Rhythm perception is a distinct cognitive mechanism that is already active at birth.
- In infants, the ability to recognize a musical rhythm is not simply due to their ability to learn.
- Their ability to perceive, memorize and process the rhythm of a drum is “innate”.
- “Our data highlight the importance of nursery rhymes for the hearing development of young children,” according to the authors.
Infants, just like adults, have a sense of rhythm. This was recently revealed by scientists from the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). In order to reach this conclusion, they carried out work published in the journal Cognition. As part of this study, the team relied on an observation they made in 2009. “We had found clear indications that babies as young as a few days old have the ability to hear a regular pulse in music – the beat – a characteristic considered essential for making and enjoying music.”
Distinguishing between rhythm perception and statistical learning
Then they recruited 27 babies. In an experiment, researchers manipulated the timing of drum beats to see if babies discriminate between learning the order of sounds in a drum beat and being able to recognize a beat. . Two versions of a drum beat were played to the children using headphones. In the first version, the rhythm was “isochronous”, that is, the distance between the sounds was always the same. This allows you to hear a pulse or beat in the rhythm. In the other version, the same drum beat was presented, but with random timing. It was therefore not possible to perceive the rhythm, but it was possible to process the sequence of sounds. During the intervention, the authors analyzed the infants’ brain responses while they slept using an electroencephalogram.
Music: “the ability to hear rhythm is innate” in babies
According to the results, children heard the rhythm when the time interval between beats was always the same. But when the scientists played the same rhythm at irregular time intervals, the babies didn’t hear a beat. “This crucial difference confirms that the ability to hear rhythm is innate and not simply the result of learned sound sequences. Our data suggest that this is a specific skill of newborns and highlight the importance nursery rhymes for the hearing development of young children”said István Winkler, co-author of the research, in a statement.
The perception of rhythm, “a fundamental human trait”
According to Henkjan Honing, who led the work, most people can easily grasp the rhythm of music and judge whether the music is speeding up or slowing down. “This seems like an unimportant skill. However, since perceiving the regularity of music is what allows us to dance and make music together, it is not a trivial phenomenon. In fact, perceiving rhythm can be considered a fundamental human trait that must have played a crucial role in the evolution of our musical ability.”
