Researchers have found that music begins to influence movement in infants within the first year of life, according to a study published on Jul. 7. The research, appearing as the final Version of Record in eLife, examines how the developing brain transforms musical input into spontaneous physical responses.
The study involved 79 infants aged three, six, and twelve months who listened to instrumental versions of children's songs and shuffled versions of those songs while researchers recorded both neural activity using EEG and physical movements using automated video-based motion-tracking software. The findings showed that all age groups had enhanced auditory responses when exposed to structured music compared with shuffled versions, indicating early development of music processing in infancy.
However, only twelve-month-old infants demonstrated significantly more movement in response to structured music across several principal movement types such as front-back rocking, side sway, proto-clapping, up-down rocking, and arm pedalling. Infants aged three and six months did not show significant differences in movement between the two types of musical stimuli. Movements involving the upper body or limbs were especially prominent among the older group.
Lead researcher Nguyen said, "Across the first year of life, infants seem to consistently move their lower body while slowly increasing their capacity for more complex upper-body and whole-body movements while seated, as we saw in the 12-month-olds." Nguyen added that this complexity is likely linked to maturation processes within certain brain pathways associated with rhythm perception.
The team also found no evidence that any age group coordinated their movements with the beat or timing of the music. Senior author Giacomo Novembre said, "We've shown that much like the auditory encoding of music, moving to music emerges early in development. This may reflect a biological or early-developing predisposition that eventually leads to dance-like behaviours... Future research is now needed to extend our characterisation of music-driven movement beyond the first year of life and explore what continues to be its mysterious functional significance."
