The Mozart Effect is the idea that listening to Mozart’s music, particularly his Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, can temporarily enhance cognitive performance, especially in spatial reasoning tasks.

Early research suggested small but measurable improvements; for instance, one French study reported that students who listened to music while reading scored significantly higher—though exact percentages were not provided—on subsequent questionnaires compared to those who studied in silence.

However, meta-analyses show that such enhancements are typically modest and short-lived, lasting about 10 to 15 minutes.

These gains are primarily attributed to improved mood and arousal rather than a direct boost in intelligence or learning capacity .

Recent studies highlight that the Mozart Effect is weak and inconsistent, especially among young children.

For example, a 2023 study found that background classical music, including Mozart, had no consistent impact on learning in participants with mild cognitive impairment; only those already using music for mood regulation saw some benefit.

In classroom contexts, instrumental classical pieces—without lyrics—such as those from Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Baroque-era composers, are preferable, as they are less distracting and can foster a calm, receptive atmosphere .

Animal studies also found intriguing biological effects: one experiment showed mice exposed to Mozart survived longer after heart transplant surgery than controls, though opera yielded even stronger benefits.

These results suggest some specific genres may stimulate neurological or immune responses, but findings are not exclusive to Mozart .

In summary, while classical instrumental music may support classroom focus and emotional readiness, the cognitive boost described as the Mozart Effect is brief, small, and inconsistent in children.

Benefits observed with Mozart also occur with other composers like Bach or Beethoven.

The Mozart Effect is the idea that listening to Mozart’s music, particularly his Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, can temporarily enhance cognitive performance, especially in spatial reasoning tasks.

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The Sound of Success: Ideas in Music for Concentration and Productivity

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Does music help you concentrate? Since we spend a lot of time in front of computers trying to finish our work, wouldn’t it be nice to listen to some of music to help concentrate? Well, music lovers, it seems like Mozart and Beethoven could actually help you with your productivity. Beethoven once said: «Music is where the spirit lives, thinks and invents.»

This relationship between music and the brain is an area that has been intensively explored in research. Many studies point to the ability of music to help employees be more productive and help children in their learning process more effectively. University research in France found that students who listened to music for an hour while reading, scored significantly higher on a questionnaire compared to a group of students who read without music.

Your attention span is better when listening to music

It seems that music for concentration puts students in a heightened emotional state, so that they can be more receptive to information. «It is possible that music causes a change in the learning environment and influenced students’ motivation to stay focused while reading, which led to better performance on a multiple-choice questionnaire,» concluded the french research team in a recent article.

But before you start playing any type, you have to find the music that works better for the type of work you are trying to carry do. For example, the classic from the Baroque period is said to do wonders for brain activity when you are studying or writing. But not all classical music is created equal, so dramatic changes and complicated fugue changes may not be as conducive as a smooth piano piece. So if you have to choose a composer, we would say Mozart. There seems to be evidence that Mozart’s improves mental performance: it is called «The Mozart Effect”.

Build a harmonious space

If you don’t like classical, the discreet sound found in ambient music may work well for you instead. What is the purpose of this if you are not at the airport, you ask? Well, for creative purposes, it’s better than emptiness and silence. According to one of its pioneers, musician Brian Eno: “Background music must be able to accommodate many levels of attention when listening, without forcing one in particular. It must be as ignorable as it is interesting ”.

In fact, researchers have shown that a moderate level of noise, such as that found in the environment, can actually get creative juices flowing. Music with especially low-lows or especially high-highs should be avoided. Certain types of jazz instrumental melodies can also get your brain working.

Music without lyrics

In general, if you are doing work that requires writing, you should avoid listening to music with lyrics as the words in a song are especially destructive to your concentration. Since hearing words activates the brain’s language center, attempting to perform tasks related to another language would be like trying to have a conversation while someone else is speaking to you. But, if you are a cartoonist, and you don’t deal with sentence construction, hearing letters may not have the same effect.

Finally, studies show that listening to music you’re already familiar with may be better if you really need to focus. New songs take you into the unknown and your brain will want to listen closely to see what comes next. With the music you are familiar with you know what to expect, so it doesn’t distract you from your work. And if you like the tune you’re listening to try not to whistle it while you work, as that will only distract you.

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Early research suggested small but measurable improvements; for instance, one French study reported that students who listened to music while reading scored significantly higher—though exact percentages were not provided—on subsequent questionnaires compared to those who studied in silence.

However, meta-analyses show that such enhancements are typically modest and short-lived, lasting about 10 to 15 minutes.

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Content: Does the reader allow more acoustics to play on Arab music issues?
The pen imagines that the Arab world today is a thousand times more culturally developed than it was in the days of al-Kindi, al-Farabi, and Ibn Sina, when delving into music required a firm footing in philosophy and mathematics.
Today we do not despair, we have wishes, one day they will apply to the crumbs of songs: it was in the past.
Of all the musical forms that abound in the four sides, this art has no other form than the song, generations have gone and others have come, and the food is always a sandwich, most of which has no nutritional value.
It occurred to me that the Arab child is tastefully oppressed, absent from the horizons of the sense of beauty, especially in music.
It goes through a series of disturbing stages, from family to school and ultimately society.
Consider the tragic snowball: If parents have a good taste, the whole house will be awash with the masterpieces of our music masters.
Imagine a girl asking her mother: “Mama, Mama, is a man with a wing so that the fire can light up? ”
“What does it mean to light a fire between my wings? ”
The school has been a musical shock since the beginning of elementary school.
In most Arab countries, the lyrics of this genre lack the minimum standards of aesthetics of poetry, and there is little in the perception of mediocrity.
There is no talk of melodies, the disciple is heard falling from the halq, if the family is refreshed by turquoise in the morning, and enjoys the calthomics in the evening.
Those who choose songs as if in their minds children are zeros of taste and understanding.
A necessary turning point here is the lack of good music for the young in the entire Arab world.
The reason is a greater misfortune: our music is not independent of speech.
To put it harshly: we don ’ t have music that expresses its worlds without help and vocabulary.
Music is the language that expresses what words cannot express.
The family should be aware, above all others, that serious independent music, in which there are no young and old.
Mozart one for the fetus, newborn, adolescent and over 90.
Beethoven One for children, women and men.
Chopin is one for everyone.
For all creatures, even sheep increase their wool, cows milk them, plants grow: this is the effect of harmonic frequencies, harmonic vibrations.
Necessary: The definitive conclusion: Did you think that the ear of an infant who grows up on the masterpieces of serious music will be filled with vocal clowns when he grows up?

These gains are primarily attributed to improved mood and arousal rather than a direct boost in intelligence or learning capacity .

