Media release

From: The Royal Society

• Walk to the beat – Faster walking parents may up the tempo of their children’s natural musical rhythm.  In this study, ten-month-old infants’ exhibited a faster drumming rhythm after they were carried at a faster-than-average walking speed than babies carried by parents walking at a slower pace. This suggests that carrying, an experience generally regarded as passive, may be shaping our earliest musical tendencies.

Rate of infant carrying impacts infant spontaneous motor tempo

Royal Society Open Science

Music makes us want to move, and movement influences the way we perceive music. This bidirectional relationship exists from early in infancy. In the current paper we ask whether the pervasive rhythmic experience infants receive of being carried by a caregiver influences their early musical behaviour. Ten month-old infants’ natural rate of drumming was measured before and after they were carried at a novel Fast or Slow walking speed. Infants’ natural rhythm was biased by the walking experience, suggesting that carrying may shape our earliest musical tendencies