A groundbreaking study published recently in PLOS Biology sheds new light on the innate abilities of human newborns, revealing that even at just two days old, infants can anticipate rhythmic patterns in music. This discovery illuminates fundamental aspects of how our brains develop musical perception and how rhythm may be intrinsically wired into us from birth, while melody appears to be a learned phenomenon cultivated through experience.
The research, led by Roberta Bianco from the Italian Institute of Technology and her international team, sought to address a longstanding question in cognitive neuroscience: are our abilities to anticipate rhythmic and melodic structures in music innate, or are they primarily learned? While humans universally anticipate elements like beat drops or melodic shifts in songs, the developmental origins of these skills have remained elusive. Previous evidence suggested fetuses respond to music in utero through heart rate and movement changes by about 35 weeks gestation, but whether newborns possess anticipatory musical cognition was unknown.
To delve into this mystery, the researchers designed a meticulous experimental study involving 49 sleeping newborns who were exposed to the piano compositions of J.S. Bach. These included 10 original melodies characterized by consistent rhythmic and melodic structures, alongside four “scrambled” versions where melodies were intentionally disrupted by pitch shuffling. Throughout the listening sessions, the infants’ brain activity was monitored using electroencephalography (EEG), a non-invasive method employing electrodes placed carefully on their scalps to measure neuronal responses with millisecond precision.
The crux of the investigation centered on identifying neural markers of surprise, which would indicate that a newborn’s brain had formed an expectation about the musical sequence and detected a deviation. Remarkably, the babies exhibited strong neural signs of surprise when rhythmic patterns were unexpectedly altered. This indicates that even at such an early developmental stage, human infants are equipped to anticipate and internally model rhythmic structures. The presence of these expectations at birth implies that rhythmic processing is part of an intrinsic biological toolkit rather than exclusively a learned ability.
Conversely, the study found no comparable evidence that the infants formed expectations based on melody. The scrambled melodies that disrupted pitch and melodic continuity failed to elicit surprise signals in the newborn brainwaves. This suggests that the cognitive mechanisms underlying melodic anticipation are immature or absent at birth and likely develop gradually as infants gain auditory experience postnatally. Such differential development between rhythm and melody challenges assumptions that these components of musicality evolve in tandem.
These findings align intriguingly with previous observations in non-human primates, which have demonstrated rhythmic, but not melodic, processing capabilities. This similarity supports the hypothesis of evolutionary conservation in the neural architecture for rhythm perception, underscoring rhythm’s foundational role in communication and sensory processing. Melodic expectation, on the other hand, seems to be a more specialized human capacity dependent on cultural and environmental exposure during infancy and early childhood.
Beyond enriching the scientific understanding of innate human abilities, this study holds significant implications for multiple fields. From a biological perspective, clarifying how auditory systems develop rhythmic sensitivity can inform the diagnosis and treatment of developmental disorders related to auditory processing. Clinically, it might guide strategies for early interventions in infants at risk of language or cognitive delays, given the close relationship between rhythm processing and linguistic abilities.
On the educational and parenting front, the research invites reconsideration of how musical exposure during gestation and early infancy might shape neural development. The authors propose future investigations to explore how prenatal music stimulation influences the acquisition of rhythm and melody perception. If rhythm is indeed an innate foundation, systematic exposure to melodies might accelerate melodic learning and foster broader cognitive benefits, highlighting the potential for music-based enrichment programs in early childhood.
Importantly, the study underscores a nuanced distinction: newborns are “ready for Bach” in their ability to anticipate rhythmic sequences but are not yet equipped to predict melodic progressions. This duality posits rhythm as a shared human biological feature present at birth, while melodic expectation emerges through interaction with the auditory environment. Such insights challenge simplistic views of music cognition and emphasize the layered, developmental nature of musicality.
Methodologically, the use of EEG to detect prediction errors in sleeping newborns exemplifies the innovative approaches enabling deep exploration of infant cognition without reliance on behavioral responses. By interpreting subtle neural deviations signaling surprise, researchers can infer complex perceptual and cognitive states even in populations with limited communicative capacity. This technology opens doors for multidisciplinary research on development, cognition, and sensory integration.
This international collaborative effort was supported by European Union funding through Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and the European Research Council, alongside grants from the Hungarian National Research Development and Innovation Office. The research team comprised experts from Italy, Hungary, and Germany, reflecting the growing trend of cross-border scientific endeavors addressing fundamental questions about human nature.
Despite the profound implications, the study acknowledges limitations such as the relatively small sample size and the constraints of testing sleeping infants, which may influence the generalizability of results. Further research with larger cohorts and varying developmental stages is necessary to comprehensively map the timeline of melodic skill acquisition and unravel the environmental factors that contribute to this process.
In sum, this pioneering investigation delineates a critical boundary in newborn musical cognition: a robust, biologically embedded capacity for rhythmic prediction contrasts with an initially absent yet gradually acquired melodic expectation. This paradigm shapes our understanding of how humans enter the world as rhythmically attuned beings poised to learn and appreciate melody through experience, ultimately enriching the tapestry of musical engagement that defines human culture.
Subject of Research: People
Article Title: Human newborns form musical predictions based on rhythmic but not melodic structure
News Publication Date: February 5, 2026
Web References:
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003600
- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/
- European Research Council: https://erc.europa.eu/homepage
- Hungarian National Research Development and Innovation Office: https://nkfih.gov.hu/english-nkfih
References:
Bianco R, Tóth B, Bigand F, Nguyen T, Sziller I, Háden GP, et al. (2026) Human newborns form musical predictions based on rhythmic but not melodic structure. PLoS Biol 24(2): e3003600.
Image Credits: Diego Perez-Lopez, PLOS, CC-BY 4.0
Keywords: newborn, rhythm perception, melody, music cognition, electroencephalography, musical prediction, infant brain development, auditory neuroscience, prenatal music exposure, cognitive neuroscience, early development, neural surprise
