A 1993 test conducted by researchers from the University of California inspired the phrase the 'Mozart Effect." It found that college students who listened to Mozart prior to taking a spatial-temporal reasoning test scored higher than students who listened to no music. The effect was only found within 10 minutes. Subsequent studies did not produce the same results. For example, Lizann Gallagher of Georgetown University performed a test on 12 university students in 2009 and found that classical music had no effect on spatial reasoning test scores.
Gallagher's 2009 study also examined the effect of techno music on spatial reasoning test scores. The students were randomly assigned either classical, techno music or silence. Students who listened to techno music performed the worst out of the three groups, scoring only 37.5 on average for the test. The classical music group average was 42.5; the silence group scored 57.5. This study suggests that music has a negative effect on spatial reasoning, and techno is particularly detrimental.
A study published in "Psychological Reports" in 1971 found students who studied while listening to rock music performed worse on structured psychological tests than those who did not. These findings were partially supported by researchers from the University of Nebraska. They played a ZZ Top record to 72 students from a music appreciation class, who then took a 16-question math test. The control group that did not hear the music scored an average of 11.9375. The students who listen to rock music scored an average of 11.8438.
In 2010, the Los Angeles ABC affiliate featured teacher LaMar Queen of Los Angeles and his rap lessons. Queen used rap songs to explain math solution problems to his middle-school classes. "I have kids go from Cs and Ds to Bs and As just based off of the music," Queen told the TV station. One study performed for a school science fair in 2005 showed eighth-grade students who were played rap music during math tests performed worse than students who listened to classical or no music at all.