits of Immersive Virtual Worlds (IVWs) as a learning environment and the role that music plays within these environments. We report an investigation to determine if background music of the genre typically found in computer‐based role‐playing games has an effect on learning in a computer‐animated history lesson about the Macquarie Lighthouse within an IVW. In Experiment 1, music stimuli were created from four different computer game soundtracks. Seventy‐two undergraduate students watched the presentation and completed a survey including biographical details, questions on the historical material presented and questions relating to their perceived level of immersion. While the tempo and pitch of the music was unrelated to learning, music conditions resulted in a higher number of accurately remembered facts than the no music condition. One soundtrack showed a statistically significant improvement in memorisation of facts over other music conditions. Also an interaction between the levels of perceived immersion and ability to accurately remember facts was observed. Experiment 2, involving 48 undergraduate students, further investigated the effect of music, sense of immersion and how different display systems affect memory for facts

Affect-matching music improves cognitive performance in adults and young children for both positive and negative emotions

Three experiments assessed the hypothesis that cognitive benefits associated with exposure to music only occur when the perceived emotion expression of the music and the participant’s affective state match. Experiment 1 revealed an affect-matching pattern modulated by gender when assessing high-arousal states of opposite valence (happy/angry) in an adult sample (n=94) in which mood classification was based on self-report, and affective valence in music was differentiated by mode and other expressive cues whilst keeping tempo constant (139 BPM). The affect-matching hypothesis was then tested in two experiments with children using a mood-induction procedure: Experiment 2 tested happy/angry emotions with, respectively, 3-5- (n=40) and 6-9-year-old (n=40) children, and Experiment 3 compared happy/sad emotions (i.e., states differing both for valence and arousal profiles) with 3-5-year-old children (n=40), using music pieces differentiated also by fast vs. slow tempo. While young children failed to discriminate systematically between fast tempo music conveying different emotions, they did display cognitive benefits from exposure to affect-matching music when both valence (e.g., mode) and arousal level (e.g., tempo) differentiated the musical excerpts, with no gender effects

The Mozart Effect: Evidence for the Arousal Hypothesis

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 auditory condition were based on Mozart Piano Sonata No. 3 (K. 2811, 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

Levels of Arousal in Positive Moods: Effects on Motor Performance

Background: The use of simple preparatory methods, such as listening to relaxing music, may decrease negative emotions and enhance performance. The purpose of this research was to explore whether certain types of music, as a preparatory task, could enhance motor performance. Method: Fifty-six participants were randomly assigned to a condition before completing a pre and postdexterity test using the Purdue Pegboard Test (PPT). Performance was assessed with the PPT and arousal of mood was assessed with the Affect Grid. During the postdexterity test, the participants heard no music or specific music based on their condition. The experimental conditions included listening to an up-tempo Mozart sonata to elicit a high arousal, positive valence mood, or a down-tempo version of the same sonata to achieve a low arousal, positive valence mood. Results: ANOVAs showed a significant increase between pre and posttests over time in participant arousal and performance. In addition, there was a significant interaction term between performance and gender, where women improved significantly more than men. Conclusion: The results suggest that the up-tempo and down-tempo Mozart sonatas do not play a significant role in motor performance, yet gender significantly affects performance, regardless of the type of music

The cognitive effects of listening to background music on older adults: processing speed improves with upbeat music, while memory seems to benefit from both upbeat and downbeat music

Background music refers to any music played while the listener is performing another activity. Most studies on this effect have been conducted on young adults, while little attention has been paid to the presence of this effect in older adults. Hence, this study aimed to address this imbalance by assessing the impact of different types of background music on cognitive tasks tapping declarative memory and processing speed in older adults. Overall, background music tended to improve performance over no music and white noise, but not always in the same manner. The theoretical and practical implications of the empirical findings are discussed