The experiment of the Mozart effect revisited: Modulations of the functional network according to EEG correlations

The Mozart effect has been the subject of lively but also controversial debate in literature during the last decades. Positive as well as negative results have been reported, using different musical stimuli as well as cognitive tasks. In addition, only a few studies included EEG recordings in the experimental design, and when they did, they focused exclusively on spectral power densities. A more complete experimental design is presented considering different stimuli as well as three different cognitive tasks including EEG measurements. Furthermore, we propose a novel strategy for the analysis of the functional network of brain dynamics, based on deviations from a universal stationary cross-correlation pattern.•An experimental design of the Mozart effect is presented, considering different cognitive tasks and two different musical stimuli, besides a control group•The presence of a stationary cross-correlation pattern that is nearly independent of the physilogical brain state is illustrated.•It is demostrasted that that deviations from the stationary pattern serve much better for the distinction of different task settings.