Can Unknown Lullabies Still Calm Babies?

Introduction

Can a baby be soothed by a lullaby from a culture they have never encountered, sung in a language they cannot understand? Research suggests the answer is yes. One of the most striking findings in the science of music and infancy is that babies relax when hearing unfamiliar foreign lullabies, even when those songs come from distant cultures and contain completely unknown words. This finding matters because it helps separate the calming effects of musical structure from the effects of language, memory, or cultural familiarity. Rather than responding only to songs they have learned, infants appear sensitive to acoustic features that lullabies share across societies. [Nature]nature.comNatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)…

What Unfamiliar-Song Studies Tested

The strongest evidence comes from a large infant study led by researchers associated with Harvard’s Music Lab and published in Nature Human Behaviour. The researchers tested 144 infants ranging from roughly two months to fourteen months of age. Instead of using familiar nursery songs, they selected eight lullabies from foreign cultures that American infants were extremely unlikely to have heard before. These songs were compared with non-lullaby songs drawn from the same broad cultural sources. [Nature]nature.comNatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)… [PMC]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPMCInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesrelax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies - PMCby CM Bainbridge · 2020 · Cited by 117 — Relative to non-lullabies, infants' heart…

The design was important because it addressed a common alternative explanation: perhaps babies relax simply because they recognise a song, understand its language, or associate it with a caregiver. By using unfamiliar recordings in unfamiliar languages, researchers could ask whether the musical form itself produced a calming response. [Nature]nature.comNatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)…

The results consistently favoured the lullabies. Across the first year of life, infants relaxed more when listening to the foreign lullabies than when listening to the matched non-lullaby songs. The effect appeared despite the infants having no known prior exposure to the music. [Nature]nature.comNatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)… [PMC]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPMCInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesrelax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies - PMCby CM Bainbridge · 2020 · Cited by 117 — Relative to non-lullabies, infants' heart…

What Happened to Heart Rate, Pupils, and Skin Conductance?

The study did not rely on subjective impressions. Researchers measured several physiological indicators that are commonly used to assess arousal and relaxation.

Heart Rate

Heart rate slowed during exposure to the unfamiliar lullabies. A reduction in heart rate is a classic sign that the body is shifting away from heightened alertness and towards a calmer state. The effect was observed repeatedly across the infant age range studied. [Nature]nature.comNatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)… [PMC]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPMCInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesrelax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies - PMCby CM Bainbridge · 2020 · Cited by 117 — Relative to non-lullabies, infants' heart…

Pupil Size

The researchers also tracked pupil dilation. Larger pupils are often associated with increased attention or arousal, whereas smaller pupils can indicate reduced activation. Infants listening to the foreign lullabies showed smaller pupil sizes than when listening to the comparison songs, consistent with relaxation. [Nature]nature.comNatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)… [PMC]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPMCInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesrelax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies - PMCby CM Bainbridge · 2020 · Cited by 117 — Relative to non-lullabies, infants' heart…

Skin Conductance

Electrodermal activity, sometimes called skin conductance, measures subtle changes in sweating controlled by the autonomic nervous system. Elevated skin conductance generally reflects increased arousal. During the lullabies, infants showed lower or more stable electrodermal responses than during non-lullaby songs. [Nature]nature.comNatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)… [PMC]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPMCInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesrelax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies - PMCby CM Bainbridge · 2020 · Cited by 117 — Relative to non-lullabies, infants' heart…

Taken together, these three measures point in the same direction. The calming effect was not simply a matter of researchers interpreting facial expressions or parental reports. It was visible in objective physiological data. [Nature]nature.comNatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)…

Why Language Is Not the Whole Story

The foreign-lullaby findings challenge the idea that soothing depends mainly on understanding words. The infants in these experiments could not comprehend the languages being sung, yet they still relaxed. This suggests that key elements of lullabies operate independently of linguistic meaning. [Harvard Gazette]news.harvard.eduresearch shows lullabies in any language relax babiesHarvard GazetteResearch shows lullabies in any language relax babiesOct 19, 2020 — Researchers at Harvard's Music Lab have determined tha…

Researchers argue that lullabies from many societies share recurring acoustic characteristics. Although cultures differ in melody, scale systems, and vocal style, lullabies often feature relatively gentle rhythms, smooth melodic contours, repetition, and predictable timing. Infants may be responding to these broad structural patterns rather than to specific lyrics. Harvard Gazette [Polifonia]polifonia-project.euInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesInfants are sensitive to the cross-culturally consistent features of lullabies…

The age range of the participants strengthens this interpretation. Very young infants have had limited musical experience compared with adults. If babies only relaxed because they had learned cultural conventions, researchers would expect weaker or inconsistent responses. Instead, the relaxation effect appeared throughout the first year of life. [Nature]nature.comNatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)…

What This Evidence Suggests About Lullabies

The unfamiliar-lullaby studies do not prove that every lullaby works equally well for every child. Familiar songs can still gain additional power through repetition, caregiver bonding, and emotional association. However, the evidence indicates that lullabies possess calming musical features that travel across cultural boundaries. [Harvard Gazette]news.harvard.eduresearch shows lullabies in any language relax babiesHarvard GazetteResearch shows lullabies in any language relax babiesOct 19, 2020 — Researchers at Harvard's Music Lab have determined tha…

For the broader question of how lullabies use music to calm, this is a significant finding. Babies do not appear to require familiar words, familiar singers, or familiar traditions to experience relaxation. The physiological evidence suggests that the structure of lullaby music itself carries signals that young listeners can recognise, even when those signals arrive from a completely unfamiliar culture. [Nature]nature.comNatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)… [PMC]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPMCInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesrelax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies - PMCby CM Bainbridge · 2020 · Cited by 117 — Relative to non-lullabies, infants' heart…

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Endnotes

1. Source: nature.com
   Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-00963-z
   Source snippet

   NatureInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 113 — We show that US infants (N = 144)...

2. Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
   Title: PMCInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies
   Link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8220405/
   Source snippet

   relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies - PMCby CM Bainbridge · 2020 · Cited by 117 — Relative to non-lullabies, infants' heart...

3. Source: news.harvard.edu
   Title: research shows lullabies in any language relax babies
   Link: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/research-shows-lullabies-in-any-language-relax-babies/
   Source snippet

   Harvard GazetteResearch shows lullabies in any language relax babiesOct 19, 2020 — Researchers at Harvard's Music Lab have determined tha...

4. Source: news.harvard.edu
   Title: music may transcend cultural boundaries to become universally human
   Link: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/01/music-may-transcend-cultural-boundaries-to-become-universally-human/
   Source snippet

   Harvard GazetteSongs in the key of humanityJan 26, 2018 — A new Harvard study suggests that people around the globe can identify lullabie...

5. Source: news.harvard.edu
   Link: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/section/science-technology/page/18/
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   more...

6. Source: news.harvard.edu
   Link: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/page/125/?p=gazette%2Fprivacy-policy
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   — Page 125 of 918 — Harvard Gazette... relaxed when played lullabies that were unfamiliar and in a foreign language. October 19, 2020. Ba...

   Published: October 19, 2020

7. Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
   Title: Pub Med Infants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies
   Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33077883/
   Source snippet

   relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies - PubMedby CM Bainbridge · 2021 · Cited by 117 — We show that US infants (N = 144) rela...

8. Source: polifonia-project.eu
   Link: https://polifonia-project.eu/seminars/infants-relax-in-response-to-unfamiliar-foreign-lullabies/
   Source snippet

   Infants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesInfants are sensitive to the cross-culturally consistent features of lullabies...

9. Source: Wikipedia
   Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant
   Source snippet

   InfantBefore birth, the offspring is called a fetus. The term infant is typically applied to very young children under one year of age...

10. Source: iammonline.com
    Title: does the language of a lullaby play a role in soothing infants
    Link: https://iammonline.com/2020/12/03/does-the-language-of-a-lullaby-play-a-role-in-soothing-infants/
    Source snippet

    Does the language of a lullaby play a role in soothing...Dec 3, 2020 — Infants relax in response to foreign unfamiliar lullabies...

Additional References

1. Source: cognitivesciencesociety.org
   Link: https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/cogsci20/papers/0591/index.html
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   Cognitive Science SocietyInfants Relax in Response to Unfamiliar Foreign Lullabiesby C Bainbridge · Cited by 113 — Here we show that infa...

2. Source: researchgate.net
   Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344783134_Infants_relax_in_response_to_unfamiliar_foreign_lullabies
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   Infants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesHere, we show that US infants (N = 144) relax in response to eight unfamiliar fo...

3. Source: themusiclab.org
   Link: https://www.themusiclab.org/lullabies
   Source snippet

   Infants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabiesWhen we played songs from around the world to infants, we found that infants rel...

4. Source: medium.com
   Link: https://medium.com/preoccupy-negative-thoughts/lullabies-of-any-language-relaxes-babies-fbd60b276609
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   Lullabies of Any Language Relaxes Babies | by Synthia StarkAccording to a study done by researchers at Harvard University's Music Lab, Am...

5. Source: facebook.com
   Link: https://www.facebook.com/olenkaschoolofmusic/posts/researchers-played-infants-music-from-around-the-world-and-found-they-relaxed-mo/1625151148903116/
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   Olenka School of Music and the ArtsResearch shows lullabies in any language relax babies. NEWS.HARVARD.EDU. Research shows lullabies in a...

6. Source: sciencedirect.com
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   Sleep, baby, sleep: Lullabies in infancy and childhoodAcross the tested age range, infants showed a relaxation effect (characterized by r...

7. Source: upf.edu
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   Universitat Pompeu FabraInfants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies - CBCIn this talk, I will present a recent paper (Bainb...

8. Source: facebook.com
   Title: infants relaxed more in response to the lullabies including unfamiliar foreign o
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   Infants relaxed more in response to the lullabies, including...Infants relaxed more in response to the lullabies, including unfamiliar f...

9. Source: webmd.com
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   How Do Babies React to... Harvard Gazette: "Research shows lullabies in any language relax babies.Read more...

10. Source: ouci.dntb.gov.ua
    Title: dntb.gov.ua Infants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies
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    Infants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies. General... DOI. 10.1038/s41562-020-00963-z. Journal. 2020, Nature Human Behav...