Annette protested: > Oh good god, who are the editors of this "professional" > journal? Did any of these folks ever take a research methods > course?
Actually, the research design seems ok, as are the rather modest results. And given that a well-known psychologist (Congreve, 1697) hypothesized many years ago that music hath charms to soothe the savage breast (a seriously painful condition), this pilot study merely confirms what we have long suspected. However, as the news item cited by Jon Mueller pointed out, the main problem is that the study lacks evidence to suggest that the effect is specific to Mozart. It may well be than any sort of auditory stimulation would do as well, absent control groups of preemies exposed to white noise or, say, the music of Barry Manilow or this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7qR5JZcLbc Until such controls are run, what we have at best is an auditory stimulation effect, which is much less interesting from a news viewpoint than a claimed Mozart effect. Anyway, I'd suggest if the researchers really wanted to soothe a baby, they should go for a Shostakovich effect http://tinyurl.com/y8axykq instead. Stephen Congreve, W. (1697). The Mourning Bride. Act 1, Scene 1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: sbl...@ubishops.ca 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
