Title: Replicated Study of Mozart effect

Name: Alexis A. Poche

Standard Level
January 31, 2014
1,097 words


















Abstract

The Mozart effect is the theory that listening to Mozart Sonata C temporally activates
the places in the prefrontal cortex that deal with spatial ability and will improve
performance on a spatial ability task. The aim of this experiment is to test if this theory is
successful in our opportunity sampled group of ten high school juniors in the IB
Program. The independent variable is the Mozart or the silence and the dependent
variable is the results of the subjects. In the end, four participants changed their
answers from when listening to Mozart to the right answer. This could have been all just
a coincidence because there was a participant who changed their answer to the wrong
answer after the second trial.












Intro
Kenneth Steele (1999) attempted to replicate Frances Rauschers 1998
experiment to prove if listening to Mozarts Sonata will improve spatial task performance
on the Stanford-Binet Spatial reasoning test. They had fifteen college students who
volunteered to be participants. The researchers had three variables: music, silence, and
glass. They tested their participants before and after being exposed to the treatment
and found no direct correlation to Mozart and spatial task reasoning.
In 1998, Frances H. Rauscher completed an experiment to analyze the
correlation between spatial task performance and listening to music. Rauschers study
reported that the tested subjects, college students, in fact did score higher on the
Stanford-Binet spatial reasoning test after listening to Mozart as opposed to being in
silence or listening to relaxation music prior to taking the test. Rauscher and the other
researchers tested their participants in a matrices task, and a pattern analysis task. In
the pattern analysis and the matrices tasks, all of the participants scored roughly the
same in music, relaxation and silence. However, in the paper folding task, the
participants scores increased in the listening to Mozart trial as opposed to the silence
and the relaxation trial.
The aim of the replication is to further prove or disprove Rauschers study on if
listening to Mozart enhances spatial reasoning. Independent variables will be the
participants being exposed to silence and the participants being exposed to Mozart.



Design
In the replication, the independent variables were what the participants listened
to before the evaluation. The participants took the exam twice, once with Mozart music
and once in silence. The researchers only had two independent variables instead of
three like Rauschers. Rauscher used Mozart, silence and a type of relaxation
music.The dependent variable is the accuracy on the exams of each participant after
being treated with the independent variable. Due to the researchers time constraints,
only testing the participants twice was reasonable. Because of this design, the
researchers could only compare the effects of Mozart with silence as opposed to with
other music or sounds. In order to prevent any confounding variables, the researchers
did not allow the participants to communicate with each other and not to speak with the
participants before, during or after the experiment in regards to the experiment. No APA
ethical guidelines or regulations were violated in the course of this experiment. All of the
consent form samples are in the appendix along with the briefing and debriefing script
the lead researchers read to the participants.

Participant
The participants of this experiment were ten eleventh grade students all
around 16-17 years of age, who were taking a second block IB Social Studies class in
the Metro-Atlanta area. Opportunity sampling was observed because this sample group
had already been separated out as a class.


Materials
pencils and paper for each of the participants
briefing and debriefing script
screen and projector system to project the test
stopwatch

Procedure
one of the researchers numbers and puts a folder with writing paper on all of the
desks
the participants were escorted from their classroom into the researchers
controlled classroom
the participants sat down and then were read the briefing instructions
they sit in silence for ten minutes
after time was up, test is placed on the screen and participants have 5 minutes to
answer the multiple choice question on the screen
once the five minutes is up, the participants are told to put down their
pencils,debriefed and return to their original classroom.
Wait two weeks and repeat the same process but this time, during the ten
minutes, play the Mozart music and turn it off while the participants take the test.




Table 1
Gathered Data of Participants Answered Correctly
Mean SD n
Silence 0.3 0.4582 10
Mozart 0.5 0.5 10
Notes: SD=Standard Deviation; n=Number of participants







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What Was Listened To (IV)
Figure 1
Gathered Data of Participants Answered Correctly


Results

Table one shows how in the first trial of silence, the mean of the participants
getting the answer correct was .3. Only 3/10 participants got the answer correct in the
initial trial. In the Mozart trial, the mean was .5 meaning half of the subjects answered
the question correctly. The mean shows that the central tendency moved up by 20%
when mozart was applied.

