Newborns Arrive With Innate Rhythm, Scientific Study Confirms
Some individuals appear to possess a natural sense of rhythm from an early age, and a compelling new study indicates this ability might indeed be hardwired from birth. Researchers have discovered that newborns, at just two days old, can anticipate musical patterns, entering the world "already tuned in" to rhythmic elements. This finding offers a potential explanation for why very young children often instinctively nod their heads to a beat or become animated upon hearing music.
Experimental Design and Key Findings
For this investigation, a team from the Italian Institute of Technology played compositions by J.S. Bach to an audience of 49 sleeping infants. The selection included ten original melodies and four shuffled versions with scrambled melodies and pitches. While the babies listened, researchers employed electroencephalography, using electrodes placed on their heads, to monitor brainwave activity.
When the infants displayed signs of neural surprise, it indicated they had expected the song to progress in a certain manner, but it diverged unexpectedly. Analysis demonstrated that newborns consistently showed surprise when the rhythm changed unpredictably, suggesting these "miniature maestros" had formed musical expectations based on rhythm alone.
Rhythm Versus Melody: A Developmental Distinction
According to the authors, published in the journal PLOS Biology, understanding how humans become aware of rhythm can assist biologists in comprehending auditory system development. However, the study found no evidence that newborns tracked melody—the variation in pitch and the flow of the tune—implying this skill emerges at an unspecified later stage in development.
The researchers articulated, "Newborns come into the world already tuned in to rhythm. Our latest research shows that even our tiniest two-day-old listeners can anticipate rhythmic patterns, revealing that some key elements of musical perception are wired from birth. But there's a twist: melodic expectations—our ability to predict the flow of a tune—don't seem to be present yet."
This distinction suggests rhythm may be an inherent part of our biological toolkit, whereas melody is gradually acquired through exposure and learning.
Potential Origins of Rhythmic Ability
The team hypothesizes that newborns' rhythmic capability could stem from the sensory environment experienced in the womb. This includes auditory stimulations, such as the consistent sound of the mother's heartbeat, and vestibular stimulations related to balance, like the pace of the mother's walking gait. An alternative possibility is that predictive skills develop through prenatal exposure to music.
Previous research supports this, indicating that by approximately 35 weeks of gestation, foetuses begin responding to music with alterations in heart rate and body movements. A separate study from last year, co-authored by Dr. Claudia Lerma of the National Institute of Cardiology in Mexico, found that playing classical music to babies in utero can stimulate development, resulting in more stable and predictable foetal heart rate patterns.
Real-World Examples and Broader Implications
The internet is replete with videos showcasing infants and toddlers displaying impressive rhythmic movements. For instance, Chané Milner-Joseph, a 27-year-old single stay-at-home mother from London, shared a clip of her daughter Chyla Rae dancing to a bedtime lullaby, amusing social media users. Other examples include an 11-month-old gliding to a lullaby, "mini metalhead" Logie in Edinburgh headbanging to heavy metal en route to nursery, and a two-and-a-half-month-old "dancing" in his cot to a drumbeat.
Future studies may explore how exposure to music during gestation affects the acquisition of rhythm and melody. The researchers concluded, "Overall, this study provides neurophysical evidence that tracking rhythmic statistical regularities is a capacity present at birth. Melodic tracking, in contrast, may receive more weight through development with exposure to signals relevant to communication, such as speech and music."
Music as a Universal Language
Supporting the notion of music's fundamental role, a recent Harvard-led study involving 750 internet users from 60 countries found global links between musical form and vocals. Participants listened to 14-second excerpts from songs worldwide, including those from hunter-gatherer or cattle-farming societies, and accurately identified the songs' functions—such as for dancing, expressing love, or soothing a baby—across cultures. This underscores music's universal nature, potentially rooted in innate rhythmic capacities observed from birth.
