document resume ed 390 733 so 025 484 author rauscher, frances.pdfVIP

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 390 733 SO 025 484 AUTHOR Rauscher, Frances H.; And Others TITLE Music and Spatial Task Performance: A Causal Relationship. PUB DATE Aug 94 NOTE 26p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association (102nd, Los Angeles, CA, August 12-16, 1994). PUB TYPE Speeches/Conference Papers (150) Reports Research/Technical (143) EDRS PRICE MFOI/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Cognitive Ability; Early Childhood Education; *Early Experience; Fine Arts; Humanities; *Motion; *Music; *PerceptuAl Development; Psychomotor Skills; *Spatial Ability; Young Children ABSTRACT This research paper reports on testing the hypothesis that music and spatial task performance are causally related. Two complementary studies are presented that replicate and explore previous findings. One study of college students showed that listening to a Mozart sonata induces subsequent short-term spatial reasoning facilitation and tested the effects of highly repetitive music on spatial reasoning. The second study extends the findings of a preliminary pilot study of 1993 which suggested that music training of three-year-olds provides long-term enhancements of nonverbal cognitive abilities already present at significant leveli in infants. The paper concludes with a discussion of the scientific and educational implications, further controls, and future research objectives. Contains 10 references. (EH) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. V i Date and Time of Presentation: Saturday, August 13, 1994, Ilam