Rhythm perception, production, and synchronization during the perinatal period.

Joëlle Provasi,Marianne Barbu-Roth,David I Anderson

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01048

Abstract

Sensori-motor synchronization (SMS) is the coordination of rhythmic movement with an external rhythm. It plays a central role in motor, cognitive, and social behavior. SMS is commonly studied in adults and in children from four years of age onward. Prior to this age, the ability has rarely been investigated due to a lack of available methods. The present paper reviews what is known about SMS in young children, infants, newborns, and fetuses. The review highlights fetal and infant perception of rhythm and cross modal perception of rhythm, fetal, and infant production of rhythm and cross modal production of rhythm, and the contexts in which production of rhythm can be observed in infants. A primary question is whether infants, even newborns, can modify their spontaneous rhythmical motor behavior in response to external rhythmical stimulation. Spontaneous sucking, crying, and leg movements have been studied in the presence or absence of rhythmical auditory stimulation. Findings suggest that the interaction between movement and sound is present at birth and that SMS can be observed in special conditions and within a narrow range of tempi, particularly near the infant’s own spontaneous motor tempo. The discussion centers on the fundamental role of SMS in interaction and communication at the beginning of life.

Highlights

Sensori-motor synchronization (SMS), the capacity to synchronize a rhythmic motor pattern with an externally perceived rhythm, is unique to species capable of vocal learning (Patel, 2006)
SMS has been studied in a large variety of contexts including, mapping rhythmic body movements like stepping, dancing, and finger tapping to the rhythm of a visual or auditory stimulus, and mapping more complex activities like playing music in synchrony with other players and speaking or singing in response to other vocalizations (Phillips-Silver et al, 2010)
The results showed that infants who received vestibular stimulation increased their respiratory rate significantly compared to infants who received no stimulation

Summary

Introduction

Sensori-motor synchronization (SMS), the capacity to synchronize a rhythmic motor pattern with an externally perceived rhythm, is unique to species capable of vocal learning (Patel, 2006). A remarkable property of SMS is that two people can communicate by producing a synchronized rhythm with different behaviors. Any combination of different behaviors could generate a means to communicate as long as the behavior produced a rhythmic pattern compatible with the perceived rhythm. SMS has been studied in a large variety of contexts including, mapping rhythmic body movements like stepping, dancing, and finger tapping to the rhythm of a visual or auditory stimulus, and mapping more complex activities like playing music in synchrony with other players and speaking or singing in response to other vocalizations (Phillips-Silver et al, 2010). The only limit to the number of possible SMS combinations is the capacity to produce a rhythmic motoric pattern with some part of the body and the capacity to perceive an external rhythmic pattern via any of the perceptual systems – the combinations are almost infinite

Objectives

Findings

Conclusion