Mozart or no Mozart: Does Music Enhance Cognitive Development?

A recent article published in Science Daily, Muting the Mozart effect, states that the long believed theory that studying music improves intelligence is a myth. Studies conducted by Samuel Mehr, a Harvard graduate student, found no effect of music on the cognitive development of children. (Reuell, 2013) On the other hand, studies done by Nina Kraus found that students who were provided with music training preformed better in school than those who weren’t provided with music training. It seems like there is much more research needed in this area since there are many other studies which suggest both theories could be true.

            The first of Mehr’s studies was conducted using a smaller group of young children. In the study, 29 four-year old children attended 6 classes of musical and visual arts with their parents. The goal of the classes was to encourage parent-child play in context of arts. The children were than assessed in spatial reasoning, numerical discrimination and receptive vocabulary. (Mehr, 2013)

            According to Mehr, neither the results of the first study or the second study (which only consisted of more participants) were significant enough to suggest any correlation between musical training and cognitive development. Mehr believes that their assessment methods were better than a simple IQ test because it tested specific domains of cognition, which would give more accurate results.

            Kraus’s studies were mainly focused on auditory development in musicians versus non-musicians. Her results show that music can be a resource which can train the brain in auditory fitness. (Kraus, 2010) According to Kraus, neuroplasticity achieved by the brain through music training not only improves auditory functions but can help in other areas such as language learning as well.

            I believe Mehr’s studies were too small scaled to measure the effects of music on cognitive development. These studies should focus on children receiving musical training over a much longer period of time rather than just 6 classes of 45 minutes. Kraus’s research of auditory enhancement in long time musicians studies those who have had musical training for a long period of time, which I think is a more accurate study.  I think this area of research deserves more attention and a lot more participants. With the help of schools, the research done in this field can have significant results which can also improve the elementary education system.

Resources:

Kraus, N. and Chandrasekaran, B. “Music training for the development of auditory skills”.  Nature’s Review: Neiroscience. Volume 11 (2010): 599-605. Web. 14 Dec 2013.

Mehr, S. A., Schachner, A., Katz, R.C., and Spelke, E.S. “Two randomized trials provide no consistent evidence for nonmusical cognitive benefits of brief preschool music enrichment”. Plos One. (Dec, 2013). Web. 14 Dec 2013.

Reuell, P. (Dec, 2013). “Muting the Mozart effect.” Science Daily. (Dec, 2013). Web. 14 Dec 2013.