This item requires the Flash plug-in (version 8 or higher). JavaScript must also be enabled in your browser.
Please download the latest version of the free Flash plug-in.
Human infants are born to dance, researchers report online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Psychologists from the United Kingdom and Finland played an assortment of classical and children's songs, drumbeats, baby talk, and regular speech for 120 infants ages 5 to 24 months. Speech inspired little motion, but music consistently got the babies into the groove. They moved to music with a clear rhythm and adjusted their movements as the beat varied. And the better the babies matched their motion to the music, the more they smiled. So while it remains a mystery how humans evolved our musical wiring, it's now clear we enjoy it and always did.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
