São Paulo, Brazil – 05 June 2006 -- Just in time for the 250th
anniversary of Wolfgang’s birth, a Brazilian study has determined
that listening to Mozart for ten minutes before taking a vision
perimetry test helped medical students score higher than their counterparts
who did not listen to the piano concerto.
One must wonder what is next; Bhrams for contacts? Beatles for
sunglasses? Abba for cataracts? Barry Manilow for glaucoma? Before
you trade your spectacles for an iPod, the study’s conclusions appear
to have little practical value.
Studies have attributed enhanced brain development in unborn
children, better math skills, improved learning among college students,
and many other perceived benefits to Mozart’s music, but not to
Bach, Beethoven, or others. The “Mozart Effect” is not well understood
and is considered controversial by many. This study, as those before,
seems to raise as many questions as it offers answers.
Sixty similar individuals were separated into two groups of 30
each. All 60 took the same automated perimetry test, which is designed
to determine abnormal peripheral vision or blind spots in a person’s
visual field. Immediately before the test, 30 subjects listened
to the Mozart Sonata for Two Pianos (K.448) for ten minutes through
headphones. The other 30 sat in a quite room for 10 minutes. Of
the two groups, those who listened to Mozart had statistically significant
higher scores on the vision function test. The positive Mozart Effect
wore off after 10 minutes.
