Influences of Song Familiarity on Children’s Musical Movements and Affect

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Perceptual, Sensory, Motor

Abstract

The impulse to move to music is apparent early. Western parents report that their infants begin to recognizably “dance” to music around 9 months (Kim & Schachner, 2020), and moving to music, especially with others, has important emotional and pro-social implications throughout the lifespan (e.g. Trehub et al., 2019). While the desire to move to music appears to be present early, it is not until later childhood that children are able to match their movements to the beat, although some tempo flexibility (the ability to move faster to faster music) appears to be present in infancy (Cirelli & Trehub, 2019; Rocha & Mareschal, 2016; Zentner & Eerola, 2010). However, little is known about what musical features modulate early movement to music.

Recent work has pointed to the significance of song familiarity in early musical engagement. Toddlers more readily help a person who sings a song that they know (Cirelli & Trehub, 2018) and infants prefer to listen to strangers singing familiar than unfamiliar songs (Kragness et al. 2020; Mehr et al., 2016). This is consistent with naturalistic daylong recordings that reveal certain songs are overrepresented in infants’ environments (Mendoza & Fausey, 2020). In a recent case study (Cirelli & Trehub, 2019), exploratory analyses with one toddler indicated that her spontaneous dancing showed more tempo flexibility/matching to unfamiliar than familiar songs, which elicited faster, more excited, and more frequent dancing regardless of tempo. The purpose of the present study was to investigate young children’s tempo flexibility and matching to familiar and unfamiliar music.

First, the parents of 1.5- to 3-year-old children report up to five of their child’s favorite songs. We select the highest-rated song for which a recording is commercially available (“familiar tune”), then select a genre-matched song the child has not previously heard per parent report (“unfamiliar tune”). We then manipulate the familiar and unfamiliar song to each play at 90, 120, and 150 beats per minute (“slow”, “medium”, and “fast” conditions; pitch held constant). For each trial, we select the first 60 seconds of each excerpt, then generate a playlist in a pseudo-random order such that the tune always alternates but the tempo is random. Parents then play the playlist for their child in the comfort of their home, and video-record their children’s spontaneous movements. Afterwards, trained coders (blind to condition) indicate the proportion of time children spent moving rhythmically, the tempo and energy level of their rhythmic movements, and the amount of time they demonstrate positive affect. Data collection is ongoing (current N = 57) with a target N = 80. Preliminary results with a subset of 8 randomly-selected participants indicated that children spent more time dancing and displayed more positive affect in response to familiar tunes, and that tempo flexibility was apparent in both the familiar and unfamiliar conditions. Results will inform our understanding of the early associations between auditory-motor interactions, social relevance, and affective responses to music that form the foundation for lifelong enjoyment of musical movement.

Authors

• Haley Kragness, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura K. Cirelli, University of Toronto
  Presenting Author