Humans have a unique ability to coordinate their motor movements to an external auditory stimulus, as in music-induced foot tapping or dancing. This behavior currently engages the attention of scholars across a number of disciplines. However, very little is known about its earliest manifestations. The aim of the current research was to examine whether preverbal infants engage in rhythmic behavior to music. To this end, we carried out two experiments in which we tested 120 infants (aged 5-24 months). Infants were exposed to various excerpts of musical and rhythmic stimuli, including isochronous drumbeats. Control stimuli consisted of adult- and infant-directed speech. Infants' rhythmic movements were assessed by multiple methods involving manual coding from video excerpts and innovative 3D motion-capture technology. The results show that (i) infants engage in significantly more rhythmic movement to music and other rhythmically regular sounds than to speech; (ii) infants exhibit tempo flexibility to some extent (e.g., faster auditory tempo is associated with faster movement tempo); and (iii) the degree of rhythmic coordination with music is positively related to displays of positive affect. The findings are suggestive of a predisposition for rhythmic movement in response to music and other metrically regular sounds.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2851927 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1000121107 | DOI Listing |
Dev Rev
March 2025
Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, 230 S Frontage Rd, New Haven, CT 06519, USA.
Parent-child interactions shape children's cognitive outcomes such that caregivers can guide attention and facilitate learning opportunities. These interactions provide infants and toddlers with rich, naturalistic experiences that engage complex cognitive functions and lay the groundwork for the development of mature executive functions. Although most caregivers seek to engage children optimally, they can unintentionally impede this developmental process by being under-engaged or intrusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Child Lang
January 2025
Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, USA.
Speakers consider their listeners and adjust the way they communicate. One well-studied example is the register of infant-directed speech (IDS), which differs acoustically from speech directed to adults. However, little work has explored how parents adjust speech to infants across different contexts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Res Protoc
January 2025
College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Australia.
Background: There is limited evidence of high-quality, accessible, culturally safe, and effective digital health interventions for Indigenous mothers and babies. Like any other intervention, the feasibility and efficacy of digital health interventions depend on how well they are co-designed with Indigenous communities and their adaptability to intracultural diversity.
Objective: This study aims to adapt an existing co-designed mobile health (mHealth) intervention app with health professionals and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander mothers living in South Australia.
Medicine (Baltimore)
January 2025
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
The increasing popularity of medical tourism has sparked interest from policymakers, researchers, and the media. Factors influencing medical tourism include service quality, availability, economics, and cultural differences. This study aims to analyze the key factors that influence destination selection for medical tourists.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Expect
February 2025
Community Paediatrics Research Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Background And Objective: Migrant and refugee women, families, and their children can experience significant language, cultural, and psychosocial barriers to engage with child and family services. Integrated child and family health Hubs are increasingly promoted as a potential solution to address access barriers; however, there is scant literature on how to best implement them with migrant and refugee populations. Our aim was to explore with service providers and consumers the barriers, enablers, and experiences with Hubs and the resulting building blocks required for acceptable Hub implementation for migrant and refugee families.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!