Conventional rhythms enhance infantsʹ and adultsʹ perception of musical patterns

Listeners may favour particular rhythms because of their degree of conformity to culture-specific expectations or because of perceptual constraints that are apparent early in development. In two experiments we examined adultsʹ and 6-month-old infantsʹ detection of subtle rhythmic and melodic changes to two sequences of tones, a conventional rhythm that musically untrained adults rated as rhythmically good and an unconventional rhythm that was rated as poor. Detection of the changes was above chance in all conditions, but adults and infants performed more accurately in the context of the conventional rhythm. Unlike adults, who benefited from rhythmic conventionality only when detecting rhythmic changes, infants benefited when detecting melodic as well as rhythmic changes. The findings point to infant and adult parallels for some aspects of rhythm processing and to integrated perception of rhythm and melody early in life.