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.comInfants 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.comInfants 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.comInfants 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.comInfants 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.comInfants 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.comInfants 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.comInfants 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.comInfants 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.comInfants 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.comInfants 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

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/

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/

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/

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

6. Source: news.harvard.edu
Link:https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/page/125/?p=gazette%2Fprivacy-policy

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/

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

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

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/

Additional References

11. Source: cognitivesciencesociety.org
Link:https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/cogsci20/papers/0591/index.html

12. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344783134_Infants_relax_in_response_to_unfamiliar_foreign_lullabies

13. Source: themusiclab.org
Link:https://www.themusiclab.org/lullabies

14. Source: medium.com
Link:https://medium.com/preoccupy-negative-thoughts/lullabies-of-any-language-relaxes-babies-fbd60b276609

15. Source: facebook.com
Link:https://www.facebook.com/olenkaschoolofmusic/posts/researchers-played-infants-music-from-around-the-world-and-found-they-relaxed-mo/1625151148903116/

16. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/edited-volume/pii/B9780443336515000227

17. Source: upf.edu
Link:https://www.upf.edu/web/cbc/activities/-/asset_publisher/Lemqx7vH40kE/content/infants-relax-in-response-to-unfamiliar-foreign-lullabies/maximized

18. Source: facebook.com
Title: infants relaxed more in response to the lullabies including unfamiliar foreign o
Link:https://www.facebook.com/NaturePortfolioJournals/posts/infants-relaxed-more-in-response-to-the-lullabies-including-unfamiliar-foreign-o/10158129951193167/

19. Source: webmd.com
Link:https://www.webmd.com/parenting/what-to-know-lullabies

20. Source: ouci.dntb.gov.ua
Title: dntb.gov.ua Infants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies
Link:https://ouci.dntb.gov.ua/en/works/7pxGVvk7/