Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 14, 1993                   TAG: 9310140121
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

A LITTLE OF MOZART'S GENIUS MAY RUB OFF ON LISTENERS

Researchers at the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at University of California, Irvine, have determined that listening to 10 minutes of a Mozart piano sonata raised the IQ of college students by up to 9 points.

The effect on the intelligence of the students barely lasted longer than the echo of the piano chords themselves, however. The IQ boost dissipated within 15 minutes, the team reported today in the journal Nature.

The researchers suggested that classical music may enhance abstract reasoning, such as that used in mathematics or chess, by reinforcing complex patterns of neural activity. They suspect the music's complexity is the key. Simpler, repetitive rhythms of grunge rock or minimalist New Age jazz may actually interfere with abstract reasoning.

Moreover, making music, rather than simply listening to it, may have a more permanent impact, they said.

"It is remarkable, if it is true," said Nicholas Christenfeld, a social psychologist at University of California, San Diego. "The whole point of an IQ is that it supposed to be unchanging from conception to death."