When Babies Start Moving to Music: A First-Year Brain Study

Auditory and spontaneous movement responses to music over first postnatal year

We tracked 79 infants from 3 to 12 months using EEG and motion capture to see how they respond to music. While babies' brains recognize musical structure immediately, their bodies only start moving in complex patterns by 12 months. Surprisingly, no age group moved in time with the beat, though high-pitched tunes consistently triggered more movement than low ones.

"Notably, no age group demonstrated evidence of coordinated movements to music."