The Mozart Effect

Have you ever heard about the Mozart Effect? I have, even before I was pregnant but never bother to check out the details about it. A few years ago, after taking part in a survey by Reader Digest, I was sent a CD with Mozart music. I kept the CD in store after listening to it a few times. But now with a son who sleep almost all day long, I decided to play the CD to accompany him in the room.

There is even a book called The Mozart Effect, written by Don Campbell, who has condensed the world’s research on all the beneficial effects of certain types of music. Although there are many critics about the accuracy of Mozart effect, personally I think there’s no harm in trying. After all the classical music is soothing to the ear and mind..heh!

I found a website that writes about Mozart effect in layman terms here : How Music Makes You Smart. In general, what Mozart effect claimed to be is an increase in spatial-temporal intelligence (the ability to mentally manipulate objects in three-dimensional space) after listening to 10 minutes of a Mozart sonata.

For those who wonder what is spatial-temporal reasoning, it is the ability to visualize spatial patterns and mentally manipulate them over a time-ordered sequence of spatial transformations. This ability is important for generating and conceptualizing solutions to multi-step problems that arise in areas such as architecture, engineering, science, mathematics, art, games, and everyday life.

Well, whether the sonic composition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart could genuinely increase my son’s spatial-temporal intelligence, we have to wait and see the result in another 5-10 years..heh!

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