Newborn infants detect the beat in music
17 Feb 2009-Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (National Academy of Sciences)-Vol. 106, Iss: 7, pp 2468-2471
TL;DR: It is shown that newborn infants develop expectation for the onset of rhythmic cycles (the downbeat), even when it is not marked by stress or other distinguishing spectral features, which strongly support the view that beat perception is innate.
Abstract: To shed light on how humans can learn to understand music, we need to discover what the perceptual capabilities with which infants are born. Beat induction, the detection of a regular pulse in an auditory signal, is considered a fundamental human trait that, arguably, played a decisive role in the origin of music. Theorists are divided on the issue whether this ability is innate or learned. We show that newborn infants develop expectation for the onset of rhythmic cycles (the downbeat), even when it is not marked by stress or other distinguishing spectral features. Omitting the downbeat elicits brain activity associated with violating sensory expectations. Thus, our results strongly support the view that beat perception is innate.
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TL;DR: An account of auditory perception suggesting that representations of predictable patterns, or 'regularities', extracted from the incoming sounds serve as auditory perceptual objects that generate hypotheses about the causal structure of the world.
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TL;DR: This revised model is mainly based on the mismatch negativity (MMN) and N1 indices of automatic processing, the processing negativity (PN) index of selective attention, and their magnetoencephalographic and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) equivalents.
Abstract: In this review, we will present a model of brain events leading to conscious perception in audition. This represents an updated version of Naatanen's previous model of automatic and attentive central auditory processing. This revised model is mainly based on the mismatch negativity (MMN) and N1 indices of automatic processing, the processing negativity (PN) index of selective attention, and their magnetoencephalographic (MEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) equivalents. Special attention is paid to determining the neural processes that might underlie conscious perception and the borderline between automatic and attention-dependent processes in audition.
416 citations
Cites background from "Newborn infants detect the beat in ..."
...Moreover, the presence of the MMN with a sensoryspecific topography has also been demonstrated in the somatosensory modalities (Kekoni et al., 1997) and olfactory (Krauel et al., 1999) modalities, and also for integrated audio–visual stimuli (Widman et al., 2004; Winkler et al., 2009c)....
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...Furthermore, very recent vMMN data (Müller et al., 2010; Winkler et al., 2009c) showed, analogously to the auditory modality, the occurrence of attention-independent feature integration in visual object formation....
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...…stimulus processing that is endowed with powerful attention-switching mechanisms to potentially significant events is absolutely necessary in the auditory domain, in view of the presence of multiple concurrent auditory (Winkler, 2007; Winkler et al., 2009a) and other sensory-modality input streams....
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TL;DR: The results show that infants engage in significantly more rhythmic movement to music and other rhythmically regular sounds than to speech, and infants exhibit tempo flexibility to some extent, suggestive of a predisposition for rhythmicmovement in response toMusic and other metrically regularSounds.
Abstract: 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.
370 citations
Cites background from "Newborn infants detect the beat in ..."
...For example, a rudimentary form of beat perception has recently been reported in neonates (9), and infants can perceive changes in rhythm (10) and meter (11)....
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TL;DR: Experimental evidence for synchronization to a beat in a sulphur-crested cockatoo is reported and it is shown that the animal spontaneously adjusts the tempo of its rhythmic movements to stay synchronized with the beat.
354 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that groove can be treated as a psychological construct and model system that allows for experimental exploration of the relationship between sensorimotor coupling with music and emotion.
Abstract: The urge to move in response to music, combined with the positive affect associated with the coupling of sensory and motor processes while engaging with music (referred to as sensorimotor coupling )i n a seemingly effortless way, is commonly described as the feeling of being in the groove. Here, we systematically explore this compelling phenomenon in a population of young adults. We utilize multiple levels of analysis, comprising phenomenological, behavioral, and computational techniques. Specifically, we show (a) that the concept of the groove is widely appreciated and understood in terms of a pleasurable drive toward action, (b) that a broad range of musical excerpts can be appraised reliably for the degree of perceived groove, (c) that the degree of experienced groove is inversely related to experienced difficulty of bimanual sensorimotor coupling under tapping regimes with varying levels of expressive constraint, (d) that high-groove stimuli elicit spontaneous rhythmic movements, and (e) that quantifiable measures of the quality of sensorimotor coupling predict the degree of experienced groove. Our results complement traditional discourse regarding the groove, which has tended to take the psychological phenomenon for granted and has focused instead on the musical and especially the rhythmic qualities of particular genres of music that lead to the perception of groove. We conclude that groove can be treated as a psychological construct and model system that allows for experimental exploration of the relationship between sensorimotor coupling with music and emotion.
