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Edited by Dale Purves, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, and approved December 23, 2008 (received for review September 10, 2008)
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.
Footnotes
- 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: iwinkler{at}cogpsyphy.hu
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Author contributions: I.W., G.P.H., O.L., and H.H. designed research; G.P.H., O.L., and I.S. performed research; G.P.H. analyzed data; and I.W., I.S., and H.H. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
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This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0809035106/DCSupplemental.
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Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
- © 2009 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
Newborn infants detect the beat in music
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