The early development of tempo adjustment and synchronization during joint drumming: A study of 18‐ to 42‐month‐old children

Abstract

Humans have a unique ability to coordinate their rhythmic behaviors with those of others. Previous studies have demonstrated the early development of spontaneous responses to external rhythmic stimuli; however, there is little evidence regarding when and how infants begin to adjust their movement tempo and synchronize it with that of others, due to the difficulty of detecting continuous rhythmic movements of infants in a laboratory setting. In the current study, we analyzed children in age-groups of 18, 30, and 42 months and adapted a joint-drumming task used by Kirschner and Tomasello (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2009, 102, 299-314). The children were enticed to play the drum under four conditions (Speed: 400 or 600 ms ISI; Partner: mother or robot). The results demonstrated that children's ability to adjust their tempo and synchronize with that of 600 ms ISI, which is slower than the spontaneous motor tempo of children at these ages, starts to develop at around 30-month-olds. We also found early evidence of this ability in 18-month-old infants who drummed with their mother. These findings indicate that children's ability for rhythmic coordination develops dynamically between 18 and 30 months of age, and a child's social partner plays an important role in facilitating this development.

Tiny dancers: Effects of musical familiarity and tempo on children’s free dancing

“…Notably, even in laboratory drumming studies with toddlers, younger children are more likely to make extraneous "free dance" movements (such as bouncing and nodding) than older children (Rocha & Mareschal, 2017;Yu & Myowa, 2021). These free dancing movements, even when they are considered extraneous to the task at hand, may themselves contain useful information about the nature of early auditory-motor integration.…”

“…Neither age group showed strong evidence of synchronization, but the older infants displayed more tempo flexibility than the younger infants. Yu and Myowa (2021) asked 18-, 30-, and 42-month-olds to tap on a set of toy drums to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Children in all three age groups tapped faster when the music was faster, although the youngest children hit the drum less frequently, showed greater variability, and were further from the target tempo in the slow condition, especially compared to the older children.…”

A Dynamical, Radically Embodied, and Ecological Theory of Rhythm Development

“…Despite the ability of younger and older infants to perceptually group auditory events into rhythmic patterns, they rarely produce synchronized movements to musical rhythm. Rather, the ability to behaviorally entrain to musical rhythm, an ability called sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) ( Repp, 2005 ; Repp and Su, 2013 ), follows an extended developmental trajectory across infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood ( Drake et al, 2000 ; Eerola et al, 2006 ; McAuley et al, 2006 ; Kirschner and Tomasello, 2009 , 2010 ; Zentner and Eerola, 2010 ; Kirschner and Ilari, 2014 ; Ilari, 2015 ; Yu and Myowa, 2021 ). A few studies have attempted to assess SMS during infancy ( Zentner and Eerola, 2010 ; Fujii et al, 2014 ; Ilari, 2015 ), but only one study has found that, in rare cases, young infants will spontaneously move and synchronize their movements to the rhythmic structure of music ( Fujii et al, 2014 ).…”

Musical groove shapes children's free dancing

“…Even in early life, auditory stimuli influence rudimentary motor responses. Though toddlers cannot synchronize to the beat, faster tempos elicit faster movement (Rocha & Mareschal, 2016;Yu & Myowa, 2021). Aside from tempo, little is known about which features affect early auditory-motor responses, which may rely on experience or maturity.…”

“…Most research investigating early auditory-motor interactions require children to tap, clap or drum in a laboratory setting (Drake et al, 2000;Kirschner & Ilari, 2013;Provasi & Bobin-Bègue, 2003;Rocha & Mareschal, 2016;Yu & Myowa, 2021). These contexts enable a high degree of experimental control, but may fail to capture musical movements children produce naturalistically.…”