Most people have most likely heard the rumor that listening to classical music as an infant can make your baby smarter, but is it true? I know for a fact that I did not listen to classical music as an infant, however, I am attending a world class university. Some studies say yes, that for some reason when you are an infant listening to classical music will make you smarter, others say no way.
The initial tests were done by people at University of California Irvine in 1993 and 1995 regarding classical music listened to by college students for a few minutes before a test, they found that that would help students perform better on exams, but what if those students were primed to perform better on their exams anyway just because they happen to get better grades in school or possibly studied many more hours than the people who did not listen to music, in this case, correlation may have not equaled causation.
At Appalachian State University they also did a study on whether or not listening to classical music helps people before an exam and they found that the answer was no, as they were unable to replicate the results.
The question was also asked whether or not playing classical music for unborn babies could help make them smarter. I do not feel that putting headphones to a woman’s fetus could help the intelligence of the unborn child whose ears only recently exist. Neither do studies, studies do show however it may allow the unborn baby to become closer with the mother and maybe allow them to appreciate classical music more than others growing up, but if moms are looking for better grades in college, they may have to look elsewhere.
Unfortunately for parents the results of whether or not listening to Vivaldi, Mozart and Bach can help your kid, but studies don’t show that it hurts the child’s mental growth. So moms are going to keep trying this method regardless of the result because who knows, maybe it does work and science just hasn’t figured it out yet.
http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-mozart-effect-classical-music-and-your-babys-brain_9308.bc
http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/ask-heidi/week-20/influences-on-the-womb.aspx
http://www.educationoasis.com/resources/Articles/building_babys_brain.htm