Understanding rhythmic behavior in infancy: Perspectives for addressing developmental, methodological, and analytical challenges

Abstract

Neural sensitivity to rhythm emerges prenatally, yet observable movement synchronization to an external beat occurs later and more gradually over development. Integrating findings from developmental psychology, neuroscience, music cognition, and social interaction research, we propose a triadic framework suggesting that infants' rhythmic synchronization emerges from the interaction of three components: rhythm perception, motor development, and social scaffolding. Based on this framework, early synchronization abilities may be present earlier than commonly assumed, but their expression depends on interactions between perceptual capacities, developing motor abilities and social scaffolding, providing predictive cues and reward. We further argue that the detection of early rhythmic behavior may depend on methodological and analytical approaches as infant rhythmic behavior is variable, context-dependent, and expressed intermit-tently. Methodological and analytical improvements are outlined to better capture the dynamic development of rhythmic coordination in infancy. Understanding variability in early rhythmic behavior will provide insight into developmental trajectories and be informative for identifying early markers of potential deficits in rhythm processing, which have been described in neuro-developmental disorders.