344 citations
References
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TL;DR: Aboitiz et al. as discussed by the authors explored the relationships between language, music, and the brain by pursuing four key themes and the crosstalk among them: song and dance as a bridge between music and language; multiple levels of structure from brain to behavior to culture; the semantics of internal and external worlds and the role of emotion; and the evolution and development of language.
Abstract: This book explores the relationships between language, music, and the brain by pursuing four key themes and the crosstalk among them: song and dance as a bridge between music and language; multiple levels of structure from brain to behavior to culture; the semantics of internal and external worlds and the role of emotion; and the evolution and development of language. The book offers specially commissioned expositions of current research accessible both to experts across disciplines and to non-experts. These chapters provide the background for reports by groups of specialists that chart current controversies and future directions of research on each theme. The book looks beyond mere auditory experience, probing the embodiment that links speech to gesture and music to dance. The study of the brains of monkeys and songbirds illuminates hypotheses on the evolution of brain mechanisms that support music and language, while the study of infants calibrates the developmental timetable of their capacities. The result is a unique book that will interest any reader seeking to learn more about language or music and will appeal especially to readers intrigued by the relationships of language and music with each other and with the brain. ContributorsFrancisco Aboitiz, Michael A. Arbib, Annabel J. Cohen, Ian Cross, Peter Ford Dominey, W. Tecumseh Fitch, Leonardo Fogassi, Jonathan Fritz, Thomas Fritz, Peter Hagoort, John Halle, Henkjan Honing, Atsushi Iriki, Petr Janata, Erich Jarvis, Stefan Koelsch, Gina Kuperberg, D. Robert Ladd, Fred Lerdahl, Stephen C. Levinson, Jerome Lewis, Katja Liebal, Jonatas Manzolli, Bjorn Merker, Lawrence M. Parsons, Aniruddh D. Patel, Isabelle Peretz, David Poeppel, Josef P. Rauschecker, Nikki Rickard, Klaus Scherer, Gottfried Schlaug, Uwe Seifert, Mark Steedman, Dietrich Stout, Francesca Stregapede, Sharon Thompson-Schill, Laurel Trainor, Sandra E. Trehub, Paul Verschure
3,083 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: Aboitiz et al. as discussed by the authors explored the relationships between language, music, and the brain by pursuing four key themes and the crosstalk among them: song and dance as a bridge between music and language; multiple levels of structure from brain to behavior to culture; the semantics of internal and external worlds and the role of emotion; and the evolution and development of language.
Abstract: This book explores the relationships between language, music, and the brain by pursuing four key themes and the crosstalk among them: song and dance as a bridge between music and language; multiple levels of structure from brain to behavior to culture; the semantics of internal and external worlds and the role of emotion; and the evolution and development of language. The book offers specially commissioned expositions of current research accessible both to experts across disciplines and to non-experts. These chapters provide the background for reports by groups of specialists that chart current controversies and future directions of research on each theme. The book looks beyond mere auditory experience, probing the embodiment that links speech to gesture and music to dance. The study of the brains of monkeys and songbirds illuminates hypotheses on the evolution of brain mechanisms that support music and language, while the study of infants calibrates the developmental timetable of their capacities. The result is a unique book that will interest any reader seeking to learn more about language or music and will appeal especially to readers intrigued by the relationships of language and music with each other and with the brain. ContributorsFrancisco Aboitiz, Michael A. Arbib, Annabel J. Cohen, Ian Cross, Peter Ford Dominey, W. Tecumseh Fitch, Leonardo Fogassi, Jonathan Fritz, Thomas Fritz, Peter Hagoort, John Halle, Henkjan Honing, Atsushi Iriki, Petr Janata, Erich Jarvis, Stefan Koelsch, Gina Kuperberg, D. Robert Ladd, Fred Lerdahl, Stephen C. Levinson, Jerome Lewis, Katja Liebal, Jonatas Manzolli, Bjorn Merker, Lawrence M. Parsons, Aniruddh D. Patel, Isabelle Peretz, David Poeppel, Josef P. Rauschecker, Nikki Rickard, Klaus Scherer, Gottfried Schlaug, Uwe Seifert, Mark Steedman, Dietrich Stout, Francesca Stregapede, Sharon Thompson-Schill, Laurel Trainor, Sandra E. Trehub, Paul Verschure
2,809 citations
Book•
07 Dec 2007TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a taxonomy of musical meaning in relation to music and the expression and application of emotion as a key link in the context of music analysis and interpretation.
Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Sound Elements: Pitch and Timbre 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Musical Sound Systems 2.3 Linguistic Sound Systems 2.4 Sound Category Learning as a Key Link 2.5 Conclusion Appendixes 3. Rhythm 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Rhythm in Music 3.3 Rhythm in Speech 3.4 Interlude: Rhythm in Poetry and Song 3.5 Non-Periodic Aspects of Rhythm as a Key Link 3.6 Conclusion Appendixes 4. Melody 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Melody in Music: Comparisons to Speech 4.3 Speech Melody: Links to Music 4.4 Interlude: Musical and Linguistic Melody in Song 4.5 Melodic Statistics and Melodic Contour as Key Links 4.6 Conclusion Appendix 5. Syntax 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The Structural Richness of Musical Syntax 5.3 Formal Differences and Similarities between Musical and Linguistic Syntax 5.4 Neural Resources for Syntactic Integration as a Key Link 5.5 Conclusion 6. Meaning 6.1 Introduction 6.2 A Brief Taxonomy of Musical Meaning 6.3 Linguistic Meaning in Relation to Music 6.4 Interlude: Linguistic and Musical Meaning in Song 6.5 The Expression and Appraisal of Emotion as a Key Link 6.6 Conclusion 7. Evolution 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Language and Natural Selection 7.3 Music and Natural Selection 7.4 Music and Evolution: Neither Adaptation nor Frill 7.5 Beat-Based Rhythm Processing as a Key Research Area 7.6 Conclusion Appendix Afterword References List of Sound Examples Lis of Credits Author Index Subject Index
1,211 citations
TL;DR: The everyday auditory environment consists of multiple simultaneously active sources with overlapping temporal and spectral acoustic properties, and the resulting perception is of an orderly "auditory scene" that is organized according to sources and auditory events, allowing us to select messages easily, recognize familiar sound patterns, and distinguish deviant or novel ones.
806 citations
"Newborn infants detect the beat in ..." refers background in this paper
...It should be noted that adult participants elicited the MMN discriminative ERP response, when they received the full stimulus sequence (all 3 instruments) as presented to newborn babies in the neonate experiment (18)....
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...Because the MMN is elicited by deviations from expectations (16), it is especially appropriate for testing beat induction....
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...Winkler I Interpreting the mismatch negativity (MMN) (2007) J Psychophysiol 21:147– 163....
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...In adults, infrequently violating some regular feature of a sound sequence evokes a discriminative brain response termed the mismatch negativity (MMN) (9, 10)....
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TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the perception of musical rhythm is a multisensory experience in infancy, in particular, movement of the body, by bouncing on every second versus every third beat of an ambiguous auditory rhythm pattern, influences whether that auditory rhythm patterns are encoded in duple form or in triple form.
Abstract: We hear the melody in music, but we feel the beat. We demonstrate that the perception of musical rhythm is a multisensory experience in infancy. In particular, movement of the body, by bouncing on every second versus every third beat of an ambiguous auditory rhythm pattern, influences whether that auditory rhythm pattern is encoded in duple form (a march) or in triple form (a waltz). Visual information is not necessary for the effect, indicating that it likely reflects a strong, early-developing interaction between auditory and vestibular information in the human nervous system.
541 citations
"Newborn infants detect the beat in ..." refers background in this paper
...At the age of 7 months, infants have been shown to discriminate different rhythms (2, 3)....
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