Books for the lay person on child development (and the Mozart effect)

[Ellen Winner]

Actually the Mozart effect has been misunderstood by the popular media. The original Mozart effect researcher, Frances 
Rauscher, is a serious researcher at U of Wisconsin (@Oshkosh) who demonstrated that ADULTS who listen to Mozart 
score higher on certain spatial reasoning subtests but the effect fades after 10-15 minutes (suggesting that spatial and 
musical processing may be related). She also showed that children learning to make music over time improve in certain 
spatial reasoning skills (which may have some educational implications if the spatial reasoning tests relate to what is taught in 
schools). My colleague Lois Hetland at Harvard Project Zero carried out two meta-analyses on the bodies of research 
testing each of these two claims and found they held up (see Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2000, 3-4). No one ever 
tested what happens if infants (or fetuses) (or children) listen to Mozart (or any other kind of classical music). Because 
people like former Georgia governor Zell Miller started handing out classical music tapes to parents of newborns and 
claiming that this would lead to higher SAT scores, misconceptions about what the science actually showed have 
mushroomed. I see this as a case of advocacy bluring what the actual research showed; the scientific community reacted 
(rightly) negatively to the advocacy claims but failed to see the actual scientific claims that started all this.

Ellen Winner
Dept. of Psychology
Boston College

"Alcock, Katie" wrote:

       I did actually know that, I'm embarassed that anyone would think I didn't!Incidentally if anyone wants 
  to tell me what they think of the books recommended by their authors, without telling the whole list including the authors(!) 
  who they are and what they thought, I'd be really happy to receive such emails and put together a set of anonymous reviews...



       Hi! It's not essential to expose your baby to Mozart in the womb -- according to the research which has 
       failed to replicate the "Mozart effect." 


 
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