Infant Imitation and Rhythmic Movement in Response to Music and Speech

Humans move our bodies to rhythms. This behavior is developmentally precocious: infants and young children are motivated to move by music, and most caregivers report that their infants produce dance-like movements within the first year of life. However, the mechanisms shaping early dance are poorly understood. One potential influence on early dance is observational learning. There is substantial evidence that infants experience music as social, and that infants imitate social partners. In the present study, I asked whether infants imitated more in musical contexts compared to nonmusical contexts. Using an online paradigm (childrenhelpingscience.org), infants (10-14 months, N = 40; 15-19 months, N = 30) watched videos (60 s) of an experimenter performing repetitive actions (waving, banging, head-tapping, or clapping). Infant-directed music or infant-directed speech was played in the background. Infants' responses were video recorded and annotated. Music boosted imitation of clapping, a gesture that infants likely associate with music from prior experience. Music did not boost imitation of any other gestures but did increase the time infants spent moving rhythmically. Results support prior research demonstrating precocious rhythmic responses to music and additionally imply that previous experiences with particular moves (i.e., clapping with others) influence infants' movement selection during music.