Study Shows How Music Impacts Young Babies - as part of the news and politics series by GeoBeats.
Many research studies show that babies tend to grasp a lot more early on than most parents realize.
A May 2012 publication of the journal 'Development Science', reports on research conducted at McMaster University involving music and its impact on infants as young as six months old.
Based on their research, the psychologists concluded that active music participation by babies, enhances their social and communication development.
According to Toronto Sun, the experiment was conducted over six months and included an active and a passive group. The active group participated in instrument training, singing of lullabies, rhymes and songs; whereas, the passive group listened to music in the background.
Pacific Standard notes that babies in the active group were observed to be more receptive to new situations and they also showed better communication skills in the form of a much higher number of gestures. Additionally, they showed a preference for relatively advanced music.
A number of other studies provide insight into how mothers' actions very early on can affect their babies.
A Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences study, as noted by Time, examined the impact of exercise by mothers on babies' health during pregnancy. Women who exercised more had a positive impact on their babies' hearts - lower heart rate and greater variability in heart rate.
