Experiments by the Institute of life sciences and technologies at at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China have proven the theory that Mozart's works can make people smarter and more acute.
To clear up any doubts surrounding the Mozart effect, scientists led by Yao Dezhong once again carried out experiments with music by the great composer, with the aim of finding out whether it had an effect on human intelligence or not.
In the 1st part of the experiments, the effect was tested on laboratory mice, and then on 60 students.
Participants were divided into 3 groups. One group listened to Mozart's music as it was normally played, the 2nd listened to it played backwards, i.e. the composer's sonatas were played forward starting from the end to the beginning.
The 3rd group was a control group and did not listen to the works of the Austrian genius. During the experiment, scientists changed the rhythm and tonality every half hour for the 1st 2 groups.
After, the volunteers had to complete tasks designed to test their intelligence - finding a way out of a maze, cutting shapes out of paper.
The results of the groups that listened to Mozart were compared to those of the control group.
Those participants who listened to the sonatas played normally showed the best results in completing the tasks, while the control group showed the worst results.
Sya Yan, one of the researchers, told Scientific Reports, "While under the effects of Mozart's music, the number of neurons increases in the brain, while listening to sonata Mozart K.448 played backwards, they decrease, along with awareness of behavior."
The term Mozart Effect was first used in 1995 by a group of scientists from a California University, who found that their students actually became smarter and more aware after listening to the composer's music.
The study concludes that the cortex reacts to these sounds and that they are most likely the secret to enhanced mental functioning.
