Music Makes You Smarter!

Music and IntelligenceMusicians also perform better on cognitive tasks
With the advancements in technology, scientistssuch as tests of math ability, verbal memory,
have been able to use brain-scanning machines tospatial-temporal skills, reading skills, and phonemic
examine the theories about a direct link betweenawareness. These tests suggest that there is
music and intelligence. The results have showndefinitely a relationship between music and brain
that musicians' brains are distinctively different.function.
The tests revealed that children who play musicalThe Mozart Effect
instruments have a significant amount of moreThe Mozart effect is the idea that listening to
gray matter in the occipital lobes and sensormusic by the composer Mozart can increase
motor cortex. The scans also show that mostintelligence and produce a short-term
musicians have more gray matter in manyimprovement in spatial-temporal reasoning tasks.
different regions of the brain.To prove the Mozart effect, a variety of
Other studies have shown that children who takedifferent studies and experiments have been
music lessons have IQ's that are slightly higherconducted. The results have shown that most
than children who do not engage in music. Musicpeople have a brief improvement in their
lessons were associated with high fluid intelligencevisual-spatial skills after listening to Mozart. The
including processing speed, perceptual organizationpopularized versions of the Mozart effect suggest
and working memory.that early childhood exposure to classical music is
Music lessons show a link between music andbeneficial to mental development.
intelligence because lessons train children to focusMusic Therapy
their attention for long time periods, teach musicalMusic therapy is becoming a popular way to help
notation, and help children recognize soundtreat individuals suffering from memory loss,
patterns across time.speech programs, and neurological conditions. The
Music and Brain Functiondriving factor is that music helps prompt memory,
Many studies have shown that musicians performreactivate the speech areas in the brain, and
better on a variety of tests than their peers whoimprove coordination and gait. Music therapy helps
are not involved in music. Musicians typicallypatients because it stimulates the areas of the
scored significantly higher on finger tapping andbrain that are associated with music to change
vocabulary tests. They also showed a strongand adapt.
trend toward higher math and spatial skills.