A team of scientists from the University of Amsterdam and the HUN-REN Natural Sciences Research Center (TTK) in Hungary has discovered that newborn babies have a surprising ability to perceive rhythm in music, an ability until now not fully understood. understood. Published in the scientific journal Cognition, the study ‘Beat processing in newborn infants cannot be explained by statistical learning based on transition probabilities’ highlights that this perception of rhythm is not only a result of statistical learning, but a separate cognitive mechanism active from the birth​​, a finding that represents a significant contribution to the field of musical cognition and child development​.
Professor Henkjan Honing, author of the study and expert in Musical Cognition at the University of Amsterdam, clarifies that, although “clear indications were already found in 2009 that babies just a few days old have the same ability to hear a regular pulse in the music (rhythm), a characteristic considered essential for making and appreciating music”, this new study deepens the understanding of how babies perceive, remember and process music​​.
To explore this ability, the researchers conducted an experiment with 27 newborn babies, manipulating synchronization times to drum beats to see if the babies distinguished between learning the order of sounds in a rhythm (statistical learning) and recognizing a rhythm (rhythm induction). To do this, they presented babies with two versions of the same drum rhythm through headphones: a version with isochronous beats, where the distance between sounds was always the same, thus allowing them to perceive a pulse or beat in the rhythm; and another version with the same drum pattern but with random synchronization (jittered), where the perception of rhythm was not possible, although the sequence of sounds could be learned. This allowed the researchers to distinguish between rhythm perception and statistical learning.
Since newborn babies cannot show observable behavioral responses, the researchers used brain wave measurements (EEG) while the little ones slept to observe their brain responses. The results showed that babies perceived rhythm when the time interval between heartbeats was always the same. However, when the same pattern was played at irregular time intervals, the babies did not perceive any rhythm.
Co-author of the study, Professor István Winkler from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology at TTK, highlighted that “This crucial difference confirms that the ability to be able to hear rhythm is innate and not simply the result of learned sound sequences.” Their findings “suggest that it is a specific skill of newborns and make clear how important nursery rhymes and lullabies are for the auditory development of young children.” This discovery provides “greater understanding of early perception, which is of great importance for learning more about infant cognition, and the role that musical skills can play in early development.”
Honing adds: “Most people can easily pick up the rhythm of music and judge whether the music is getting faster or slower; it seems like an inconsequential skill. However, since perceiving regularity in music is what allows us “Dancing and making music together is not a trivial phenomenon. “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 capacity for music.”
