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 intermittently. 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 neurodevelopmental disorders.
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BibTeX
@article{iorio2026understanding,
title = {{Understanding rhythmic behavior in infancy: Perspectives for addressing developmental, methodological, and analytical challenges}},
author = {C. Iorio and R. Román-Caballero and L. Trainor and S. Moghimi and B. Tillmann},
journal = {Developmental Review},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.dr.2026.101294},
url = {https://u-picardie.hal.science/hal-05740473v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Understanding rhythmic behavior in infancy: Perspectives for addressing developmental, methodological, and analytical challenges
AU - C. Iorio
AU - R. Román-Caballero
AU - L. Trainor
AU - S. Moghimi
AU - B. Tillmann
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
JO - Developmental Review
DO - 10.1016/j.dr.2026.101294
UR - https://u-picardie.hal.science/hal-05740473v1
AB - 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 intermittently. 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 neurodevelopmental disorders.
SN - 0273-2297
SN - 1090-2406
ER -