The Role of Music From Infancy to Childhood
Group 3
Veronica Bonnema
Jennifer Costello
Brittany Collins
Christopher Stang
Maxwell Schram
Charles Turner
Class: EDP 101A
After completing the book, “This is your Brain on Music”, by Daniel Levitin, it is
quite apparent that music plays a very significant role in our lives. During the
semester we were also held accountable for learning the material in our textbook by
Davis & Paladino, which focused on topics such as cognitive development, memory,
emotion, and intelligence. Group three thought that it would be interesting to
further investigate the role that the exposure to music plays in some of the topics
discussed in our textbook during childhood, beginning with its role from infancy.
Research has shown that the auditory system of the fetus is fully functional at
about 20 weeks, and is able to process musical and environmental sounds. Very
young infants can recognize their mother’s voice just hours after birth. Davis &
Paladino (2007). There are proven positive effects that music can contribute to the
development of the brain, which is found to be the most crucial up until the age of
six. According to research, premature infants who are exposed to music, specifically
lullabies and classical music seem to have increase weight gain, fewer occurrences of
oxygen desaturation, decreased distressed behavior, all which may contribute to
lessening the length of the hospital stay. Caine(1991). Several studies have found
that listening to baroque music such as Bach and Mozart can enhance
spatiotemporal reasoning as well as academic achievement. Expressive and
receptive language can be enhanced for those infants who were thought to be
developmentally delayed when these infants are exposed to any music in general.
Standley (1998).
Levitin has found that music processing helps infants to prepare for
language, so much so that music, “may pave the way to linguistic prosody, even
before the child’s developing brain is a form of play, an exercise that invokes
higher-level integrative processes that nurture exploratory competence”. (Levitin
2006, pp 261). Levitin goes on to explain that this exposure to music is what
prepares children to develop their use of language more fully through the use of
babbling, and then to further development.
The impact of musical training at a young age has been proven to help
advance not only a child’s ability to recognize music but improve memorizing skills
as well. During Chapter eight, “What make a musician”, of Levitin’s book he
distinguishes the advantages of early interaction with music. He states that even the
smallest musical training at a young age “creates neural circuits for music
processing that are enhanced and more efficient than those who lack training.”
(Levitin, 190). While this does not imply that interaction with any instrument at a
young age he will automatically affect the rest of the child’s life, but rather Levitin
points out the small advancements seen within children. The knowledge and
training that accompanies music have been proven to include the ability to
understand and distinguish various types of music. Looking at the background of
well known musicians today, including Joni Mitchell, their musical raining as a
young age was different then what became their specialty. Joni Mitchell for example
sang in the choir during school instead of any formal training of the guitar. Because
of her knowledge of music during her few years in a choir, she received the ability
and general knowledge of music, which helped her succeed.
An article published on ScienceDaily.com in September of 2006 discussed an
experiment on the affect musical training has on children at a young age. This
experiment found that children studying music for one year had higher general
memory skills which are correlated with non-musical abilities, such as literacy,
verbal memory, mathematics, and IQ, than children with out some musical training.
By recording the amount of time it took the brain to respond to sounds, the
researchers could determine how fast the electrical conduction between neurons in
the children’s’ brains worked. By the end of the experiment the children taking
musical classes not only improved in musical listening skills but as well as their
general memory capacity. The experiment stated that because of the musical
training, there is “an effect on how the brain gets wired for general cognitive
functioning related to memory and attention.” (Oxford).
Levitin proposes that music can provide a positive influence on memory.
This proves true in many cases involving childhood cognitive development. The idea
of music and learning or memory has been used starting at a very young age,
beginning with the learning of the alphabet. Teachers use music to teach their
students at an early level but do not continue the trend in later years. In my own
experience, I have found that put a passage to song will help me to remember things
from class that I deemed impossible to memorize. Even beyond learning with music,
the memories that we associate with music are strongly rooted. We have discussed in
class the effects music has on particular memories. Some songs bring up memories
of growing up or of a favorite movie scene. We can often remember not only words
but also the exact notes that go with them. Moreover, music allows us to bring back
even distant childhood memories” (May 49). Even within our own class, I have seen
that music is a great way to communicate certain facts. Some of the most
memorable classes this semester have been the classes that involve music in some
way.
An even better discovery deals with the recovery of memories of dementia
patients using music. “By its very nature, music has strong connections to both
attention and memory systems. Brain imaging studies have shown that listening to
real polyphonic music calls for rule based analysis and combination of sound
patterns from multiple auditory streams, which naturally recruits bilateral
temporal, frontal and parietal neural circuits underlying multiple forms of
attention, working memory, semantic and syntactic processing, and imagery”
(Teppo 872). This means that scientists are using music in very specific ways to
retain fleeting memories. In the study that was conducted my the scientists in the
above cited research paper, it was shown that music not only improved the memory
of the patients but also the mood, fatigue, and tension in most patients (Teppo 8723).
