What is it about?
This work looked at how the speed at which 14- to 24-month-old infants walk is influenced by what they hear. The results found that you can speed up of infants' walking by playing them a metronome that is faster than their typical walking speed.
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Why is it important?
This work is important because it shows that their are links that are present, early in life, between one's perceptual systems (in this case, the auditory system) and one's motor system, such that presenting changing information in one system actually modifies the operation of the other system. What is most surprising is that these links are present virtually from the time at which infants' begin walking.
Perspectives
This work is important both for understanding how infants and children develop, as well as for its implications for helping children who have problems in walking.
Mark Schmuckler
University of Toronto
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Auditory influences on walking: Children’s walking to the beat., Developmental Psychology, May 2023, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/dev0001552.
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