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Updated: Sep 25, 2025

Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Published on: January 7, 2020
Neonatal manual specialization in language and music conditions: Consistency with the hemispheric specialization
F Morange-Majoux1, E Devouche2
1Université de Paris, LPPS, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, France; Laboratory Paragraphe, EA 349, Paris 8 University, 93200 Saint-Denis, France.
Abstract:
The main purpose of this study was to test in neonates the influence of the sound environment, i.e., language versus music, on asymmetric hand movement activity in the presence of a target object. Based on hemispheric specialization, our hypothesis was that infants would use their right hand more in the speech context (left hemisphere) and their left hand more in the music context (right hemisphere). The study involved 19 full-term 3-day-old neonates. An object was presented successively in the two sound environments in counterbalance order for 120 s each. Left and right movements and mouth activity were scored during the target object presentation. Results show that neonates moved their left hand twice as much as their right hand in the music condition than in the language condition, and they moved their right hand a longer time in the language condition than in the music condition. The average number of sucking bursts was significantly higher in the language condition than in the music condition. We discuss the results in terms of manual specialization in relation to the development of hemispheric specialization.
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