Precursors of Dancing and Singing to Music in Three- to Four-Months-Old Infants

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097680
• Publication Date: 2014-05-16T20:34:47Z
• Authors: Shinya Fujii; Hama Watanabe; Hiroki Oohashi; Masaya Hirashima; Daichi Nozaki; Gentaro Taga
• Keywords: Beat (acoustics); Silence; Auditory perception

Dancing and singing to music involve auditory-motor coordination have been essential our human culture since ancient times. Although scholars trying understand the evolutionary developmental origin of music, early manifestations interactions in not fully investigated. Here we report limb movements vocalizations three- four-months-old infants while they listened were silence. In group analysis, found no significant increase amount movement or relative power spectrum density around musical tempo condition compared silent condition. Intriguingly, however, there two who demonstrated striking increases rhythmic via kicking arm-waving during listening music. Monte-Carlo statistics with phase-randomized surrogate data revealed that these individuals significantly synchronized beat. Moreover, a clear formant variability perception. These results suggest at this age are already primed their bodies interact vocalizations.