Our musical preferences evolve greatly as we age, with the highest volatility existing
within the adolescent stage. Although individual personalities and intellectual
capacities play a large part in musical preference, the predominant influential factor
is an individual’s environment; more specifically, the surrounding social context.
People often will shape their own personal preferences in response to the pressures
of society and the desire to conform to the groups of which they identify themselves
with. The instability of music preference declines sharply as the individual reaches
adulthood and has established a sense of identity.
The development of musical preferences can actually be traced back to when
an individual is still in the prenatal stage. According to studies conducted by
Alexandra Lamont of Keele University, children can recognize and prefer music
they were exposed to while they were still in the womb (Levitin, 2006, pp 226-227).
Preferences are also formed by the environment in which they are born into, as
young children are very open to experiencing different varieties of music. This
preference is initially established at about the age of two, where a taste for simple
and predictable music is formed. As children mature and their frontal lobes
develop, their attention span increases, allowing them to indulge in more complex
music (Levitin, 2006, pp 230). At this point, children begin to recognize various
elements within music, such as repetition. It is important to note, however, that
there exists an arbitrary factor in this development- some children simply prefer to
listen to music or exhibit more interest than others arbitrary. Thus, by default some
children will have faster and more extensive advancement in musical preferences.
The true turning point in musical preferences occurs within the teenage
years, as individuals seek to establish their own identities and break free from the
constraints of parental figures. At this point, individuals will begin to explore
different varieties of music outside of the types played to them while growing up.
They will begin to venture towards varieties with which they can make a personal
connection with, whether it is in response to individual characteristics or identities
of peer groups (Davis & Paladino, 2006, pp 397). The predominant factor in
determining musical preference is the surrounding social environment, which is a
result of the individual’s need to identify with a certain group in this time of self-
actualization. A person may choose to listen to music that is listened by his or her
peers in order to establish a feeling of inclusion and social bonding (Levitin, 2006,
pp 232). It comes to no surprise then that, as people move beyond their adolescent
years, they still refer to music that they listened to at the age of fourteen as being
“their music”.
It is not to say that individual preferences do not play a role in music
preference as this can have a profound impact. Personality traits can have an
impact as an individual may listen to music that is cohesive with their personality
preferences. For example, extraverts may choose music that is associated with
parties or social situations, whereas introverts may choose music that is conducive
to personal intellectual stimulation (Delsing, 2008). Musical intellect may also play a
role in music preference in that more astute listeners may prefer complex tunes with
little predictability over simpler songs with familiar verse and chorus repetitions.
This intellect can develop, leading to further changes in musical preferences.
As individuals mature, they become less open to different types of music and
thus, have less volatility in musical preference. These individuals have established a
sense of identity and know exactly what type of music they prefer.
While, according to Levitin, music is stored and recalled in relatively unique
ways, the processes and mechanisms that are involved with musical memory
storage, recollection, and recognition can be applied to the study of general memory
functions and workings.
Levitin examines the process of filling in blanks of memory with already
acquired information by the left side of the brain. The textbook refers to these filler
memories as “memory illusions. As Levitin explains, when retelling a story, adults
tend to automatically fill in forgotten information with reasonable (and typically
accurate) assumptions. In the example of retelling a dream – often a broken series of
memories – one might fill in non-sequiturs by tapping into other memories and
knowledge to logically fill the gaps.
“’I was standing on top of a ladder outside listening to a Sibelius concert, and
the sky was raining Pez candy…’ you might begin. But the next image is of yourself
halfway down the ladder. We naturally and automatically fill in this missing
information when retelling the dream. ‘And I decided to protect myself from this
Pez pelting, so I started climbing down the ladder where I knew there was
shelter…’” (Levitin 136)
Levitin also provides the example of musicians who can play entire
masterpieces from memory. Levitin argues that the musician has only remembered
select important notes and then fills in the gaps with logical progressions to reach
that note.
A study at Ohio State University demonstrates that although this method of
constructing memory is extremely useful in adults, it can interfere when
participants are asked to accurately remember explicit information.
Young adults statistically have superior memory skills when compared to
their younger counterparts and are also better at constructing memories because
they possess a larger pool of memories and knowledge to draw from that can be
used to fill in gaps. However, under certain conditions, children as young as five can
significantly outscore adults in memory tests, the OSU studied showed. (Grabmeier
2005)
In the study, children and college-aged adults were first shown a picture of a
cat and told that it had “beta cells inside its body.” Participants were then shown 30
other pictures of animals and asked if they too had beta cells. Participants did not
know that their memory of animals shown would be tested. When asked later to
identify from options which animals had been shown earlier, children were accurate
at a rate of 31% while adults were accurate only seven percent of the time.
