Classical Music - The Mozart Effect

Mozart - Classical music is said to make people smarter.

The following people experimented and made some studies about how classical music and specially Mozart could help someone develop his brain.

Alfred A. Tomatis was the first to use this term.
He played Mozart's music trying to retrain the ear, believing that listening to the music at differing frequencies helped the ear, promoted healing and developed the brain.

Rauscher and Shaw
Rauscher and Shaw made a study in 1993 with which they concluded that the participants of the study where 8-9 IQ points higher after listening to a sonata of Mozart. The effects where temporary and lasted for only 15 minutes.

The findings of this study became popular and the press started writing articles.
More researchers started experimenting and some agreed while others argued that music could make you smarter.

The funny part of the story is that in 1998, Zell Miller, the governor of Georgia announced that his proposed state budget would include $105.000 to provide every year, in every newborn, a cd of classical music!