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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Actually the Mozart effect has been misunderstood
by the popular media. The original Mozart effect researcher, Frances
<BR>Rauscher, is a serious researcher at U of Wisconsin (@Oshkosh) who
demonstrated that ADULTS who listen to Mozart <BR>score higher on certain
spatial reasoning subtests but the effect fades after 10-15 minutes (suggesting
that spatial and <BR>musical processing may be related). She also showed that
children learning to make music over time improve in certain <BR>spatial
reasoning skills (which may have some educational implications if the spatial
reasoning tests relate to what is taught in <BR>schools). My colleague Lois
Hetland at Harvard Project Zero carried out two meta-analyses on the bodies of
research <BR>testing each of these two claims and found they held up (see
Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2000, 3-4). No one ever <BR>tested what happens
if infants (or fetuses) (or children) listen to Mozart (or any other kind of
classical music). Because <BR>people like former Georgia governor Zell Miller
started handing out classical music tapes to parents of newborns and
<BR>claiming that this would lead to higher SAT scores, misconceptions about
what the science actually showed have <BR>mushroomed. I see this as a case of
advocacy bluring what the actual research showed; the scientific community
reacted <BR>(rightly) negatively to the advocacy claims but failed to see the
actual scientific claims that started all this.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ellen Winner<BR>Dept. of Psychology<BR>Boston
College</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Alcock, Katie" wrote:</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I did actually
know that, I'm embarassed that anyone would think I didn't!Incidentally if
anyone wants <BR> to tell me what they think of the books recommended by
their authors, without telling the whole list including the authors(!)
<BR> who they are and what they thought, I'd be really happy to receive
such emails and put together a set of anonymous reviews...</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Hi! It's not
essential to expose your baby to Mozart in the womb -- according to the research
which has <BR> failed to replicate the
"Mozart effect." </FONT></DIV>
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