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The doctor ’ s words / When the mentally retarded person meets the familiar sound
In 2023, an estimated 6.7 million Americans aged 65 and older have Alzheimer ’ s disease.
Dementia in the elderly is an incurable disease. It is easy for patients to become isolated, because they will feel isolated and helpless about their own uselessness, and they are used to being alone in order to avoid embarrassment.
In the latter stages, they often lose the ability to communicate with people around them.
It is very painful for the patients themselves and the caregivers and family members who care for them.
In recent years, it has been found that music therapy can intervene and make up for this lack of progress.
It also increases the patient ’ s engagement with the surrounding environment and reduces many neurological symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, and unexplained tantrums.
In other words, when people with dementia are unable to connect with their loved ones, that is, when they are unable to speak their language, music is the last bridge to interact with each other.
Q1: Do people with dementia have special feelings about music?
A1: According to nearly a decade of research by the Department of Neurology at Northwestern University, it has been found that even though people with dementia lose language and other memories, memories related to music often remain in the brain.
This is because areas of the brain involved in musical memory (e.g., the cerebellum) are not affected until late in the disease process.
Familiar music can help people with dementia recover certain aspects of their memory, make them feel calm, and greatly improve their mood.
Q2: Why do people with dementia remember their favorite songs?
A2: Although suffering from severe dementia, it means that a person has very little memory of their past.
Even if you can ’ t remember your son ’ s name, familiar songs that you ’ ve heard and sung will always come to mind.
Q3: In addition to music, is listening to the radio good for elderly people with dementia?
A3: In fact, the radio can not only provide good music, but also play emotional dialogue, which can truly relieve the loneliness of the dementia patient and bring comfort and peace.
Q4: How do people with dementia react to music?
A4: According to the research of clinical psychiatrists, it is found that people with dementia who are generally slow to respond to music, especially to their favorite music.
Hearing a familiar concert naturally shows a pleasant response, such as smiling or moving your body or even starting to dance.
And it seems to produce a unique and powerful stimulus response to familiar music that awakens the patient ’ s past personal and social connections.
In theory, if music can evoke memories, it may also help patients evoke other memories or related memories of that period.
In several studies, it has been consistently found that music tends to evoke more positive and positive memories from life than other clues.
Q5: Can music also prevent cognitive decline?
A5: Playing and listening to music can help slow the decline of cognitive function in older adults, according to a new study in Medical Journal Today.
Active note vibrations increase gray matter in certain areas of the brain and increase the plasticity of brain cells. Although music does not reverse or prevent brain cell shrinkage due to aging, it can slow cognitive decline.
Q6: What kind of music is most helpful?
A6: Studies have proved that classical music is the best choice.
The International Institute of Science calls this phenomenon the "Mozart effect."
It is recommended to listen to classical music such as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and other famous composers.
Classical music seems to move the brain more easily than other music, is best suited for concentration, and is more able to produce substantial effects in absorbing new information.
Q7: Do musicians suffer from dementia?
A7: According to the International Institute of Science, a study of twins reported that musicians have a 64% lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia.
The analysis of two other studies found that musicians had an average 59% lower risk of dementia.
Training and performance, which can be attributed to music, stimulates the brain and improves its ability to respond to the outside world.
Q8: Which organ is most stimulated by music?
A8: Although most activities such as visual art, computing, and language are mainly only half of the brain.
But music is one of the few that can pass through the auditory nerve and stimulate neurons on both sides of the brain at the same time.
Q9: How does music react in the brain?
A9: Music can promote the production of hormones dopamine and serotonin in the brain.
These are neurotransmitters that increase the sense of pleasure and ease.
There is also the so-called love hormone - oxytocin.
At the same time, research evidence shows that music can help reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, instantly relieving feelings of anxiety and depression.
Q10: How long does the music last?
A10: It ’ s a concern that in people with dementia, music can improve mood, behavior, and in some cases cognitive function, which, according to the Clinical Psychiatric Society, lasts for hours or even days after the music stops.
Q11: Can people without dementia benefit from music?
A11: A recent study suggests that playing an instrument and actively listening to music can help slow cognitive decline in people aged 62-78.
This study once again determined that musical activity increases the gray matter in many areas of the brain. Gray matter is an essential nerve tissue in the brain and spinal cord.
In particular, it plays an important role in psychology, memory, mood and movement. The increase in gray matter also increases the plasticity of the brain ’ s nerves – the brain ’ s ability to reconnect itself, which is important for learning cognition and memory preservation.
In addition to actively playing music, the 2023 study also showed that long-term music training, regardless of the age of the participants, can bring potential functional benefits to the brain and help keep the brain young and slow down aging.
(The author is a practicing physician in the Greater Washington area)
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Recent studies highlight that the Mozart Effect is weak and inconsistent, especially among young children.

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Content: 13 April 2022, 20: 25
Musician from Karelia played on the washing board on the show “Talent ”
Vladimir Ryokhov is convinced that amateurish music is a good thing!
Text: Helga Belyantseva
Petrozavodsk resident Vladimir Ryokhov took part in the show "Talent" on the channel "Friday".
The issue, in which the 30-year-old musician “lit up ”, was released on April 8.
In the show, he was presented as a "musical inventor".
Vladimir demonstrated the game on unusual tools - a washing board, a suitcase and a bagpipe made of rubber gloves.
Members of the jury – Olga Buzova, Karina Cross and Vladimir Marconi – appreciated the performance of the Karelian nugget.
Vladimir received two votes out of three and was allowed to vote for the audience (see the video below).
At the show, the musician performed under his real name - Natalchuk, but he is better known under the pseudonym Ryokhov.
In Petrozavodsk, Vladimir was a member of two musical groups: Tin Hills and Koromyslo.
And thanks to the game on the washing board, the records of which he posted on the Internet, he was recognized far beyond Karelia.
“Since childhood, I loved to whistle, squeak and extract various sounds from various objects, ” Vladimir said during the broadcast. – Whistle on birch bark, blades of grass, made firecrackers.
And the more non-standard the subject, the more interesting I was...
I love all kinds of experiments.
I came to the show to show that music is not just Bach and Stravinsky, it's ordinary people like you and me, and that music is everywhere.
Three notes is music. ”
About his attitude to music, passion for unusual musical instruments, as well as participation in the show “Talent ” Vladimir Ryokhov told the portal“ Petrozavodsk says ”.
— I am an ethnomusicologist, graduated from the Petrozavodsk Conservatory, studied Finno-Ugric music.
In music school I studied to play the accordion, now sometimes I take it in my hands, played in a band on a mandolin, I have a little bit of a harmonica.
I also play various flutes, Irish whistle.
“Recently, I tried myself as a music teacher in one of the Petrozavodsk schools, and realized that this is not mine at all.
I just can ’ t give what I don ’ t volunteer. ”
I ’ m currently working on robotics for kids.
This is a very useful activity not only for the guys, but also for me.
Based on the constructor, we create first non-programmable, and then programmable models.
And the rudiments of programming are a very important skill in our time.
I myself delve more and more into this topic – and how interesting it is, so many creative opportunities!
I also make folk instruments, different pipes, flutes, sell to musicians.
Why are you called a “musical inventor ”?
I don ’ t invent anything myself.
There is a common image of the instrument, and I recreate it.
Take, for example, a bagpipe from a glove.
I looked at how our torpias work (Torpias – Karelian, Finnish and Estonian instrument, a kind of bagpipe. – Ed.), and made something similar from a rubber glove.
In fact, all the inventions that are now being made are combined from what already exists.
Rubber glove bagpipes have existed before, but they are usually either bulky or don ’ t sound good.
For my bagpipes, I made sticks of balloons.
I don't think anyone's ever done that before.
And these cakes turned out in the image and likeness of Finno-Ugric bagpipes, which are different from the Scottish and Irish ones.
How did you come up with the idea of playing on the washing board?
A long time ago I read in a book about the Beatles that they had a washing board in the early members of The Quarrymen, until John Lennon smashed it against the head of one of the band members.
And when I saw the cool blues musician Washboard Chaz playing it, I was so impressed that I decided to try it myself.
And this has led to the fact that my creativity, at least at the local level, became interested.
Thanks to the social network TikTok, which is now, unfortunately, closed to us, there were connections with musicians from other countries.
“This is a very special environment – there people who are interested in the same topic can find each other.
For example, some musician placed his composition on the banjo, I played him on the washing board, and then someone played me and so on. "
What did you do on the talent show?
- I was asked to show all the most interesting things that can be combined into one number.
I took a kalyuk (overtone flute) of my own making, a washing board, a suitcase and a bagpipe from a rubber glove.
Played on everything in turn.
How did you get on the show?
- When I posted a video with a bagpipe made of rubber gloves in TikTok, a girl from the Friday channel wrote to me in the comments and invited me to participate in the program.
So I decided to go for an interest.
That was back in November last year.
And in February-March there was a shooting.
— And the results when it became clear — during the filming or after the release of the program?
- Who was allowed to participate in the audience vote, we learned already during the filming, when we spoke before the jury.
They let me in.
But I immediately decided that I would not fight for votes.
There were numbers more worthy of attention.
What was the cost of a pole dance performed by a woman of 68 years!
And it was just amazing.
I was sorry that the guy who made the cotton candy figurines didn't turn out very well.
The conditions in the studio were not perfect.
There were still interesting people who participated in other releases - an ensemble of drummers, for example.
What emotions did you get from participating in the show?
Was there excitement?
Of course I had to worry.
I never took a bagpipe out of the house before.
And so, at the rehearsal before shooting, I unpack the suitcase, collect all the accessories, inflate the bagpipe, go to the shooting pavilion - and she plays incomprehensible.
I tell the director: “I warned you that the instrument is unstable.
I ’ ll fix it tomorrow. ”
Then I was sitting in the dressing room with a knife for an hour or a half, cutting something out, plucking.
And it turned out that the glove itself just stretched out, lost its elasticity, because I brought it into the room from the frost and began to inflate immediately.
Good thing I got a second spare bagpipe.
Did you make any special sense in your performance at the competition?
What were you trying to convey to the audience?
“I went to the competition with the message that music is easy.
I think anyone can be a musician.
When you can even play music a little, you can hear it much better.
It is transformed from just aesthetic pleasure into mathematical - not one hemisphere works, but both at once.
This is confirmed by research. ”
Do you think that this theory fits the idea that listening to music can affect mental development?
For example, it is recommended to give listening to Mozart to young children.
- Maybe...
But it seems to me that Mozart is too much extolled.
They underestimate other music.
Now in the school music textbook it is written that pop music is bad, that amateurs filled everything.
In another technique, Dr. Bloch is quoted as saying that rock music destroys the brain, affects the genetic code...
It's all rubbish.
Dilettante music is good!

For example, a 2023 study found that background classical music, including Mozart, had no consistent impact on learning in participants with mild cognitive impairment; only those already using music for mood regulation saw some benefit.

