PTS | Sing, Sway, Soothe: New FWF-funded project explores how music shapes infant development

FWF-funded research project at the intersection of developmental psychology, neuroscience, and music cognition

Investigating why singing and rhythmic movement are so central to how caregivers soothe and bond with their infants, this project combines neural, physiological, and behavioural methods to understand early musical co-regulation.

This FWF-funded project, led by Dr. Gabriela Markova (Faculty of Psychotherapy Science) and Dr. Trinh Nguyen (Department of Developmental and Biological Psychology, Heidelberg University), examines how infant-directed singing and rhythmic movement — such as rocking, swaying, or bouncing — support infants’ self-regulation, attachment, and socio-emotional development.

Across three interconnected studies with 4- to 6-month-old infants and their mothers at both sites, the project systematically compares the effects of singing versus speech, rhythmic movement versus walking, and combined singing-and-movement stimulation versus either modality alone. A subset of families will be followed up to 12 months of age to assess longer-term effects on attachment, emotion regulation, and language development.

Using EEG, ECG, motion tracking, and detailed behavioural coding, the research team will measure how caregivers’ musical rhythms shape infants’ neural tracking, physiological arousal, and interpersonal synchrony — insights that may ultimately inform simple, low-cost, music-based approaches to support vulnerable infants, such as those born preterm.

4 September 2026