Listening to Mozart's music increases IQ and cognitive abilities.
In 1993, Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky published a small study in Nature showing that college students who listened to Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos K.448 showed a brief improvement in spatial reasoning tasks (an 8-point IQ improvement, lasting about 15 minutes). The media misinterpreted this specific, temporary finding into a broader claim that Mozart makes you smarter. By the late 1990s, the 'Mozart Effect' had become pop culture gospel; pregnant women listened to Mozart; schools distributed CDs; and parents bought Mozart recordings for infants. However, replication attempts produced conflicting results, and meta-analyses revealed the original effect was tiny and inconsistent. A 2010 meta-analysis found that any Mozart effect on spatial reasoning was minimal and often disappeared when controlling for arousal or preferences. Most importantly, the effect (if present) was specific to spatial reasoning, temporary, and much smaller than the hype suggested. The Mozart Effect became a textbook example of media distortion of scientific findings and premature popular adoption of weak evidence. Similar 'brain training' programs followed the same arc: initial promising studies, massive commercial uptake, failed replication, and revised understanding that cognitive improvement requires meaningful training, not passive listening.