Title:

Content: 4/25/23 · Research

The beneficial effects of music on memory may depend on how it is listened to

The initial results of the study of the 'Mozart effect' on neurodegeneration show that listening to classical music in the background has no benefits for learning
The research has been carried out with people experiencing mild cognitive impairment, and it did find individual differences when listening to 'high-arousal' music

Listening to 'high-arousal' music could have a positive effect on memory for people who are accustomed to using music as an emotional regulator (Image: Clem Onojeghuo, Unsplash)

Given the lack of effective treatments to counteract cognitive impairment, background music has traditionally been proposed as a possible therapeutic alternative for improving memory-related tasks. Its effect has long been the focus of debate, but this relationship has now been found to be possibly determined by new interindividual parameters, which means that it may be more complex than was previously thought. This is shown by research led by Marco Calabria, a researcher in the Cognitive Neurolab group of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), who is now considering new experiments.

The initial results of the Mozart effect and memory in patients with cognitive impairment (MEM-COG) study, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, suggest that listening to background classical music while performing memory tasks neither improves nor impairs learning levels among people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, listening to more 'high-arousal' music was found to have a possible positive effect on people who are accustomed to using music as an emotional regulator in their everyday lives, which suggests there is potential for further hypotheses and research.

The study, which has been published as open access in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, was carried out with patients at the neuropsychology unit of Barcelona's Hospital de Sant Pau, and involved researchers at the hospital, Montreal's Concordia University and Madrid's Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute.

There is no universal effect

"We found no general impact concerning the effect of music in terms of whether it had positive or negative effects on learning in cases of MCI, but we did find that it would be modulated for each individual. If people regularly use music as an emotional regulator in their daily life, such as to help them remain calm or for company, they will find it easier to obtain further benefits from music when they have to learn something new," explained Calabria, who has a PhD in Psychobiology.

The subjects of the study were people with mild amnestic cognitive impairment, i.e. they have memory problems as a result of an onset of neurodegeneration that is more specific in the parts of the brain dealing with aspects of learning and memory. The experiments consisted of observing 24 photographs of human faces. Participants were instructed to memorize them, and 10 minutes later, they were asked to look at a new series containing the previous 24 images and 24 new ones, in order to attempt to identify the ones that they had already seen.

A classical choice

The first test was performed with the subjects listening to classical music in the information consolidation phase but not in the recovery phase, while in the second exercise it was repeated with the auditory stimulus during both phases. However, no significant differences were observed in terms of results.

Classical music was used in these exercises because "it's a type of music that falls between relaxing and arousing, and has proven to be the most effective for enhancing memory". Furthermore, the fact that it is instrumental reduces the interference (that can come from lyrics) with the content that the participants have to learn in the memory task.

A ray of light

However, Calabria's team wanted to carry out a third experiment using popular music which was considered arousing rather than relaxing, and after a preliminary study, they used an instrumental version of Un rayo de sol (A ray of light), by the group Los Diablos. In that experiment, according to Calabria, the results suggested that "the use of music as a strategy for mood regulation is associated with better performance in memory tasks."

Ongoing research

This finding opens up the possibility of further research to continue exploring the role of interindividual preferences and attitudes towards music among patients with MCI. The group plans to continue the project until late 2024.

During this time, it will investigate whether background music could be more useful in other cognitive domains, such as in attention and concentration in patients with Parkinson's disease. The experiments will also involve the use of a new infrared spectroscopy device in the Neuro Lab, one of the recently opened new laboratories at the UOC, which will show the activation at the cerebral level while cognitive processes are taking place. This will help to determine whether or not there are any alterations in the brain's modulation, in which areas this takes place, and whether it depends on the type of person studied, regardless of the level of response to music.

In overall terms, this will help to find a type of marker which determines the people most likely to benefit from music in cognitive tasks. "The more we know about how background music shapes cognitive processes, the better the use we can make of music as a therapeutic tool in cognitive stimulation," concluded Calabria, an expert in the study of cognitive processes and a member of teaching staff on the UOC's Master's Degree in Neuropsychology.

This research project receives funding from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain, and contributes to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 3, Good health and well-being.

Reference article:

Calabria, Marco et al. 'Background Music and Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment: The Role of Interindividual Differences'. 1 Jan. 2023: 815 – 829. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-221051

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+34 619 413 823

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The UOC's research and innovation (R&I) is helping overcome pressing challenges faced by global societies in the 21st century by studying interactions between technology and human & social sciences with a specific focus on the network society, e-learning and e-health.

Over 500 researchers and more than 50 research groups work in the UOC's seven faculties, its eLearning Research programme and its two research centres: the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) and the eHealth Center (eHC).

The university also develops online learning innovations at its eLearning Innovation Center (eLinC), as well as UOC community entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer via the Hubbik platform.

Open knowledge and the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development serve as strategic pillars for the UOC's teaching, research and innovation. More information: research.uoc.edu.

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In classroom contexts, instrumental classical pieces—without lyrics—such as those from Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Baroque-era composers, are preferable, as they are less distracting and can foster a calm, receptive atmosphere .

Animal studies also found intriguing biological effects: one experiment showed mice exposed to Mozart survived longer after heart transplant surgery than controls, though opera yielded even stronger benefits.

