Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Publication Date
Spring 6-1-2019
Journal
Undergraduate Honours Theses
Abstract
The Mozart Effect refers to the theory that exposure to classical music will make people more intelligent. The study explored whether the benefits of classic music extended to memory processes such as immediate word recall, while considering individual differences in extroversion and sensitivity to music reward. To test this, 56 first-year psychology students completed Eysenck’s Personality Inventory, the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire and a music experience questionnaire. Participants then were exposed to a three-minute Mozart excerpt that was either slow, regular or fast tempo, then completed an immediate recall task. A 2X2X3 ANOVA was conducted, a significant interaction effect was found for tempo X extraversion. No other significant main or interaction effects were found. Independent t-tests found low extraversion people performed significantly better after regular tempo than slow tempo music. Independent t-tests also found low extraversion people performed significantly better than high extraversion people after regular tempo music. Implications of the results are discussed.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Notes
Thesis Advisor(s): Dr. Mark Cole and Dr. Christine Tsang