Babies perceive the rhythm of music from birth – study

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Scientists have established that newborns can perceive the rhythm of music. This is a separate cognitive mechanism that is active already at birth.

This is reported by Medical Xpress with reference to a study published in the scientific journal Cognition.

A group of Dutch-Hungarian scientists discovered that the sense of rhythm is not an acquired human skill.

“We still don’t know much about how newborn babies perceive, remember, and process music. But in 2009, we found clear evidence that babies just a few days old have the ability to hear a regular pulse in music — beat – a characteristic that is considered important for the creation and perception of music”. – said research co-author Henkian Honing.

People are born with the ability to perceive the rhythm of music. Photo: Rohappy/Depositphotos

To study in more detail the process of music perception by newborns, scientists conducted an experiment with 27 babies. The researchers manipulated the duration of the drum beats to see if there was a difference between learning the order of the sounds in the beat and being able to recognize the beat.

With the help of headphones, the babies were played two versions of the drum beat. In the first version, the intervals between the sounds were the same, that is, there was a specific rhythm. In the second, they are random, so it was impossible to perceive the rhythm, but you can study the sequence of sounds.

The research was carried out by measuring brain waves (EEG). They showed that infants heard the beat when the intervals between the beats were the same. However, when the researchers played the same pattern at irregular intervals, the infants could not recognize the rhythm.

“Our findings suggest that this is a newborn-specific skill and shed light on how important nursery rhymes are for young children’s auditory development. A deeper understanding of early perception is of great importance for the study of infant cognition and the role that musical skills may play in early development”, – explained the co-author of the study István Winkler.

“In fact, the perception of rhythm can be considered a fundamental human trait that must have played a crucial role in the evolution of our ability to make music.” – added Henkian Honing.

We will remind you that earlier we wrote that the mother’s language affects the development of the child’s brain even before birth.

Read also: ARVI in a baby: what parents must know

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