Auditory influences on walking: Children's walking to the beat.

Abstract

Research on the multisensory control of locomotion has demonstrated that adults exhibit auditory-motor entrainment across an array of contexts. In such work adults will consciously modulate the cadence of their walking when instructed to match their footfalls to an auditory metronome equal to, slower than, or faster than, their natural walking cadence. The current study extends such investigations to young toddlers between 14 and 24 months (n = 59, drawn from Toronto, Ontario), as well as adults (n = 20, drawn from Toronto, Ontario), demonstrating that even new walkers will modify their gait when presented with auditory input at or faster than their natural walking cadence. Additionally, the current study demonstrates that such modulations will occur in the absence of explicit instructions to modify gait for both toddlers and adults, suggesting an automatic level of auditory-motor entraining across ages. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).