Infants Recognize Happy Music

Scientists working with the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota discovered that babies who were under a year of age could distinguish between happy and sad music with relative ease. By measuring the amount of time infants stared at a neutral-faced image while both sad and happy music was played, the researchers managed to identify clear differences in their reaction to moods set by the sounds.
 

For this research, classical music was used, from Beethoven to Bach. The songs were first picked by adults and kindergarten kids, who categorized them as being sad or upbeat. Then, babies who were part of the study were placed on a stool, facing a screen where the same face was projected, while various songs were played. If they got bored, they would look away. After two songs, all interest in the screen was lost in all cases.
 

But scientists observed that by changing the song from an upbeat to a sad one, the babies refocused their attention on the screen for longer. The most conclusive results were obtained with 9-month old infants, who exhibited clear recognition of the mood sad songs entailed. Smaller infants, 5 and 7 moths old, only showed mild indication that they were influenced by the music they listened to.
 

Scientists believe this happens because the neural pathways associated with moods are not yet fully developed at that age. By the time they reach adolescence, kids already know how to distinguish between the moods that are present in various songs. Author leader Douglas Gentile, assistant psychology professor at Iowa State University, says that children listening to aggressive music when they grow up could have issues on their mind, which they do not feel comfortable discussing with others.
 

"If your child is spending a lot of time playing angry music, that suggests that something is going on that you might want to ask about. This study shows that music is emotionally communicative since even babies seem to attend to the emotional content of music," Gentile concluded.