The reason, as explained by Vladimir Sloutsky, co-author of the study and
professor and director of the Center for Cognitive Science at Ohio State University,
is that adults drew on their knowledge that cats would all share similar cell
structures and thus only cats would have beta cells. So after the first picture, adults
paid no attention to what the animal was unless it fell into the category of “cat”.
Children, on the other hand, did not have the knowledge to make such a leap and
thus examined each picture carefully to see if it resembled the picture of the cat.
By understanding the ways in which children and adults differ in learning,
researchers can provide insight into the nature of memories and apply findings to
anything from eye-witness accounts of crimes to learning disabilities in children.
Throughout childhood, children constantly absorb their surroundings and learn
more about what to expect and anticipate in many facets of life. They may learn this
from parents, television or simply from the music they hear and the general beats
and structure of the songs they listen to.
Infants learn very fast about their surroundings and much of it comes from
their parents. One of the first things they learn is to recognize their parents’ voice
which can occur hours after birth (Davis/Palladino 2007). This is the first time
sound is recognized and begins a process of norms that infants recognize and
anticipate. This is the main way to recognize parents at the beginning of life.
Lullabies are next in the process of learning which sets children up for basic
structures of music and tone. Levitin says youth in other countries, such as India,
hear music from their culture and thus perceive it as normal, but we as Americans
do not anticipate the sounds and structure from foreign music. Essentially,
understanding and interpreting music and sounds starts at the earliest stages of life
and can continue to make us aware of the norms and differences of what we listen
to.
In middle childhood the norms of society have already been intensely
incorporated into our lives. When we watch television shows or movies the music we
listen to has been etched into our brains and assimilated so others tend to follow the
same schema. By the age of five, young children already are learning how their
culture forms certain chords in music and the normal schemas of society (Levitin
2007). These norms are recognized and change is noticeable in songs such as
Yesterday by The Beatles and some songs by Sting. We come to realize, even by the
early age of five what is normal and what is not as we anticipate normal structures
in the music we listen to.
Music is something primal and as we grow and are exposed to many different
types we can still recognize certain themes. We begin to anticipate at early ages what to
expect and when something breaks the norm it is easily recognizable. Even in early
childhood, we recognize distinguishable patterns that we rely on for the rest of our lives
which are exposed to us through parents, television and any other type of mass media.
Exposure to music during infancy helps infants prepare for further
development in terms of language use as well as academic achievement later in life.
Music also contributes to enhancing the language of infants who were considered to
be developmentally delayed as well. Also this investigation reveals that music can
play a vital role in memory development as well as memory retrieval. Music can
impact every aspect of brain development because it takes more than one division of
the brain to interpret sound. Levitin expresses this through his discussion on
musical memory in the chapter on foot tapping as well as in the preceding chapter.
Music is a way to develop the mind in many facets of life. The concepts that are
discussed in this paper are useful in understanding how the novel from Levitin and
the textbook work together.
References:
Caine J: The effects of music on the selected stress behaviors, weight, caloric and formula
intake,
and length of hospital stay of premature and low birth weight neonates in a newborn
intensive care unit. J Music Ther 1991;28(4):180
Davis, S. F. & Palladino, J. J. (2007). Psychology (5th Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
Delsing. (2008). Adolescents' music preferences and personality characteristics. European
Journal of Personality, 22(2), 109.
Grabmeier, J. CHILDREN CAN HAVE BETTER MEMORY THAN ADULTS (AT
LEAST SOMETIMES) Ohio State University Research News. Retrieved April 24,
2008, from http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/chldmem.htm
Levitin, D. J. (2006). This is your brain on music: The science of a human obsession. New
York, NY: Dutton.
May, M. (2008). Music on my mind: The power of memory shows links to melody. Science
& Spirit, 19(2), 48-51.
Oxford University Press (2006, September 20). First Evidence That Musical Training
Affects Brain Development In Young Children. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 24,
2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2006/09/060920093024.htm
Standley JM: The effect of music and multimodal stimulation on responses of premature
infants in neonatal intensive care. Pediatr Nurs 1998;24(6):532
Teppo Särkämö, Mari Tervaniemi, Sari Laitinen, Anita Forsblom, Seppo Soinila, Mikko
Mikkonen, et al. (2008). Music listening enhances cognitive recovery and mood after
middle cerebral artery stroke. Brain: A Journal of Neurology, 131(3), 866-866.
Watanabe, T., Yagishita, S., & Kikyo, H. (2008). Memory of music: Roles of right
hippocampus and left inferior frontal gyrus. NeuroImage, 39(1), 483-491.