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Exploring the Mozart Effect on Dutch University Students
Klarenbeek, Morrison (2025) Exploring the Mozart Effect on Dutch University Students.
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| Abstract: | The increasing use of music in everyday life resulted in growing research on the effectiveness of background music on emotion and performance. One prominent finding in this context is that of the Mozart effect, which is described as the positive influence of exposure to Mozart’s music on emotions and spatio-visual performance. Replication studies on the Mozart effect show results both consistent and inconsistent with this finding, indicating a level of inconclusiveness in research on this topic. In an attempt to contribute to the existing theory on the Mozart effect, the present study explored the effect of exposure to Mozart’s music on emotions and spatio-temporal skills in Dutch university students. This was done by having 36 students spend twenty minutes performing a set of three sudoku puzzles, 18 of which first listening to a Mozart sonata for ten minutes, and all filled out the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) both before and after the task. Results show that neither students’ emotions nor their performance on the puzzles were influenced by exposure to Mozart. As no earlier studies in this research area mentioned the use of sudoku puzzles as a task, further research about the Mozart effect on sudoku performance, as well as other tasks related to visual pattern analysis, is encouraged. Correcting for musical ability and preference of music is also advised for future studies, as this was not done in this research, and these variables are hypothesized to play a considerable role in the Mozart effect. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/106861 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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