Mozart Sonata Makes Lab Rats Learn Faster, Scientists Say

Laboratory rats exposed to a Mozart sonata (K. 448) before and after birth are able to complete mazes more rapidly and with fewer errors than those exposed to minimalist music (a Philip Glass composition), white noise or silence, researchers from the University of Wisconsin report in the July issue of Neurological Research. The rats were exposed to the sounds before birth and for 60 days after, then tested in mazes for five days.

Psychologist Frances Rauscher and her colleagues found those exposed to Mozart were distinctly better at the mazes by the third day of testing and that the difference increased by the fifth day. The research supports the idea that early experiences control how the brain is organized, and that richness of experience improves thinking ability.

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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II.