University of Toronto Study findings suggest that even babies feel the impact of being at a live show, through both musicians’ interactions with an audience and the social experience of being in a crowd.

When infants watched a live performance of a baby opera, their heart rates synchronized and they were significantly more engaged than babies who watched a recording of the same show — even though the recording was identical to the live version. “Their heart rates were speeding up and slowing down in a similar fashion to other babies watching the show,” says Laura Cirelli, co-author of the new study. “Those babies were dealing with all these distractions in the concert hall, but still had these uninterrupted bursts of attention.” For the study, published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, researchers examined 120 babies ages six to 14 months as they watched a children’s opera performed at a concert hall that doubles as a research facility at McMaster University (61 babies watched in person, the other 59 watched a recorded
version).

The researchers meticulously broadcast the recording so the performers were at the same size, distance and volume as the live version. The live performance captured their attention for 72 per cent of the 12-minute show while the recording held their attention for 54 per cent. The live show also had them continually watching for longer bouts of time. “The babies watching at home didn’t have the distraction of being in a new place; they were in their comfort zone. But even without distractions, the quality of their attention was still not nearly as strong as the audience in the live setting.”

The findings suggest that even babies feel the impact of being at a live show, through both musicians’ interactions with an audience and the social experience of being in a crowd. Cirelli recalls moments during the performance when a calm would sweep over the babies, and other times when a change in pitch or vocal riff would excite them all. She says this may offer insights into why humans are hardwired to consume music and attend live shows in the first place.

“If there’s something happening that we collectively are engaging with, we’re also connecting with each other. It speaks to the shared experience,” says Cirelli, director of the TEMPO Lab, which studies how infants and children respond to music. Cirelli says music can play a powerful part in making important social bonds. She points to research finding infants are more likely to socialize with someone after hearing them sing a familiar song or dancing to music with them, and that infants have strong emotional reactions to music and song even before their first birthday.

“We consistently find that music can be a highly social and emotional context within which infants can foster connections to their caregivers, other family members and even new people,” she says. “This audience study shows that even in a community context, infants are engaging with the music and connecting to their fellow audience members.”