a model) on every second beat during train-
ing identified the duple form as familiar attest, whereas those who bounced on every
third beat identified the triple form. Finally, wetested infants_ preferences without any move-ment training and found no preference for
Jessica Phillips-Silver and Laurel J. Trainor*
either auditory interpretation, again indicat-ing that movement is crucial for the multi-
We hear the melody in music, but we feel the
bouncing determined whether infants later
beat. People in all cultures move their bodies to
preferred the auditory rhythm pattern con-
These studies illustrate the strong multisen-
the rhythms of music, whether drumming, sing-
sory connection between body movement and
ing, dancing, or rocking an infant (1). Body
Experiment 2 was identical to experiment 1
auditory rhythm processing when inputs from
movement involves motor, proprioceptive (per-
except that infants were blindfolded during
both sources are experienced concurrently. Be-
ception of body position), vestibular (percep-
training. Infants still preferred to listen to the
cause infants did not engage in self-movement,
tion of movement and balance), visual, and
auditory stimulus that matched the metrical
the observed effect likely involves the vestib-
auditory systems (2), but few studies have ex-
form of their movement training Et (15) 0 2.93,
ular and perhaps proprioceptive systems. The
amined auditory-vestibular interactions.
P 0 0.01^ (Fig. 1C), indicating that visual in-
early development of the vestibular system (5),
The ability to feel and interpret the strong
formation was not necessary for the effect.
and infant delight at vestibular stimulation when
and weak beats in a rhythm pattern allows
bounced to a play song or rocked to a lullaby,
people to move and dance in time to music.
sonal motion experience was necessary. Dur-
suggest that we are observing a strong, early
Typically, the strong beats of a rhythm pat-
ing training, infants watched without moving
vestibular-auditory interaction that is critical
different metrical inter-pretations. In other words,
Music (MIT Press, Cambridge,MA, 1983).
Fig. 1. Influence of bouncing on auditory encoding of rhythm patterns. (A) Stimuli. Vertical lines
represent the snare drum sounds of the rhythm patterns, and oblique lines represent time-marking
slapstick sounds (4). (B to D) Results. The y axis represents listening time preference; the x axis
represents congruency between bouncing (duple or triple) during training and auditory accents
(duple or triple) during testing. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. C, congruent; I,
infants_ listening preferences were tested for
as the experimenter bounced either on every
Supported by a grant to L.J.T. from the Natural Sciences
two auditory versions of the rhythm pattern,
second or on every third beat of the ambig-
and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
which included intensity accents on either
uous rhythm pattern. In this case, infants
Supporting Online Materialwww.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/308/5727/1430/
every second beat (the duple form) or every
showed no preference for the two auditory
third beat (the triple form) (Fig. 1A, rows 2
versions Et(15) 0 0.51, P 0 0.62^ (Fig. 1D),
and 3, and sound files S1 and S3). Infants
indicating that movement of the infant_s own
controlled how long they listened to each
body was critical for the multisensory effect
version of the rhythm pattern in a head-turn
preference procedure (4). Infants chose to
In order to confirm that the movement it-
listen longer to the auditory test stimulus
self did not induce auditory accents due to
Department of Psychology, McMaster University,
with accented beats that matched the beats on
changing room acoustics as the subjects moved,
we trained a group of adult listeners with
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.
P(two-tailed) 0 0.001^ (Fig. 1B). Thus, their
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