The development of evaluative responses to music: Infants prefer to listen to consonance over dissonance

Author(s): Heinmiller, B. M.

Journal/Book: Infant Behav Develop. 1998; 21: 100 Prospect St, PO Box 811, Stamford, CT 06904-0811. Ablex Publ Corp. 77-88.

Abstract: In Experiment 1, 6-month-old infants looked longer in order to listen to a set of consonant intervals than to a set of dissonant intervals. In Experiment 2, infants preferred to listen to the original version of a Mozart minuet than to a version altered to contain many dissonant intervals. Thus, although infants do not yet have the musical-system-specific knowledge of scale structure that is involved in adults' emotional reactions to music, infants are similar to adults in their evaluative reactions to consonance and dissonance.

Note: Article Trainor LJ, Mcmaster Univ, Dept Psychol, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, CANADA

Keyword(s): infant; auditory perception; music preference; consonance; dissonance; FREQUENCY RATIOS; TONE SEQUENCES; PERCEPTION; ADULTS; RESPONSIVENESS; INTERVALS; SPEECH; FACES

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