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Content: The opera "Tea Blossom Girl" can improve the survival rate of heart-changing mice: An interview with Teikyo University Medical Department lecturer Yasuhisa Uchiyama
Science Education Medical Health
What would be the impact of letting a mouse with a heart transplant listen to an opera? Ten years ago, a team of researchers at Teikyo University came up with this idea and later published experimental results, winning the “Medicine Prize ” of the Ig Nobel Prize.
Masao Uchiyama (41), a member of the research team and a lecturer in the university ’ s medical department, said the honor convinced him that “the value of uniqueness lies. ”
At present, he also works tirelessly to teach students to “pursue uniqueness. ”
Dressed as a mouse puppet at the awards ceremony.
In September 2013, Tatsuya Uchiyama, dressed in a mouse cloth doll, smiled on the stage of the Saunders Theater at Harvard University in Boston.
The idea of wearing a cloth doll on stage was put forward by Uchiyama, "I think that's going to be fun."
The reason was that he saw the popular role of the funny group "Funny Problem" in the TV show, and he bought a cloth doll at the $100 store and brought it to the awards ceremony.
He and another assistant, Kim Sang-won, put on a mouse puppet costume and stood at the side of the (then) Shin Sei-june, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Teikyo University, who led the team, singing the opera “Camellia ” in high notes, causing laughter from the audience.
He recalled, "We were probably the most popular among the winners of the year, and the group photo time after the ceremony was the most sought-after," and his face was full of pride.
A special issue of Annals of Improbable Research, the magazine that organizes the Ig Nobel Prize. In 2013, Uchiyama and his party were also selected as the cover of the magazine.
Leaflet for a speech at MIT the next day.
Although Uchiyama showed a childlike side at the award presentation ceremony, Uchiyama ’ s research goal is to explore the field of transplantation immunology. After all, Uchiyama ’ s paper has even included a well-known surgeon, a special professor in Shuntian University ’ s medical department, who was famous for performing coronary artery bypass surgery. The name of the boss.
Let the mice after the heart transplant immerse themselves in music, and the result...
In addition to the original heart, another heart was implanted in the abdomen of the mouse.
After the operation, the mouse will do nothing, it will trigger an immune rejection reaction, and the transplanted heart will stop working for an average of 8 days.
However, most of the mice who also received heart transplants continued to listen to the opera “Camellia ”, and the average survival days were greatly increased to 40 days, and the longest lived mice were even as many as 90 days.
On the other hand, the average time to listen to Mozart ’ s music is 20 days, and the Irish singer Enya ’ s voice is 11 days.
To further confirm the validity of the results, let mice with ruptured eardrums listen to “Camellia ”.
Sure enough, as expected, the "effect" disappeared, and the transplant heart stopped beating about a week or so.
In other words, this experiment proved that allowing mice after heart transplantation to listen to the opera “Camellia ” or classical music can effectively improve their immunity.
Uchiyama is taking a closer look at the rat after the heart transplant.
The study began with the discovery of a young man who, while studying at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, gave a variety of drugs to most mice undergoing heart transplants and compared the prognosis, noticed a difference between the prognosis of mice placed in human cages and those placed in quiet cages around them.
After returning home, he suggested to an assistant in his personal research office, "Let the mice listen to music and see what happens?"
It also plays the sound of the construction site and the monotone sound.
The study was restarted about 10 years later.
At that time, Uchiyama was still a graduate student in cardio-vascular surgery in the Department of Medicine at Shun Heaven University, and came to Teikyo University to study organ transplantation.
Uchiyama heard his assistant speak of the past of "letting the mice after the heart transplant listen to the opera", and intuitively thought that "if you continue to experiment, you may get interesting results".
First, let most of the mice after the heart transplant listen to the opera "Camellia Girl", Mozart music, and the album of Enya, a very favorite singer Uchiyama at the time.
They also listen to the sounds of the construction site, English listening exercises and monotonic sounds.
As a result, as mentioned earlier, the survival period was extended in the order of opera, Mozart, and Enya, compared to rats that listened to nothing.
Incidentally, the reason why I chose "Camellia Girl" is because Shinkai is a fanatic who loves opera, and this opera is his most recommended.
Although Uchiyama and opera have no connection, but as a part of the research, I heard that she is listening to "Camellia Girl" all day long.
"To be honest, it's only pain for me," he said with a laugh.
Professor Amano also thought the experiment was interesting, but the paper was closed.
In this way, after Uchiyama has worked hard to collect experimental data that can be written into the paper, the next step is the beginning of the real test.
At the time, Professor Amano, who was the head of the medical department of Shun Tian University, said bluntly: “Although the experiment seems interesting, it should be difficult to write a paper. ”
As predicted, even though Uchiyama threw a lot of academic journals, they were returned without review and ate a closed door. In March 12, 2012, the British academic journal “Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery (JCTS) ” finally entered the review stage.
The paper was presented in the autumn of the previous year, and it has actually been 1 1 / 2 years before the review began.
Uchiyama said: "Because this experiment is very dependent on environmental factors."
To differentiate the sound of Camellia, Mozart, Enya, and the construction site, it is impossible to use scientific and objective evidence to show it, which increases the difficulty of examination.
A month after the award ceremony, it was presented at the Japanese Pulse Society (October 2013).
No matter what happens, people will be blessed by God ’ s grace.
The year after the publication of the paper in JCTS, the research team received a notification of the winner of the Ig Nobel Prize. Like many researchers, both novices and Uchiyama, at first thought that “this is a prank ” and did not think it, until they gathered the relevant information to know that everything seemed to be true.
“‘ Your idea is unique and admirable ’ and it makes me happy to be recognized by a third person who doesn ’ t know me. ”
The mountain says so.
This award benefited him a lot, and he realized that “you have to be confident in the results of your research that you believe in. ”
"Hope and vitality, as well as family support, are very important, and the results are interlinked," Shin said in a post-award interview.
In the clinical scene, patients who are thought to have only a few months of life have lived for many years. On the contrary, patients who are thought to have lived for many more years have died suddenly and suddenly, and often encounter these conditions.
However, through this research, we can be sure that “something ” that cannot be fully described in Western medicine is actually affecting the immune system through the brain.
In clinical settings, when patients know about the award, they sometimes ask, “If I want to recover early, what kind of music will help? ”
Uchiyama ’ s answer is to suggest that you first seek Western medical treatment, followed by “As long as it is music you like, listen to anything. ”
3 research topics recommended for the next generation
However, to say that Uchiyama is unique from a young age, in fact, it is not.
He said: “My personality is shy, and I have blushing phobia, and I am afraid to stand in front of everyone.
However, in high school, he realized that "if we continue like this, we will not be able to survive in society", and after working in college, he chose to be a tutor, forcing himself to endure and successfully overcome his fear.
Once a teenager with blushing phobia, now he has turned into an adult dressed as a mouse puppet standing on the stage of Harvard University singing dramatic music, human beings, really have unlimited potential.
On the contrary, Uchiyama has a strong belief from a very early age.
Both parents are teachers, under their advice, from junior high school into the affiliated senior secondary school of Ritsumeikan University, but the university did not choose to "direct admission", but decided to participate in the entrance examination of the medical department.
More than 90% of students in the upper middle school choose to go straight to the university, and it is not easy to concentrate on preparing for the exam in such an environment.
As a result, he communicated directly with the teacher, and continued to participate in extra-curricular tutoring in biology and English after school. On the contrary, the courses he considered “unnecessary ” were almost absent.
"At that time, people around me said he was a 'strange guy'," he said.
In 2017, he attended a dinner at the University of Cambridge.
Uchiyama told his graduate students, “Be prepared for three research topics at any time. ”
First, it is easy to write a paper of orthodox research; second, if the goal of life is to become a researcher, to think of research that can be invested in a lifetime; finally, "no one is doing unique research."
For Uchiyama, the experiment of heart transplant mice belongs to the third.
When he was further asked about the purpose of recommending the "unique study", he gave the example of "mountain climbing" to answer: "First, the first is to climb a mountain at a moderate altitude when the weather is clear; the second is to climb Mount Everest, which is like the highest peak in the world, although it is a high altitude and long distance mountain, but you can see the top; the third is because you do not know how high and what climbing paths there are." Ready to climb the mountain equipment on the start, all the way exclaimed: "No? Is the whole me?", can only rely on the emergency response to move forward, and arriving at the end will produce the kind of "Wow!"
It's really funny.
"I'm so impressed."
In other words, it is precisely those who have mastered their basic skills in the study of "orthodoxy" that have found a way to explore a landscape that no one has ever seen.
“With all the obstacles that arise in the course of research, how can we use theoretical and constructive attitudes to achieve our goals? This is an important training for researchers, and personal abilities will eventually bear fruit. ” Even if one person is better, I hope more people can embark on the journey to find the beauty that has not been discovered.
Such a heartfelt expectation.
Interview and arrangement: Nami Hamada, Editorial Department of POWER NEWS
All of the above photos are provided by Uchiyama.
Photo taken in March 2023 at Teikyo University Medical Department Hospital in Itabashi, Tokyo.
Nobel Prize for Research in Medicine

These results suggest some specific genres may stimulate neurological or immune responses, but findings are not exclusive to Mozart .

In summary, while classical instrumental music may support classroom focus and emotional readiness, the cognitive boost described as the Mozart Effect is brief, small, and inconsistent in children.

Benefits observed with Mozart also occur with other composers like Bach or Beethoven.


The "Mozart Effect" refers to the hypothesis that listening to Mozart’s music, especially his Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, can cause short-term enhancement of cognitive abilities, particularly in spatial reasoning.

This idea, first popularized in the 1990s, has since been the focus of considerable research, but findings in recent years call for a nuanced interpretation of its effects in educational and other settings.

Recent studies provide mixed evidence on the robustness and applicability of the Mozart Effect.

A 2023 study investigated the influence of background classical music on cognitive performance in people with mild cognitive impairment.

It found that listening to such music neither improved nor impaired learning outcomes for most individuals.

The researchers did observe, however, that background music with higher arousal could positively influence those accustomed to using music for emotional regulation.

This suggests that the effect of classical music on cognitive performance is highly individual, depending on how frequently or effectively a person integrates music into their daily emotional management .

Additional research confirms that there is no universal Mozart Effect and that cognitive benefits from listening to music largely depend on personal differences, such as the individual’s prior use of music for mood regulation and preference for background music .

Some experiments support the idea that classical music can enhance cognitive performance under certain circumstances.

For example, university research in France found that students who listened to music while reading for an hour scored significantly higher on a subsequent questionnaire than peers who read in silence.

The investigators concluded that music intended for concentration may place students in a heightened emotional state, increasing their receptivity to information and motivation to remain focused.

This heightened state appeared to improve task performance.

Notably, the impact was linked to increased focus and student motivation rather than direct cognitive enhancement from the music itself .

Further inquiry focusing on children found that familiar music without lyrics, particularly Baroque and piano selections such as those by Mozart, can improve attention and mental performance.

Baroque and certain Mozart compositions were ranked as particularly beneficial for studying or writing, whereas more dramatic or complex classical pieces were less effective.

These results suggest that specific musical styles and simplicity are important considerations for maximizing potential cognitive or concentration benefits among younger learners .

It is worth noting, however, that many modern reviews and analyses of the Mozart Effect have tempered the enthusiasm generated by the initial studies.

The magnitude of the effect is typically described as modest, and it tends to be short-lived.

The most widely accepted explanation in cognitive neuroscience is that improvements seen after listening to music, including Mozart, stem not from unique properties of the music but from its impact on mood and arousal, which in turn facilitate cognitive tasks.

The effect seems highly contingent on personal engagement and a positive emotional response to the listening experience, rather than being a consistent or reliable boost in intelligence or reasoning .

In addition to research on cognitive function, some studies have explored the effect of music, including Mozart, in reducing stress and pain and improving emotional well-being in children.

For instance, an experiment in 2019–2020 involving 100 newborns revealed that those exposed to Mozart’s lullabies before and after a blood test displayed less pain and distress and calmed down faster compared to a control group.

These findings highlight possible ancillary benefits of music for creating a more positive emotional environment—an aspect relevant for classroom breaks, where music might help in soothing students and supporting classroom management .

More generally, exposure to classical music and musical activity appears to have broader beneficial effects on cognitive function and mood, particularly in aging populations.

While these findings are less directly applicable to children, they underscore the potential for music to support brain health through increased gray matter and neuroplasticity, as indicated in studies of older adults actively listening to or playing music .

