Biology subjects

Trainor, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Trainor, L..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

A touch that lingers: synchronized patting strengthens neural tracking of auditory rhythm in newborns

Rhythmic auditory stimulation in early life rarely occurs in isolation. Caregivers naturally combine singing and speech with rhythmic touch, rocking, and visual cues. Newborns are sensitive to auditory rhythm from birth, yet little is known about how temporally aligned information across sensory modalities shapes the neural encoding of auditory rhythmic structure. Here, we tested whether rhythmic touch can alter how the newborn brain tracks an ongoing auditory signal beyond the period of tactile stimulation. We recorded high-density electroencephalography from full-term newborns (N = 40), 1-3 days after birth, while they were exposed to recorded French lullabies presented either alone or accompanied by gentle patting synchronized with the metrically strong beat. Patting was delivered intermittently, allowing us to compare neural responses to lullabies across conditions, notably during periods without concurrent tactile stimulation. We quantified neural tracking of the lullabies using brain-stimulus coherence and temporal response function modeling. Newborns' neural activity synchronized with the rhythmic structure of the lullabies at frequencies corresponding to both the beat and the metrically accented strong beat. Critically, neural tracking was stronger when the lullabies had been accompanied by synchronized touch than when they were presented alone, and this enhancement persisted during subsequent periods in which no touch was delivered. Although rhythmic touch enhanced tracking in newborns with both weaker and stronger auditory-only tracking, there was a larger gain in those who initially showed weaker auditory tracking. Together, our findings reveal that the newborn brain exploits rhythmic touch to strengthen its encoding of auditory rhythm, and that this benefit outlasts the touch itself. This provides neural evidence that patting an infant in time with a song, a caregiving practice shared across cultures, does more than simply provide a tactile stimulation. It shapes how the newborn brain encodes the song's rhythm.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Effect of tempo on newborns' neural processing of auditory rhythm: Emergence of sensitivity to metrical structure

Rhythm perception ability underpins music and language processing, and its developmental origins trace back to the earliest periods of life. While most rhythm patterns contain a variety of inter-onset intervals, listeners typically extract a steady underlying beat periodicity, as well as beat grouping periodicities (groups of two or three beats will be at frequencies 1/2 or 1/3, respectively, of that of the primary beat), forming a metrical hierarchy. While the developing brain can track auditory rhythm before birth, a previous study found that neural sensitivity to faster beat-related periodicities emerges early in third trimester of gestation, whereas encoding of slower metrical structure periodicities only appears closer to term birth. However, as rhythm patterns were only presented at one tempo, neural sensitivity to metrical structure could not be disentangled from sensitivity to tempo during early development. Thus, here we presented auditory rhythmic sequences at two different tempi and used high-resolution electroencephalography to measure neural sensitivity to their encoding in full-term newborns and young adults. Adults demonstrated a similar sensitivity to metrical structure across tempi, with greatest response at the duple metrical frequency regardless of tempo. Newborn neural responses, by contrast, were tempo-dependent, displaying markedly different response patterns across beat and meter frequencies at the different tempi. Together, these results reveal that tempo and metrical structure interact in shaping how the neonatal brain encodes auditory rhythm, suggesting that early neural processing may be constrained in its ability to track slower periodicities, and highlighting a developmental shift in the relative contributions of tempo and metrical structure to rhythmic processing. Research HighlightsO_LIAdults show stable sensitivity to metrical structure across tempi, with peak responses at the duple level. C_LIO_LINewborns neural responses are tempo-dependent, showing distinct patterns across beat and metrical frequencies. C_LIO_LITempo and metrical structure jointly shape neural encoding of rhythm in the brain, revealing a developmental shift in their relative contributions. C_LI

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Collective dynamics support group drumming, reduce variability, and stabilize tempo drift

Humans are social animals who engage in a variety of collective activities requiring coordinated action. Among these, music is a defining and ancient aspect of human sociality. Human social interaction has largely been addressed in dyadic paradigms and it is yet to be determined whether the ensuing conclusions generalize to larger groups. Studied more extensively in nonhuman animal behaviour, the presence of multiple agents engaged in the same task space creates different constraints and possibilities than in simpler dyadic interactions. We addressed whether collective dynamics play a role in human circle drumming. The task was to synchronize in a group with an initial reference pattern and then maintain synchronization after it was muted. We varied the number of drummers, from solo to dyad, quartet, and octet. The observed lower variability, lack of speeding up, smoother individual dynamics, and leader-less inter-personal coordination indicated that stability increased as group size increased, a sort of temporal wisdom of crowds. We propose a hybrid continuous-discrete Kuramoto model for emergent group synchronization with pulse-based coupling that exhibits a mean field positive feedback loop. This research suggests that collective phenomena are among the factors that play a role in social cognition.

animal behavior and cognition↗