Study Reveals Infants Prefer Live Music to Recorded

A new study reveals that even babies prefer to attend live music rather than watching it on television.

According to the researchers, when infants saw a live performance of a baby opera, their heart rates synchronized and they were substantially more engaged than babies who watched an identical recording of the play.

“Their heart rates were speeding up and slowing down in a similar fashion to other babies watching the show,” says Laura Cirelli, assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough and co-author of a new study published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.

“Those babies were dealing with all these distractions in the concert hall, but still had these uninterrupted bursts of attention.”

The findings demonstrate that even babies may feel the influence of a live event, both through the interactions of artists with an audience and the social experience of being in a throng. Cirelli recalls moments during the concert when the babies were peaceful, and others when a shift in tone or vocal riff excited them all.

She believes this could help explain why people are programmed to consume music and attend live events.

“If there’s something happening that we collectively are engaging with, we’re also connecting with each other. It speaks to the shared experience,” says Cirelli, director of the TEMPO Lab, which studies how infants and children respond to music.

“The implication is that this is not necessarily specific to this one performance. If there’s these moments that capture us, then we are being captured together.”

It is commonly known that socialization is important throughout early childhood development since an infant’s brain is setting the framework for future life skills and abilities as it grows. Cirelli believes that music may help people form essential ties. She cites studies that show infants are more likely to socialize with someone after hearing them sing a familiar song or dance to music with them, and that infants have significant emotional reactions to music and song even before they reach their first birthday.

“We consistently find that music can be a highly social and emotional context within which infants can foster connections to their caregivers, other family members and even new acquaintances,” she says. “This audience study shows that even in a community context, infants are engaging with the music and connecting to their fellow audience members.”

Researchers observed 120 kids aged six to 14 months as they watched a children’s opera performed at McMaster University’s concert hall, which also serves as a research center (61 babies watched in person, while the other 59 watched a recorded version).

The recording was methodically broadcasted such that the performers were the same size, distance, and volume as in the live version. Heart monitors and tablets installed on the backs of concert seats were used to track the newborns’ responses. Later, student research assistants went over the video footage, noting when the babies gazed at the stage and when they glanced away.

The live performance held the babies’ attention for 72% of the 12-minute show, whereas the recording held their interest for 54%. Infants were also consistently viewing the live broadcast for extended periods of time.

“Even little babies who may or may not have experienced music in a community context before are already engaging more when it’s delivered this way,” Cirelli says.

“That’s one question we have as music cognition researchers: What is it about the live experience that’s worth it? Why would people go if there’s not something fundamental about that live music experience that’s above and beyond listening to music by yourself?”

That is not to suggest that virtual performances are uninteresting for babies. After the epidemic began, the researchers virtually studied one group of babies by having them watch the same recording in their homes using Zoom. Those newborns paid roughly the same amount of attention as those who watched the live concert – 64% on average – but they were more likely to become distracted and have shorter bursts of focus.

“The babies watching at home didn’t have the distraction of being in a new place – they were in their comfort zone,” Cirelli says. “But even without distractions, the quality of their attention was still not nearly as strong as the audience in the live condition.”

The paper, which was co-authored by former TEMPO Lab postdoctoral researcher Haley Kragness, who is now an assistant professor at Bucknell University, will also help Cirelli’s other research.

In a separate study, she and a team of academics are investigating whether a live performance via Zoom has the same influence on engagement as a live performance in person, and whether musicians’ interactions with an audience may be as effective at catching attention.

Another study will look into how live performances alter their recall of the event, as well as how watching a live performance versus a recorded one changes their feelings about the performer.

“If a baby is frequently brought to these kinds of events, will that shape their foundation for engaging in music and the community later in childhood?” Cirelli asks.

“It speaks to why we even engage with music at all.”

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