Contrary to the common quip that listening to Mozart will actually increase one’s IQ, a systematic review of literature on the subject performed by the German research ministry concluded there to be no affect on intelligence by passively listening to Mozart – or any other kind of music. The team consisted of nine German neuroscientists, psychologists, educationalists and philosophers – all music experts.
The idea of a "Mozart effect; was sparked in 1993 when a study concerning music and spacial task performance found an increase in ability after listening to Mozart for 10 minutes. It led to a variety of commercial applications, such as media claiming to increase your well-being through music. Recent articles on the subject have ranged from claiming a molecular basis for the phenomenon, to setting the wildly popular application for child development squarely on the shoulders of commercialism.