Mythbusters, Psychology Edition: Listening To Classical Musical Won't Make You Smarter, Plus 3 Others Myths
True or false: Listening to classic musical can make you more intelligent. According to a new video from BrainCraft — PBS’s digital studio series about neuroscience and psychology — the answer is false.
Well, kind of. One study split participants into three groups: group one listened to Mozart; group two listened to verbal instruction; while group three didn’t listen to anything. Afterwards, participants completed an IQ test. While Mozart listeners performed better on spatial reasoning tasks (as music can impact the brain), the effects wore off after only 15 minutes.
This psychology myth isn’t the only one people fall for. For example, there’s no scientific evidence people have a photographic memory. People can have an eidetic memory, which is the ability to process information and recall it very efficiently after mere moments of exposure — but this isn’t the same as seeing an actual image in your brain.
Brain games, too, are subject to debate. One study found applying a newly-learned skill, such as sewing, lead to a better performance on memory tasks three months later than crossword puzzles, social clubs, and watching documentaries did. Lumosity, the popular app for increased brain health, was also accused last year of basing their games on unproven science.
Lastly, there are times going with your gut isn’t a good idea, namely when it comes to multiple choice tests. In fact, some studies show people who change their answers actually perform better on their test.