Some of you may have heard a story on the Mozart effect this
morning on NPR and wondered why the story was being aired.
The NPR story should have been about the new meta-analysis of the
Mozart effect, published in Intelligence. Below is the title and
abstract of the paper. I have read it and it is well done.
Ken
---------------------------------------------------------------
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [email protected]
Professor and Assistant Chairperson
Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Jakob Pietschnig, Martin Voracek, Anton K. Formann, Mozart
effect-Shmozart effect: A meta-analysis, Intelligence, Volume 38,
Issue 3, May-June 2010, Pages 314-323, ISSN 0160-2896, DOI:
10.1016/j.intell.2010.03.001.
Abstract:
The transient enhancement of performance on spatial tasks in
standardized tests after exposure to the first movement 'allegro
con spirito' of the Mozart sonata for two pianos in D major (KV
448) is referred to as the Mozart effect since its first
observation by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993). These findings
turned out to be amazingly hard to replicate, thus leading to an
abundance of conflicting results. Sixteen years after initial
publication we conduct the so far largest, most comprehensive,
and up-to-date meta-analysis (nearly 40 studies, over 3000
subjects), including a diversity of unpublished research papers
to finally clarify the scientific record about whether or not a
specific Mozart effect exists. We could show that the overall
estimated effect is small in size (d = 0.37, 95% CI [0.23, 0.52])
for samples exposed to the Mozart sonata KV 448 and samples that
had been exposed to a non-musical stimulus or no stimulus at all
preceding spatial task performance. Additionally, calculation of
effect sizes for samples exposed to any other musical stimulus
and samples exposed to a non-musical stimulus or no stimulus at
all yielded effects similar in strength (d = 0.38, 95% CI [0.13,
0.63]), whereas there was a negligible effect between the two
music conditions (d = 0.15, 95% CI [0.02, 0.28]). Furthermore,
formal tests yielded evidence for confounding publication bias,
requiring downward correction of effects. The central finding of
the present paper however, is certainly the noticeably higher
overall effect in studies performed by Rauscher and colleagues
than in studies performed by other researchers, indicating
systematically moderating effects of lab affiliation. On the
whole, there is little evidence left for a specific,
performance-enhancing Mozart effect.
Keywords: Mozart effect; Spatial ability; Publication bias;
Meta-analysis
---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected].
To unsubscribe click here:
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=3346
or send a blank email to
leave-3346-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
