How Music Boosts Your Memory And Makes You Smarter

Have you ever noticed how your favorite music canretention of the new materials.
make you feel better? Well, new research studiesMany industrial corporations provide music to their
suggest that certain types of music can boost youremployees. Dupont, for example, used a music
memory, cut your company's training time and makelistening program in one department that cut its
you smarter too.training time in half and doubled the number of people
Scientists at Stanford University, in California, havetrained. Another corporation using music found that
recently revealed a molecular basis for music knownclerical errors decreased by one third.
as the "Mozart Effect", but not other music.I use many type of music in my Instant Learning
Dr. Fran Rauscher and her geneticist colleague H. Li,workshops and trainings because I find that it
discovered that rats, like humans, perform better onreduces learning time and increases memory of the
learning and memory tests after listening to a specificmaterial. Music activates the whole brain and makes
Mozart Sonata in D. They found that various growthyou feel more energetic.
factors and a memory compound increased in anThere is also some compelling newer evidence to
area of the brain that affects learning and memory.show that music, used properly, can calm people with
In addition, some years before, at the University ofADD or ADHD and even autism.
California, Irvine, Dr. Rausher found that collegeA recent news article reported that researchers have
students scored higher on the spatial portion of andiscovered direct evidence that music stimulates
I.Q. test after listening to the Mozart Sonata for onlydifferent regions of the brain responsible for
10 minutes! The findings were published and thememory, motor control, timing and language. For the
"Mozart Effect" craze officially began.first time, researchers also have located specific
Although there is still some controversy overareas of mental activity linked to emotional
whether the "Mozart Effect" really exists, I've doneresponses to music.
my research and am a big fan personally. I listen toAt McGill University in Montreal, neuroscientist Anne
certain Mozart CD's every day when I write myBlood, who conducted the study said, "You can
books.activate different parts of the brain, depending on
They help me focus and concentrate, and give mewhat music you listen to.
the added boost of a better memory. OK, I admit,So music can stimulate parts of the brain that are
sometimes I forget where I put the car keys, butunderactive in neurological diseases or a variety of
listening to these particular pieces called "Mozartemotional disorders. Over time, we could retrain the
Effect for Focus and Concentration" actually do helpbrain in these disorders."
me focus better.Harvard University Medical School neurobiologist, Mark
On a more serious note, there is substantial researchJude Tramo, says, "Undeniably, there is a biology of
showing that classical music lessons can really paymusic. There is no question that there is specialization
off, because music can "boost brain circuitry andwithin the human brain for the processing of music.
increase certain mental functions".Music is biologically part of human life, just as music is
Ultimately, you may develop the more spatial areasaesthetically part of human life."
of the brain, and the research shows that peopleGiven the exceptional benefits of listening to certain
who have had music lessons or play an instrumenttypes of music, I highly recommend you add Mozart
perform better on many types of cognitive tests.to your tool chest of rapid learning strategies. You
Major corporations such as Shell, IBM, and Dupont,can listen as a family, use it at work, or play it in the
along with thousands of schools and universities usebackground when you want your to kick your
music, such as certain Baroque or Mozart pieces, tomemory into high gear.
cut learning time, mask irritating sounds, and increase