The influence of Mozart's sonata K. 448 on brain activity during the performance of spatial rotation and numerical tasks.

The study investigated the influence of Mozart's music on respondents' brain activity while solving spatial rotation and numerical tasks. The method of induced event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) and coherence (ERCoh) was used. The music condition had a beneficial influence on respondents' performance of spatial rotation tasks, and a slightly negative influence on the performance of numerical tasks as compared with the silence condition. On the psychophysiological level a general effect of Mozart's music on brain activity in the induced gamma band was observed, accompanied by a more specific effect in theinduced lower-2 alpha band whichwas only present while respondents solved the numerical tasks. It is suggested that listening to Mozart's music increases the activity of specific brain areas and in that way facilitates the selection and "binding" together of pertinent aspects of sensory stimulus into a perceived whole.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16110771