Listening to Mozart Does Not Enhance Backwards Digit Span Performance

Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky recently reported that exposure to brief periods of music by Mozart produced a temporary increase in performance on tasks taken from the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale-IV. The present study examined whether this effect occurred in performance on a backwards digit span task. In a within-subjects design 36 undergraduates were exposed to 10-min. periods of Mozart music, a recording of rain, or silence. After each stimulus period, undergraduates had three attempts to hear and recall different 9-digit strings in reverse order. No significant differences among treatment conditions were found. There was a significant effect of practice. Results are discussed in terms of the need to isolate the conditions responsible for production of the Mozart effect.