Meta-analyses also report that lifelong musicianship is associated with a substantial reduction in risk for dementia and cognitive decline, attributed to ongoing brain stimulation.

The underlying mechanisms—heightened brain stimulation, increased engagement, and positive emotional arousal—are likely relevant at all ages, though the degree and form of benefit may vary .

In summary, recent research provides some support for the use of classical music, including Mozart, as a tool for improving mood, focus, and possibly short-term cognitive performance, particularly when the music is familiar, non-intrusive, and without lyrics.

The evidence for a substantial or lasting Mozart Effect—especially defined strictly as improved spatial reasoning—remains weak and highly dependent on individual listener characteristics and context.

Most observed benefits in student performance arise indirectly via increased motivation, enhanced mood, and better concentration, rather than direct cognitive enhancement caused by the music itself.

For educators seeking practical classroom strategies, these points are supported by evidence:

- Playing background classical music (such as Mozart or Baroque pieces) during breaks or quiet learning activities may improve classroom atmosphere, student mood, and concentration, especially if students find the music pleasant and non-distracting .
-

Although a universal benefit in cognitive skills (e.g., reasoning or memory) from listening to Mozart has not been robustly demonstrated, personalizing music selection to suit student preferences may maximize positive outcomes for focus and motivation .

- Avoiding overly complex, dramatic, or lyric-heavy music is advised, as these can be distracting or less effective for most learners .

- Exposure to familiar, soothing music, including gentle Mozart compositions, can create a calmer classroom environment and may help with emotional regulation, which in turn supports learning .

The most effective use of music in an educational setting is therefore likely to be in enhancing mood, motivation, and concentration rather than expecting dramatic boosts in intelligence or reasoning ability.

Regularly involving students in music selection and observing their responses will allow educators to tailor the environment for optimal benefit.

The Mozart Effect, as originally defined, remains scientifically controversial, but the broader application of music for classroom management and student well-being is supported by recent research evidence.

The "Mozart Effect" refers to the hypothesis that listening to Mozart’s music, especially his Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, can cause short-term enhancement of cognitive abilities, particularly in spatial reasoning.

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The Sound of Success: Ideas in Music for Concentration and Productivity

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Does music help you concentrate? Since we spend a lot of time in front of computers trying to finish our work, wouldn’t it be nice to listen to some of music to help concentrate? Well, music lovers, it seems like Mozart and Beethoven could actually help you with your productivity. Beethoven once said: «Music is where the spirit lives, thinks and invents.»

This relationship between music and the brain is an area that has been intensively explored in research. Many studies point to the ability of music to help employees be more productive and help children in their learning process more effectively. University research in France found that students who listened to music for an hour while reading, scored significantly higher on a questionnaire compared to a group of students who read without music.

Your attention span is better when listening to music

It seems that music for concentration puts students in a heightened emotional state, so that they can be more receptive to information. «It is possible that music causes a change in the learning environment and influenced students’ motivation to stay focused while reading, which led to better performance on a multiple-choice questionnaire,» concluded the french research team in a recent article.

But before you start playing any type, you have to find the music that works better for the type of work you are trying to carry do. For example, the classic from the Baroque period is said to do wonders for brain activity when you are studying or writing. But not all classical music is created equal, so dramatic changes and complicated fugue changes may not be as conducive as a smooth piano piece. So if you have to choose a composer, we would say Mozart. There seems to be evidence that Mozart’s improves mental performance: it is called «The Mozart Effect”.

Build a harmonious space

If you don’t like classical, the discreet sound found in ambient music may work well for you instead. What is the purpose of this if you are not at the airport, you ask? Well, for creative purposes, it’s better than emptiness and silence. According to one of its pioneers, musician Brian Eno: “Background music must be able to accommodate many levels of attention when listening, without forcing one in particular. It must be as ignorable as it is interesting ”.

In fact, researchers have shown that a moderate level of noise, such as that found in the environment, can actually get creative juices flowing. Music with especially low-lows or especially high-highs should be avoided. Certain types of jazz instrumental melodies can also get your brain working.

Music without lyrics

In general, if you are doing work that requires writing, you should avoid listening to music with lyrics as the words in a song are especially destructive to your concentration. Since hearing words activates the brain’s language center, attempting to perform tasks related to another language would be like trying to have a conversation while someone else is speaking to you. But, if you are a cartoonist, and you don’t deal with sentence construction, hearing letters may not have the same effect.

Finally, studies show that listening to music you’re already familiar with may be better if you really need to focus. New songs take you into the unknown and your brain will want to listen closely to see what comes next. With the music you are familiar with you know what to expect, so it doesn’t distract you from your work. And if you like the tune you’re listening to try not to whistle it while you work, as that will only distract you.

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This idea, first popularized in the 1990s, has since been the focus of considerable research, but findings in recent years call for a nuanced interpretation of its effects in educational and other settings.

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Content: 4/25/23 · Research

The beneficial effects of music on memory may depend on how it is listened to

The initial results of the study of the 'Mozart effect' on neurodegeneration show that listening to classical music in the background has no benefits for learning
The research has been carried out with people experiencing mild cognitive impairment, and it did find individual differences when listening to 'high-arousal' music

Listening to 'high-arousal' music could have a positive effect on memory for people who are accustomed to using music as an emotional regulator (Image: Clem Onojeghuo, Unsplash)

Given the lack of effective treatments to counteract cognitive impairment, background music has traditionally been proposed as a possible therapeutic alternative for improving memory-related tasks. Its effect has long been the focus of debate, but this relationship has now been found to be possibly determined by new interindividual parameters, which means that it may be more complex than was previously thought. This is shown by research led by Marco Calabria, a researcher in the Cognitive Neurolab group of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), who is now considering new experiments.

The initial results of the Mozart effect and memory in patients with cognitive impairment (MEM-COG) study, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, suggest that listening to background classical music while performing memory tasks neither improves nor impairs learning levels among people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, listening to more 'high-arousal' music was found to have a possible positive effect on people who are accustomed to using music as an emotional regulator in their everyday lives, which suggests there is potential for further hypotheses and research.

The study, which has been published as open access in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, was carried out with patients at the neuropsychology unit of Barcelona's Hospital de Sant Pau, and involved researchers at the hospital, Montreal's Concordia University and Madrid's Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute.

There is no universal effect

"We found no general impact concerning the effect of music in terms of whether it had positive or negative effects on learning in cases of MCI, but we did find that it would be modulated for each individual. If people regularly use music as an emotional regulator in their daily life, such as to help them remain calm or for company, they will find it easier to obtain further benefits from music when they have to learn something new," explained Calabria, who has a PhD in Psychobiology.

The subjects of the study were people with mild amnestic cognitive impairment, i.e. they have memory problems as a result of an onset of neurodegeneration that is more specific in the parts of the brain dealing with aspects of learning and memory. The experiments consisted of observing 24 photographs of human faces. Participants were instructed to memorize them, and 10 minutes later, they were asked to look at a new series containing the previous 24 images and 24 new ones, in order to attempt to identify the ones that they had already seen.

A classical choice

The first test was performed with the subjects listening to classical music in the information consolidation phase but not in the recovery phase, while in the second exercise it was repeated with the auditory stimulus during both phases. However, no significant differences were observed in terms of results.

Classical music was used in these exercises because "it's a type of music that falls between relaxing and arousing, and has proven to be the most effective for enhancing memory". Furthermore, the fact that it is instrumental reduces the interference (that can come from lyrics) with the content that the participants have to learn in the memory task.

A ray of light

However, Calabria's team wanted to carry out a third experiment using popular music which was considered arousing rather than relaxing, and after a preliminary study, they used an instrumental version of Un rayo de sol (A ray of light), by the group Los Diablos. In that experiment, according to Calabria, the results suggested that "the use of music as a strategy for mood regulation is associated with better performance in memory tasks."

Ongoing research

This finding opens up the possibility of further research to continue exploring the role of interindividual preferences and attitudes towards music among patients with MCI. The group plans to continue the project until late 2024.

During this time, it will investigate whether background music could be more useful in other cognitive domains, such as in attention and concentration in patients with Parkinson's disease. The experiments will also involve the use of a new infrared spectroscopy device in the Neuro Lab, one of the recently opened new laboratories at the UOC, which will show the activation at the cerebral level while cognitive processes are taking place. This will help to determine whether or not there are any alterations in the brain's modulation, in which areas this takes place, and whether it depends on the type of person studied, regardless of the level of response to music.

In overall terms, this will help to find a type of marker which determines the people most likely to benefit from music in cognitive tasks. "The more we know about how background music shapes cognitive processes, the better the use we can make of music as a therapeutic tool in cognitive stimulation," concluded Calabria, an expert in the study of cognitive processes and a member of teaching staff on the UOC's Master's Degree in Neuropsychology.

This research project receives funding from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain, and contributes to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 3, Good health and well-being.