Discussion

This experiment in fact does support the original study because there is a
significant improvement of the spatial task from silence to Mozart. The execution of the
experiment was for the most part very smooth. The change appears greater than the
original study but i think that was solely because the sample size was much smaller. As
a group, the researchers did an excellent job on attempting to organize the raw data.
But it took some more time to individually to organize the data. Time was a big limitation
for this experiment, the researchers had to move very swiftly. No ethical violations
happened in the course of this experiment. Experimenters used opportunity sampling
and chose IB eleventh grade students because the researchers felt like they would most
easily comply with the rules that were given to them. There was no bias because the
answers from the participants went straight to raw data. However, the subjects had to
write out the letter answer whereas it would have been more standardized if there were
typed letters that they only had to circle, preventing any miscommunication due to poor
manuscript of any participant. A limit to the experiment was that the subjects could not
have been tested on the effects of relaxation music ,like in the original study, oppose to
just Mozart. The experiment was very smooth in its execution, there were not many
obstacles that prevented or made it difficult to proceed in the experiment. When
presented a second time with the test, there were no changes to the order of the
answers. I feel like it would have been more efficient to have had the letters changed so
the answer was the same in both trials. Having a larger sample size or having a random
sample would be best if this study was to be replicated. Can we generalize these
results? I believe that this sample size was not appropriate enough to generalize these
results however more research should be done on the Mozart effect to properly see if
these results are generalizable.
The result of this experiment reinforce the findings that Rauscher and Shaw
found. Mozart has seemed to improve temporary spatial task performance in both of
these cases. However more study on the topic should be done. Steele (1999) attempted
the experiment and did not get the same result so that just goes to show that there
should be more research conducted on the topic.




References

Steele,K.M.(1999, July 4).THE MYSTERY OF THE MOZART EFFECT: Failure to
Replicate. American Psychology Science. January 20, 2014, from,
http://www1.appstate.edu/~kms/documents/Mozart_PS.pdf

Wong,M.(2010, November 10). Can Mozart Increase Your Spatial Ability?.
Cognitition & the Arts. January 15,2014, from, http://sites.davidson.edu/psy379/can-
mozart-increase-your-spatial-ability/

















Appendix I Email to Frances Rauscher

To Henley Tullos emma.marlinsswim@gmail.comscoob01@bellsouth.net and 16 More...
Oct 15, 2013
Dear Henley,
Thank you for your interest in our research. I have attached two papers to this email, including the one
you requested. The other one may be helpful also.
Good luck with your research!
--FR

Hide message history
On Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 8:44 AM, Henley Tullos <hctullos@icloud.com> wrote:

Dear Dr. Frances H. Rauscher,

My classmates and I are students from Marietta High School in an IB Psychology SL class. We are
planning to replicate your study: "Music and Spatial Task Performance: A Casual Relationship" for our
practice Internal Assessment.

However, due to the government shutdown, we are unable to access your original experiment on the Eric
Database.

We would greatly appreciate it if you would send our class a copy of the experiment within the next
couple of days.

Please "reply all" so that my classmates are able to put this email as a reference in their appendices.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Best regards,

Henley Tullos and Class



--
Frances H. Rauscher, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita, Department of Psychology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
800 Algoma Boulevard
Oshkosh, WI 54901

Appendix II- Email to Principal for Permission to conduct study

Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 5:09 PM
To: Roberts, Rona
Subject: RE: Request to collect data/conduct research - IB Psychology SL

Approved.

From: Roberts, Rona
Sent: Monday, October 07, 2013 7:31 AM
To: Colburn, Leigh
Cc: Woolard, Debbie
Subject: Request to collect data/conduct research - IB Psychology SL
Mrs. Colburn:

Attached is the application for the IB Psychology SL students to conduct a research study as required for
their internal assessment. The members selected to be participants in the study are students in the
following classes: Garrett 2A, Donovan 2B, and Mills 3B. The IB Psychology SL student researchers will
collect their data during the IFB blocks on the following dates:

October 22 Garrett 2A
October 23 Mills 3B
October 29 Donovan 2B

November 5 Garrett 2A
November 6 Mills 3B
November 12 Donovan 2B

I placed a hard copy of this information in your box but there is an error on the teacher class sections.
The attached information is correct however. Please let me know if this request is approved so that I can
begin informing the teachers and students.

Rona D. Roberts, Ph.D.
Social Studies
Marietta High School
1141 Whitlock Ave.
Marietta, Georgia 30064
770-428-4631
www.marietta-city.org
"Where excellence is the difference"

Appendix III Parent Consent

Parental Permission for Participation of a Child in a Research Study
IB Psychology SL Marietta High School

Mozart Effect a replicated study

Description of the research and your childs participation

Your child is invited to participate in a research study conducted by the IB Psychology SL students. The
purpose of this research is to determine whether brief exposure to certain music could increase
cognitive ability.

Your childs participation will involve two separate sessions of listening to 10 minutes of a piano sonata
and 10 minutes of silence. After each session, your child will then be tested on spatial/temporal
reasoning using the Stanford-Binet Test. Your child will be asked to imagine that a single sheet of paper
has been folded several times and then various cut-outs are made with a scissors. The task is to correctly
predict the pattern of cut-outs when the paper is unfolded.

