The "Mozart effect" reported by Rauscher Shaw: and Ky (1993, 1995) indicate
s that spatial-temporal abilities are enhanced after listening to music com
posed by Mozart. We replicated and extended the effect in Experiment 1: Per
formance on a spatial-temporal task was better after participants listened
to a piece composed by Mozart or by Schubert than after they: sat in silenc
e. In Experiment 2, the advantage for the music condition disappeared when
the control condition consisted of a narrated story instead of silence. Rat
her performance was a function of listener's 'preference (music or srory),
with better performance following the preferred condition.