[williamjames]

We've been had! It's a shame that we will have to tell this to all the kids today who are constantly listening to Mozart.

All jokes aside, when I was a little bit younger and took my first philosophy course, I remember the professor saying something like "Garbage in, Garbage out." So let's say that listening to Mozart doesn't make you smarter. This, however, has no bearing on if other forms of music make you less smart (which I believe is very possibly true). Besides that, I find the most amazing thing happen when I listen to great classical music: I can actually think without the music interrupting my thoughts 95% of the time. The 5% of the time it does happen is only if I accidentally chose something to listen to that has vocals (Opera, which is amazing how great it sounds even though I have no idea what they are saying), or if it is something particularly raucous by Stravinsky.

[carbocation]

If you want to switch things up, consider downloading the instrumental-only 4 CD "Ghosts" album released under a CC license by Trent Reznor/NIN.

[ewanmcteagle]

I have the same experience but I don't do it anymore. Doesn't it just mean that with certain types of music we can ignore it enough to do other tasks? Why do we want to have inputs that we then ignore? If the music is worthwhile doesn't it deserve our attention?

[williamjames]

Well my experience with it is that I believe that it actually influences my thought patterns and helps my train of thought progress. Of course this is anecdotal evidence and it would seem that the article contradicts my belief, which is why I failed to allude to it in my original posting. Besides that, if my train of thought does come to a conclusion, I get to enjoy some great music until my next thought begins.

[pyre]

For me, music helps to affect my mood. I use music+work to help me get into 'the zone' in a way that doesn't happen when just trying to work in complete silence (or the noise of a typical office).

[stretchwithme]

"garbage in, garbage out" explains why recycling is impossible! :-)

[stcredzero]

You've also debunked GC! Pure genius!