Reference article:

Calabria, Marco et al. 'Background Music and Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment: The Role of Interindividual Differences'. 1 Jan. 2023: 815 – 829. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-221051

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The UOC's research and innovation (R&I) is helping overcome pressing challenges faced by global societies in the 21st century by studying interactions between technology and human & social sciences with a specific focus on the network society, e-learning and e-health.

Over 500 researchers and more than 50 research groups work in the UOC's seven faculties, its eLearning Research programme and its two research centres: the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) and the eHealth Center (eHC).

The university also develops online learning innovations at its eLearning Innovation Center (eLinC), as well as UOC community entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer via the Hubbik platform.

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Recent studies provide mixed evidence on the robustness and applicability of the Mozart Effect.

A 2023 study investigated the influence of background classical music on cognitive performance in people with mild cognitive impairment.

It found that listening to such music neither improved nor impaired learning outcomes for most individuals.

The researchers did observe, however, that background music with higher arousal could positively influence those accustomed to using music for emotional regulation.

This suggests that the effect of classical music on cognitive performance is highly individual, depending on how frequently or effectively a person integrates music into their daily emotional management .

Additional research confirms that there is no universal Mozart Effect and that cognitive benefits from listening to music largely depend on personal differences, such as the individual’s prior use of music for mood regulation and preference for background music .

Some experiments support the idea that classical music can enhance cognitive performance under certain circumstances.

For example, university research in France found that students who listened to music while reading for an hour scored significantly higher on a subsequent questionnaire than peers who read in silence.

The investigators concluded that music intended for concentration may place students in a heightened emotional state, increasing their receptivity to information and motivation to remain focused.

This heightened state appeared to improve task performance.

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The doctor ’ s words / When the mentally retarded person meets the familiar sound
In 2023, an estimated 6.7 million Americans aged 65 and older have Alzheimer ’ s disease.
Dementia in the elderly is an incurable disease. It is easy for patients to become isolated, because they will feel isolated and helpless about their own uselessness, and they are used to being alone in order to avoid embarrassment.
In the latter stages, they often lose the ability to communicate with people around them.
It is very painful for the patients themselves and the caregivers and family members who care for them.
In recent years, it has been found that music therapy can intervene and make up for this lack of progress.
It also increases the patient ’ s engagement with the surrounding environment and reduces many neurological symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, and unexplained tantrums.
In other words, when people with dementia are unable to connect with their loved ones, that is, when they are unable to speak their language, music is the last bridge to interact with each other.
Q1: Do people with dementia have special feelings about music?
A1: According to nearly a decade of research by the Department of Neurology at Northwestern University, it has been found that even though people with dementia lose language and other memories, memories related to music often remain in the brain.
This is because areas of the brain involved in musical memory (e.g., the cerebellum) are not affected until late in the disease process.
Familiar music can help people with dementia recover certain aspects of their memory, make them feel calm, and greatly improve their mood.
Q2: Why do people with dementia remember their favorite songs?
A2: Although suffering from severe dementia, it means that a person has very little memory of their past.
Even if you can ’ t remember your son ’ s name, familiar songs that you ’ ve heard and sung will always come to mind.
Q3: In addition to music, is listening to the radio good for elderly people with dementia?
A3: In fact, the radio can not only provide good music, but also play emotional dialogue, which can truly relieve the loneliness of the dementia patient and bring comfort and peace.
Q4: How do people with dementia react to music?
A4: According to the research of clinical psychiatrists, it is found that people with dementia who are generally slow to respond to music, especially to their favorite music.
Hearing a familiar concert naturally shows a pleasant response, such as smiling or moving your body or even starting to dance.
And it seems to produce a unique and powerful stimulus response to familiar music that awakens the patient ’ s past personal and social connections.
In theory, if music can evoke memories, it may also help patients evoke other memories or related memories of that period.
In several studies, it has been consistently found that music tends to evoke more positive and positive memories from life than other clues.
Q5: Can music also prevent cognitive decline?
A5: Playing and listening to music can help slow the decline of cognitive function in older adults, according to a new study in Medical Journal Today.
Active note vibrations increase gray matter in certain areas of the brain and increase the plasticity of brain cells. Although music does not reverse or prevent brain cell shrinkage due to aging, it can slow cognitive decline.
Q6: What kind of music is most helpful?
A6: Studies have proved that classical music is the best choice.
The International Institute of Science calls this phenomenon the "Mozart effect."
It is recommended to listen to classical music such as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and other famous composers.
Classical music seems to move the brain more easily than other music, is best suited for concentration, and is more able to produce substantial effects in absorbing new information.
Q7: Do musicians suffer from dementia?
A7: According to the International Institute of Science, a study of twins reported that musicians have a 64% lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia.
The analysis of two other studies found that musicians had an average 59% lower risk of dementia.
Training and performance, which can be attributed to music, stimulates the brain and improves its ability to respond to the outside world.
Q8: Which organ is most stimulated by music?
A8: Although most activities such as visual art, computing, and language are mainly only half of the brain.
But music is one of the few that can pass through the auditory nerve and stimulate neurons on both sides of the brain at the same time.
Q9: How does music react in the brain?
A9: Music can promote the production of hormones dopamine and serotonin in the brain.
These are neurotransmitters that increase the sense of pleasure and ease.
There is also the so-called love hormone - oxytocin.
At the same time, research evidence shows that music can help reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, instantly relieving feelings of anxiety and depression.
Q10: How long does the music last?
A10: It ’ s a concern that in people with dementia, music can improve mood, behavior, and in some cases cognitive function, which, according to the Clinical Psychiatric Society, lasts for hours or even days after the music stops.
Q11: Can people without dementia benefit from music?
A11: A recent study suggests that playing an instrument and actively listening to music can help slow cognitive decline in people aged 62-78.
This study once again determined that musical activity increases the gray matter in many areas of the brain. Gray matter is an essential nerve tissue in the brain and spinal cord.
In particular, it plays an important role in psychology, memory, mood and movement. The increase in gray matter also increases the plasticity of the brain ’ s nerves – the brain ’ s ability to reconnect itself, which is important for learning cognition and memory preservation.
In addition to actively playing music, the 2023 study also showed that long-term music training, regardless of the age of the participants, can bring potential functional benefits to the brain and help keep the brain young and slow down aging.
(The author is a practicing physician in the Greater Washington area)
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Notably, the impact was linked to increased focus and student motivation rather than direct cognitive enhancement from the music itself .

Further inquiry focusing on children found that familiar music without lyrics, particularly Baroque and piano selections such as those by Mozart, can improve attention and mental performance.