The amount of time required for your childs participation will be two separate sessions of 15 minutes
each.

Risks and discomforts - There are no known risks associated with this research.

Potential benefits - There are no known benefits to the child that would result from the childs
participation in this research.

Protection of confidentiality - We will do everything we can to protect your childs privacy. Your childs
identity will not be revealed in any publication resulting from this study.

Voluntary participation

Participation in this research study is voluntary. You may refuse to allow your child to participate or
withdraw your child from the study at any time. Your child will not be penalized in any way should you
decide not to allow your child to participate or to withdraw your child from this study.

Contact information

If you have any questions or concerns about this study or if any problems arise, please contact Dr. Rona
Roberts, IB Psychology SL instructor at 770-428-2631 ext. 2218. If you have any questions or concerns
about your childs rights as a research participant, please contact Mrs. Leigh Colburn, principal at
Marietta High School, at 770-428-2631.

Consent

I have read this parental permission form and have been given the opportunity to ask questions. I give
my permission for my child to participate in this study.


Parents signature________________________________________
Date:____________________________


Childs
Name:________________________________________________________________________________
_


Appendix IV- Script/ instructions for subjects
Mozart Instructions

Thank you all for participating in out Mozart Test
This is a test to see if people are effected by music when taking a test
On your desk there is a folder. Do not open it until we tell you to do so.
Your desk and test are numbered and that is your number that you must remember because
you be seated in that same desk for the second test
The first test will be taken in silence and the second test will be taken with music
There will be no talking for the duration of the test
If you fail to not talk, your test will be taken and eliminated from the experiment
We will provide you with a pencil to take the test
We will have 10 minutes of silence and 5 minutes for you to talk
Once the test is out you must remain quiet
The test will be timed so you will start when we say start and you will stop when we say stop
After everybody is finished with the test, you shall leave your pencil on the desk, put the test
back into the folder and we shall dismiss you from the classroom
We will now pass out the pencils
.. you may start
( after everyone is finished )
Stop. Put your pencils down the test is over.
Thank you for taking this test. You are now dismissed.



Appendix V Raw data



Participants Silence Mozart
1 1 0
2 0 1
3 1 0
5 0 0
6 1 1
7 0 0
9 0 0
10 0 1
11 0 1
14 0 1













Appendix VI Task shown to Subjects












Appendix VII Consent form for Subjects
Consent Form for Participation in a Research Study
IB Psychology SL - Marietta High School

Accuracy of Somatosensory Perception

Description of the research and your participation

You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by IB Psychology SL students. The purpose
of this research is to gather data on the amount of somatosensory representation in the cortex of the
brain of different body parts.

Your participation will involve a series of tests in which your fingers and toes will be touched with a
washable marker. You will be asked to identify the area that was touched. Because you will have to use
your somatosensory perception, a blindfold will be used. Student researchers will record your
responses. At the end of the experiment the student researcher will share the accuracy of your
responses. (The ink color on the tip of your fingers and toes should correlate to the ink used on the
response sheet.) Student researchers will use gloves and the markers will be cleaned with an alcohol
prep between participants.

Risks and discomforts

There are no known risks associated with this research.

Potential benefits

There are no known benefits to you that would result from your participation in this research.

Protection of confidentiality

We will do everything we can to protect your privacy. Your identity will not be revealed in any
publication resulting from this study.

Voluntary participation

Your participation in this research study is voluntary. You may choose not to participate and you may
withdraw your consent to participate at any time. You will not be penalized in any way should you
decide not to participate or to withdraw from this study.

Contact information

If you have any questions or concerns about this study or if any problems arise, please contact Dr. Rona
Roberts, IB Psychology SL instructor. If you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a
research participant, please contact Mrs. Leigh Colburn, Marietta High School principal.

Consent

I have read this consent form and have been given the opportunity to ask questions. I give my consent
to participate in this study.

Participants signature_________________________________________
Date:___________________________




Appendix VIII Debriefing letter

From: Roberts, Rona
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 1:35 PM
To: Donovan, Bill; Mills, Carla; Garrett, Melinda
Cc: Woolard, Debbie
Subject: IB Psychology IA - Thank you

Mr. Donovan, Ms. Mills, and Ms. Garrett:

Please extend a thank you to students in your classes that participated in the IB Psychology SL research
study during the fall semester. If any student wishes to obtain the results of the study, please ask them
to contact me directly.

Rona D. Roberts, Ph.D.
Social Studies
Marietta High School
1171 Whitlock Ave.
Marietta, Georgia 30064
770-428-2631, ext. 2218
Where the difference is excellence