The current issue of the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ carries a study suggesting human brains are wired for rhythm and, within just a few days of birth, can detect when that rhythm goes awry.  Istvan Winkler, lead researcher for the study, suggests babies’ brains may be programmed to detect rhythm to enhance their ability to learn language and “music went along for the ride.”  In other words, babies are born to rock and roll.  Or cha-cha, rap, or yodel, as the case may be.

Fourteen babies just a few days old were hooked up with a non-invasive type of electroencephalogram brain scanner and their brain activity was monitored as they slept.  Also as they slept, researchers played recorded music composed of bass drums, snare drums, and cymbals producing a lively, funky beat similar to that of rock and roll music.

The sleeping babies listened to 306 consecutive drum sequences where one of every 10 downbeats was missing.  The electrodes monitoring brain activity detected a response in the babies’ brains every time the downbeat was missed.  The activity detected is the same as an adult’s brain elicits when one’s expectations aren’t met.

This ability to follow a beat, called beat induction, doesn’t exist in our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.  Chimpanzees and bonobos are incapable of beat induction, a trait thought by many experts to be uniquely human and one of the cognitive building blocks to music.

Whether beat induction is learned or inborn has been the topic of much debate.  Critics argue that the ability to detect rhythm develops during the first few months of life, when lullabies and rocking in their parents arms is common.  Winkler, however, cites his study as evidence of the human mind’s innate ability to detect rhythm.  Even with his study to back his theory, some critics still say it’s a learned trait, developed during gestation while being serenaded by a mother’s heartbeat.