Everybody’s heard of the Mozart effect, the notion that you can increase your intelligence by listening to Mozart’s music.
Experiments have reported that people enjoyed brief improvements in their visual-spatial skills immediately after listening to a Mozart sonata (Rauscher et al 1993; Hetland 2000).
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However, the results have been inconsistent, with some labs failing replicate the effect. It's also unclear if it was really the music that was responsible for the temporary enhancement of intelligence.
It's plausible that people improved their performance because listening to music elevated their mood and left them feeling more alert (Schellenberg 2005).
And whatever the cause, there's no evidence that passive listening can make you smarter in the long-term.
But what about taking an active role? Research indicates that music lessons change the course of brain development and -- just possibly -- influence children's success in other, non-musical tasks.
- See more at: http://www.parentingscience.com/music-and-intelligence.html#sthash.BSkLL52g.dpuf