"Ode To Joy" Or Funeral Dirge - Babies Can Tell Happy Music From Sad

Thursday, October 9, 2008 - 11:21 in Psychology & Sociology

Babies make sense of the world long before they can talk, says Brigham Young University psychology professor and study author Ross Flom. Their new study shows that even babies as young as five months can distinguish an upbeat tune, like Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from the Ninth Symphony, from gloomier compositions like that minor key stuff by Chopin(1). By age nine months, babies can also do the opposite and pick out the sorrowful sound of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony from a pack of happy pieces. Read More...

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