The Mozart effect: An artifact of preference

The "Mozart effect" reported by Rauscher Shaw: and Ky (1993, 1995) indicates that spatial-temporal abilities are enhanced after listening to music composed by Mozart. We replicated and extended the effect in Experiment 1: Performance on a spatial-temporal task was better after participants listened to a piece composed by Mozart or by Schubert than after they: sat in silence. In Experiment 2, the advantage for the music condition disappeared when the control condition consisted of a narrated story instead of silence. Rather performance was a function of listener's 'preference (music or srory), with better performance following the preferred condition.