Now new research is showing that even small infants are profoundly affected by music. Babies as young as five months old can distinguish between upbeat and gloomy music, providing more evidence that the brain's ability to detect emotion develops early, researchers report.

According to the researchers, the babies could tell emotions apart, understand that this is happy music and this is sad music, and know they're different. Scientists already knew that babies can distinguish between elements of music like pitch and tempo, but until now, no one had studied if they could also notice the difference between types of emotion.

While the babies in the study were too young to talk, they did have the ability to express interest in the outside world and become bored. So, the study authors latched onto this trait to figure out how they perceived music. The researchers recruited 96 babies and played various types of music for them, Flom said.

Some of the music was upbeat, including the theme from the "Peanuts" TV shows, the fourth movement from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 ("Ode to Joy") and the jazz piece "Tiger Rag," performed by the New Orleans group Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Other selections tended toward the sad side, including the second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.

The babies would repeatedly listen to three selections from one category of music - happy or sad - and then the researchers would play a selection from the other category. The researchers gauged whether the babies perked up and noticed a difference in the music by paying more attention to a video of a neutral-looking male or female human face in front of them.

Most 5-month-old babies showed signs that they could discriminate between types of music when a happy selection followed a sad selection, but not the other way around. At nine months, they can tell individual happy pieces and sad pieces apart, showing the remarkable cognitive skills that these kids have. The findings, are a way of documenting that babies are very attuned very early in development to emotion.

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About the Author

Dr. Randi Fredricks, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and author specializing in the treatment of mental health using integrative medicine and natural therapies. She works with individuals, couples, and families at her office in San Jose, California. Dr. Fredricks' publications include the landmark book Healing & Wholeness: Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Mental Health. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems. Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Dr. Randi Fredricks as articles often present the published results of the research of other professionals. Copyright © 2012. To cite this article, please use the following citation: Fredricks, R. (2008). Healing & Wholeness: Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Mental Health. Bloomington, IN: Author House.