Newborn infants detect the beat in music

TLDR

Beat induction, the detection of a regular pulse in sound, is a fundamental human trait whose origins—innate or learned—remain debated. The study aims to determine the perceptual abilities infants possess at birth that enable music learning. Newborns anticipate rhythmic downbeats even without acoustic cues, and violating these expectations triggers brain responses, indicating that beat perception is innate.

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.