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Content: 13 April 2022, 20: 25
Musician from Karelia played on the washing board on the show “Talent ”
Vladimir Ryokhov is convinced that amateurish music is a good thing!
Text: Helga Belyantseva
Petrozavodsk resident Vladimir Ryokhov took part in the show "Talent" on the channel "Friday".
The issue, in which the 30-year-old musician “lit up ”, was released on April 8.
In the show, he was presented as a "musical inventor".
Vladimir demonstrated the game on unusual tools - a washing board, a suitcase and a bagpipe made of rubber gloves.
Members of the jury – Olga Buzova, Karina Cross and Vladimir Marconi – appreciated the performance of the Karelian nugget.
Vladimir received two votes out of three and was allowed to vote for the audience (see the video below).
At the show, the musician performed under his real name - Natalchuk, but he is better known under the pseudonym Ryokhov.
In Petrozavodsk, Vladimir was a member of two musical groups: Tin Hills and Koromyslo.
And thanks to the game on the washing board, the records of which he posted on the Internet, he was recognized far beyond Karelia.
“Since childhood, I loved to whistle, squeak and extract various sounds from various objects, ” Vladimir said during the broadcast. – Whistle on birch bark, blades of grass, made firecrackers.
And the more non-standard the subject, the more interesting I was...
I love all kinds of experiments.
I came to the show to show that music is not just Bach and Stravinsky, it's ordinary people like you and me, and that music is everywhere.
Three notes is music. ”
About his attitude to music, passion for unusual musical instruments, as well as participation in the show “Talent ” Vladimir Ryokhov told the portal“ Petrozavodsk says ”.
— I am an ethnomusicologist, graduated from the Petrozavodsk Conservatory, studied Finno-Ugric music.
In music school I studied to play the accordion, now sometimes I take it in my hands, played in a band on a mandolin, I have a little bit of a harmonica.
I also play various flutes, Irish whistle.
“Recently, I tried myself as a music teacher in one of the Petrozavodsk schools, and realized that this is not mine at all.
I just can ’ t give what I don ’ t volunteer. ”
I ’ m currently working on robotics for kids.
This is a very useful activity not only for the guys, but also for me.
Based on the constructor, we create first non-programmable, and then programmable models.
And the rudiments of programming are a very important skill in our time.
I myself delve more and more into this topic – and how interesting it is, so many creative opportunities!
I also make folk instruments, different pipes, flutes, sell to musicians.
Why are you called a “musical inventor ”?
I don ’ t invent anything myself.
There is a common image of the instrument, and I recreate it.
Take, for example, a bagpipe from a glove.
I looked at how our torpias work (Torpias – Karelian, Finnish and Estonian instrument, a kind of bagpipe. – Ed.), and made something similar from a rubber glove.
In fact, all the inventions that are now being made are combined from what already exists.
Rubber glove bagpipes have existed before, but they are usually either bulky or don ’ t sound good.
For my bagpipes, I made sticks of balloons.
I don't think anyone's ever done that before.
And these cakes turned out in the image and likeness of Finno-Ugric bagpipes, which are different from the Scottish and Irish ones.
How did you come up with the idea of playing on the washing board?
A long time ago I read in a book about the Beatles that they had a washing board in the early members of The Quarrymen, until John Lennon smashed it against the head of one of the band members.
And when I saw the cool blues musician Washboard Chaz playing it, I was so impressed that I decided to try it myself.
And this has led to the fact that my creativity, at least at the local level, became interested.
Thanks to the social network TikTok, which is now, unfortunately, closed to us, there were connections with musicians from other countries.
“This is a very special environment – there people who are interested in the same topic can find each other.
For example, some musician placed his composition on the banjo, I played him on the washing board, and then someone played me and so on. "
What did you do on the talent show?
- I was asked to show all the most interesting things that can be combined into one number.
I took a kalyuk (overtone flute) of my own making, a washing board, a suitcase and a bagpipe from a rubber glove.
Played on everything in turn.
How did you get on the show?
- When I posted a video with a bagpipe made of rubber gloves in TikTok, a girl from the Friday channel wrote to me in the comments and invited me to participate in the program.
So I decided to go for an interest.
That was back in November last year.
And in February-March there was a shooting.
— And the results when it became clear — during the filming or after the release of the program?
- Who was allowed to participate in the audience vote, we learned already during the filming, when we spoke before the jury.
They let me in.
But I immediately decided that I would not fight for votes.
There were numbers more worthy of attention.
What was the cost of a pole dance performed by a woman of 68 years!
And it was just amazing.
I was sorry that the guy who made the cotton candy figurines didn't turn out very well.
The conditions in the studio were not perfect.
There were still interesting people who participated in other releases - an ensemble of drummers, for example.
What emotions did you get from participating in the show?
Was there excitement?
Of course I had to worry.
I never took a bagpipe out of the house before.
And so, at the rehearsal before shooting, I unpack the suitcase, collect all the accessories, inflate the bagpipe, go to the shooting pavilion - and she plays incomprehensible.
I tell the director: “I warned you that the instrument is unstable.
I ’ ll fix it tomorrow. ”
Then I was sitting in the dressing room with a knife for an hour or a half, cutting something out, plucking.
And it turned out that the glove itself just stretched out, lost its elasticity, because I brought it into the room from the frost and began to inflate immediately.
Good thing I got a second spare bagpipe.
Did you make any special sense in your performance at the competition?
What were you trying to convey to the audience?
“I went to the competition with the message that music is easy.
I think anyone can be a musician.
When you can even play music a little, you can hear it much better.
It is transformed from just aesthetic pleasure into mathematical - not one hemisphere works, but both at once.
This is confirmed by research. ”
Do you think that this theory fits the idea that listening to music can affect mental development?
For example, it is recommended to give listening to Mozart to young children.
- Maybe...
But it seems to me that Mozart is too much extolled.
They underestimate other music.
Now in the school music textbook it is written that pop music is bad, that amateurs filled everything.
In another technique, Dr. Bloch is quoted as saying that rock music destroys the brain, affects the genetic code...
It's all rubbish.
Dilettante music is good!

Baroque and certain Mozart compositions were ranked as particularly beneficial for studying or writing, whereas more dramatic or complex classical pieces were less effective.

These results suggest that specific musical styles and simplicity are important considerations for maximizing potential cognitive or concentration benefits among younger learners .

It is worth noting, however, that many modern reviews and analyses of the Mozart Effect have tempered the enthusiasm generated by the initial studies.

The magnitude of the effect is typically described as modest, and it tends to be short-lived.

The most widely accepted explanation in cognitive neuroscience is that improvements seen after listening to music, including Mozart, stem not from unique properties of the music but from its impact on mood and arousal, which in turn facilitate cognitive tasks.

The effect seems highly contingent on personal engagement and a positive emotional response to the listening experience, rather than being a consistent or reliable boost in intelligence or reasoning .

In addition to research on cognitive function, some studies have explored the effect of music, including Mozart, in reducing stress and pain and improving emotional well-being in children.

For instance, an experiment in 2019–2020 involving 100 newborns revealed that those exposed to Mozart’s lullabies before and after a blood test displayed less pain and distress and calmed down faster compared to a control group.

Title:

Content: News feed
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Scientists have found out what music can serve as pain relievers
Photo: pixabay
American scientists have discovered that Mozart ’ s music can have a pain-relieving effect.
This was found out during the experiment on newborns, reports Zakon.kz.
According to The Telegraph, from April 2019 to February 2020, researchers studied the effect of music on the sensation of pain in infants.
The experiment involved 100 newborns who took mandatory blood tests.
54 out of 100 children listened to Mozart's lullabies for 20 minutes before the medical procedure and for five minutes after it.
The rest of the children did not play music.
All children were tested under the same conditions.
The level of pain was assessed on a scale from zero to seven points on the intensity of crying, breathing, facial expression and other criteria.
It turned out that the newborns, who put Mozart, more easily transferred the collection of blood for tests and generally behaved more calmly.
They stopped feeling pain a minute after the procedure, while babies who did not listen to music felt pain two minutes later.
"Music recordings, in addition to sucrose, effectively reduce pain in newborns.
Music can be considered a simple, easily reproducible and inexpensive means of relieving pain from minor medical procedures for healthy and full-term babies, ” the researchers concluded.
Researchers have yet to find out whether babies have the same effect as their parents' recorded voices.
In addition, there is no certainty that Mozart will work as a painkiller for adults.
Earlier, scientists at New York University have proved that listening to music, drinking coffee and other everyday pleasures are good for the brain.
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These findings highlight possible ancillary benefits of music for creating a more positive emotional environment—an aspect relevant for classroom breaks, where music might help in soothing students and supporting classroom management .

More generally, exposure to classical music and musical activity appears to have broader beneficial effects on cognitive function and mood, particularly in aging populations.

While these findings are less directly applicable to children, they underscore the potential for music to support brain health through increased gray matter and neuroplasticity, as indicated in studies of older adults actively listening to or playing music .

Meta-analyses also report that lifelong musicianship is associated with a substantial reduction in risk for dementia and cognitive decline, attributed to ongoing brain stimulation.

The underlying mechanisms—heightened brain stimulation, increased engagement, and positive emotional arousal—are likely relevant at all ages, though the degree and form of benefit may vary .

In summary, recent research provides some support for the use of classical music, including Mozart, as a tool for improving mood, focus, and possibly short-term cognitive performance, particularly when the music is familiar, non-intrusive, and without lyrics.

The evidence for a substantial or lasting Mozart Effect—especially defined strictly as improved spatial reasoning—remains weak and highly dependent on individual listener characteristics and context.

Title:

Content: The opera "Tea Blossom Girl" can improve the survival rate of heart-changing mice: An interview with Teikyo University Medical Department lecturer Yasuhisa Uchiyama
Science Education Medical Health
What would be the impact of letting a mouse with a heart transplant listen to an opera? Ten years ago, a team of researchers at Teikyo University came up with this idea and later published experimental results, winning the “Medicine Prize ” of the Ig Nobel Prize.
Masao Uchiyama (41), a member of the research team and a lecturer in the university ’ s medical department, said the honor convinced him that “the value of uniqueness lies. ”
At present, he also works tirelessly to teach students to “pursue uniqueness. ”
Dressed as a mouse puppet at the awards ceremony.
In September 2013, Tatsuya Uchiyama, dressed in a mouse cloth doll, smiled on the stage of the Saunders Theater at Harvard University in Boston.
The idea of wearing a cloth doll on stage was put forward by Uchiyama, "I think that's going to be fun."
The reason was that he saw the popular role of the funny group "Funny Problem" in the TV show, and he bought a cloth doll at the $100 store and brought it to the awards ceremony.
He and another assistant, Kim Sang-won, put on a mouse puppet costume and stood at the side of the (then) Shin Sei-june, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Teikyo University, who led the team, singing the opera “Camellia ” in high notes, causing laughter from the audience.
He recalled, "We were probably the most popular among the winners of the year, and the group photo time after the ceremony was the most sought-after," and his face was full of pride.
A special issue of Annals of Improbable Research, the magazine that organizes the Ig Nobel Prize. In 2013, Uchiyama and his party were also selected as the cover of the magazine.
Leaflet for a speech at MIT the next day.
Although Uchiyama showed a childlike side at the award presentation ceremony, Uchiyama ’ s research goal is to explore the field of transplantation immunology. After all, Uchiyama ’ s paper has even included a well-known surgeon, a special professor in Shuntian University ’ s medical department, who was famous for performing coronary artery bypass surgery. The name of the boss.
Let the mice after the heart transplant immerse themselves in music, and the result...
In addition to the original heart, another heart was implanted in the abdomen of the mouse.
After the operation, the mouse will do nothing, it will trigger an immune rejection reaction, and the transplanted heart will stop working for an average of 8 days.
However, most of the mice who also received heart transplants continued to listen to the opera “Camellia ”, and the average survival days were greatly increased to 40 days, and the longest lived mice were even as many as 90 days.
On the other hand, the average time to listen to Mozart ’ s music is 20 days, and the Irish singer Enya ’ s voice is 11 days.
To further confirm the validity of the results, let mice with ruptured eardrums listen to “Camellia ”.
Sure enough, as expected, the "effect" disappeared, and the transplant heart stopped beating about a week or so.
In other words, this experiment proved that allowing mice after heart transplantation to listen to the opera “Camellia ” or classical music can effectively improve their immunity.
Uchiyama is taking a closer look at the rat after the heart transplant.
The study began with the discovery of a young man who, while studying at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, gave a variety of drugs to most mice undergoing heart transplants and compared the prognosis, noticed a difference between the prognosis of mice placed in human cages and those placed in quiet cages around them.
After returning home, he suggested to an assistant in his personal research office, "Let the mice listen to music and see what happens?"
It also plays the sound of the construction site and the monotone sound.
The study was restarted about 10 years later.
At that time, Uchiyama was still a graduate student in cardio-vascular surgery in the Department of Medicine at Shun Heaven University, and came to Teikyo University to study organ transplantation.
Uchiyama heard his assistant speak of the past of "letting the mice after the heart transplant listen to the opera", and intuitively thought that "if you continue to experiment, you may get interesting results".
First, let most of the mice after the heart transplant listen to the opera "Camellia Girl", Mozart music, and the album of Enya, a very favorite singer Uchiyama at the time.
They also listen to the sounds of the construction site, English listening exercises and monotonic sounds.
As a result, as mentioned earlier, the survival period was extended in the order of opera, Mozart, and Enya, compared to rats that listened to nothing.
Incidentally, the reason why I chose "Camellia Girl" is because Shinkai is a fanatic who loves opera, and this opera is his most recommended.
Although Uchiyama and opera have no connection, but as a part of the research, I heard that she is listening to "Camellia Girl" all day long.
"To be honest, it's only pain for me," he said with a laugh.
Professor Amano also thought the experiment was interesting, but the paper was closed.
In this way, after Uchiyama has worked hard to collect experimental data that can be written into the paper, the next step is the beginning of the real test.
At the time, Professor Amano, who was the head of the medical department of Shun Tian University, said bluntly: “Although the experiment seems interesting, it should be difficult to write a paper. ”
As predicted, even though Uchiyama threw a lot of academic journals, they were returned without review and ate a closed door. In March 12, 2012, the British academic journal “Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery (JCTS) ” finally entered the review stage.
The paper was presented in the autumn of the previous year, and it has actually been 1 1 / 2 years before the review began.
Uchiyama said: "Because this experiment is very dependent on environmental factors."
To differentiate the sound of Camellia, Mozart, Enya, and the construction site, it is impossible to use scientific and objective evidence to show it, which increases the difficulty of examination.
A month after the award ceremony, it was presented at the Japanese Pulse Society (October 2013).
No matter what happens, people will be blessed by God ’ s grace.
The year after the publication of the paper in JCTS, the research team received a notification of the winner of the Ig Nobel Prize. Like many researchers, both novices and Uchiyama, at first thought that “this is a prank ” and did not think it, until they gathered the relevant information to know that everything seemed to be true.
“‘ Your idea is unique and admirable ’ and it makes me happy to be recognized by a third person who doesn ’ t know me. ”
The mountain says so.
This award benefited him a lot, and he realized that “you have to be confident in the results of your research that you believe in. ”
"Hope and vitality, as well as family support, are very important, and the results are interlinked," Shin said in a post-award interview.
In the clinical scene, patients who are thought to have only a few months of life have lived for many years. On the contrary, patients who are thought to have lived for many more years have died suddenly and suddenly, and often encounter these conditions.
However, through this research, we can be sure that “something ” that cannot be fully described in Western medicine is actually affecting the immune system through the brain.
In clinical settings, when patients know about the award, they sometimes ask, “If I want to recover early, what kind of music will help? ”
Uchiyama ’ s answer is to suggest that you first seek Western medical treatment, followed by “As long as it is music you like, listen to anything. ”
3 research topics recommended for the next generation
However, to say that Uchiyama is unique from a young age, in fact, it is not.
He said: “My personality is shy, and I have blushing phobia, and I am afraid to stand in front of everyone.
However, in high school, he realized that "if we continue like this, we will not be able to survive in society", and after working in college, he chose to be a tutor, forcing himself to endure and successfully overcome his fear.
Once a teenager with blushing phobia, now he has turned into an adult dressed as a mouse puppet standing on the stage of Harvard University singing dramatic music, human beings, really have unlimited potential.
On the contrary, Uchiyama has a strong belief from a very early age.
Both parents are teachers, under their advice, from junior high school into the affiliated senior secondary school of Ritsumeikan University, but the university did not choose to "direct admission", but decided to participate in the entrance examination of the medical department.
More than 90% of students in the upper middle school choose to go straight to the university, and it is not easy to concentrate on preparing for the exam in such an environment.
As a result, he communicated directly with the teacher, and continued to participate in extra-curricular tutoring in biology and English after school. On the contrary, the courses he considered “unnecessary ” were almost absent.
"At that time, people around me said he was a 'strange guy'," he said.
In 2017, he attended a dinner at the University of Cambridge.
Uchiyama told his graduate students, “Be prepared for three research topics at any time. ”
First, it is easy to write a paper of orthodox research; second, if the goal of life is to become a researcher, to think of research that can be invested in a lifetime; finally, "no one is doing unique research."
For Uchiyama, the experiment of heart transplant mice belongs to the third.
When he was further asked about the purpose of recommending the "unique study", he gave the example of "mountain climbing" to answer: "First, the first is to climb a mountain at a moderate altitude when the weather is clear; the second is to climb Mount Everest, which is like the highest peak in the world, although it is a high altitude and long distance mountain, but you can see the top; the third is because you do not know how high and what climbing paths there are." Ready to climb the mountain equipment on the start, all the way exclaimed: "No? Is the whole me?", can only rely on the emergency response to move forward, and arriving at the end will produce the kind of "Wow!"
It's really funny.
"I'm so impressed."
In other words, it is precisely those who have mastered their basic skills in the study of "orthodoxy" that have found a way to explore a landscape that no one has ever seen.
“With all the obstacles that arise in the course of research, how can we use theoretical and constructive attitudes to achieve our goals? This is an important training for researchers, and personal abilities will eventually bear fruit. ” Even if one person is better, I hope more people can embark on the journey to find the beauty that has not been discovered.
Such a heartfelt expectation.
Interview and arrangement: Nami Hamada, Editorial Department of POWER NEWS
All of the above photos are provided by Uchiyama.
Photo taken in March 2023 at Teikyo University Medical Department Hospital in Itabashi, Tokyo.
Nobel Prize for Research in Medicine

Most observed benefits in student performance arise indirectly via increased motivation, enhanced mood, and better concentration, rather than direct cognitive enhancement caused by the music itself.

For educators seeking practical classroom strategies, these points are supported by evidence:

- Playing background classical music (such as Mozart or Baroque pieces) during breaks or quiet learning activities may improve classroom atmosphere, student mood, and concentration, especially if students find the music pleasant and non-distracting .
-

Although a universal benefit in cognitive skills (e.g., reasoning or memory) from listening to Mozart has not been robustly demonstrated, personalizing music selection to suit student preferences may maximize positive outcomes for focus and motivation .

- Avoiding overly complex, dramatic, or lyric-heavy music is advised, as these can be distracting or less effective for most learners .

- Exposure to familiar, soothing music, including gentle Mozart compositions, can create a calmer classroom environment and may help with emotional regulation, which in turn supports learning .

The most effective use of music in an educational setting is therefore likely to be in enhancing mood, motivation, and concentration rather than expecting dramatic boosts in intelligence or reasoning ability.

Regularly involving students in music selection and observing their responses will allow educators to tailor the environment for optimal benefit.

The Mozart Effect, as originally defined, remains scientifically controversial, but the broader application of music for classroom management and student well-being is supported by recent research evidence.