The origins of embodiment: behavioral and cardiovascular responses to music in very preterm newborns

Music perception in newborns is predominantly investigated through brain-based data, while the role of physiological and bodily responses remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by assessing behavioral and physiological responses to music in clinically stable preterm newborns. Twenty-three very preterm newborns (born before 32 weeks of gestation) were recruited and allocated to either a Music group (n = 12) or a Control group (n = 11). Only infants in the Music group were exposed to a 6-minute musical excerpt composed specifically for the study by Andreas Vollenweider. Combining precise cardiovascular measures with a fine-grained behavioral coding system - the System for Coding Perinatal Behavior (SCPB), we examined the embodied dimensions of musical perception at the beginning of extrauterine life. During the test phase, infants in the Music group showed reduced distress and fewer eye blinks compared to the pre phase, whereas no comparable changes were observed in the Control group. Hand movement rates were overall lower in the Music group during the pre and test phases, although group differences were no longer present in the post phase. Cardiorespiratory coupling was higher in the Music group during the pre and test phases but did not differ between groups in the post phase. Importantly, parasympathetic indices (HF power and RMSSD) increased specifically in the Music group during the post phase, while remaining stable across phases in the Control group. Overall, the results suggest immediate behavioral modulation during exposure and a subsequent increase in parasympathetic activity following music listening. These findings provide new insights into the organization of perception in preterm newborns and underscore the importance of integrating bodily and autonomic responses into the study of early music perception. Adopting such an embodied perspective may advance our understanding of how music contributes to early perceptual development in fragile neonatal populations.