Canadian researchers Thompson, Schellenberg, and Husa in conducted an experiment in which they assigned university students to either a group that listened to a Mozart Sonata (happy music) or a group that listened to an Albinoni Adagio (sad music). Thompson et al. concluded that what previous researchers had called the "Mozart effect" was really an artifact of the participants' arousal and positive mood. Thompson et al. were claiming that
A)listening to the Mozart Sonata created demand characteristics for the participants
B)the Mozart Sonata acted as a placebo in their experiment
C)the "Mozart effect" resulted from an experimenter expectancy effect
D)arousal and positive mood were confounds of the "Mozart effect"

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Thompson et al. suggested that the "Mozart effect" was not due to the music itself enhancing cognitive abilities, but rather the result of increased arousal and positive mood from listening to happy music, which were not properly controlled for in previous studies, making them confounds.

Canadian Researchers Thompson, Schellenberg, and Husa in Conducted an Experiment