Karademir, Zehra. 2024. Exploring the influence of music on affective responses in infancy. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

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Abstract or Description

Emotional valence in speech and songs directed at infants facilitates caregiver-child interaction and influences infants’ affect and arousal in the first year. These vocalisations, characterised by positive emotional valence and similarities to upbeat music, are especially effective when familiar, such as the caregiver’s melodies, positively influencing infant affect and behaviour. This research explores infants’ affective responses to speech and vocal and non-vocal music, focusing on the interactional effect of familiarity. The first study exposed 7-month-old infants to non-vocal music with distinct emotions paired with congruent or incongruent facial expressions, assessing attention span and affective responses. Results showed that music’s emotion and congruency with facial expressions influenced infants’ looking times. Infants looked longer at happy music and incongruent pairings, suggesting interest or surprise, confirming sensitivity to emotional congruency. The second study involved positive emotional valence (vs neutral) in infant-directed speech and singing in native and foreign languages for 6 to 11-month-olds. Lively-playful speech and song garnered more attention, but they preferred songs over speech in both languages, with a native language preference noted. The third study examined emotional valence and familiarity in songs, finding that lively-playful songs initially triggered stronger affective responses regardless of familiarity, but repeated exposure emerged native language preferences. The fourth study looked at mother-infant singing’s impact on maternal affect and intimacy, finding no significant effects. The fifth and final study investigated the impact of maternal emotional expressions and familiarity in maternal singing versus speech on infant behaviour, finding no effect of emotional expression in maternal singing compared to speech. These findings have implications for understanding musical communication’s role in caregiver-infant relationships.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00039149
Keywords:	infants; music; singing; speech; emotion; language; affect
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Psychology
Date:	31 August 2024
Item ID:	39149
Date Deposited:	09 Jul 2025 10:10
Last Modified:	09 Jul 2025 10:16
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/39149

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