Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Publication Date
2015
Journal
Undergraduate Honours Theses
Abstract
Past research suggests that infants' recollection of melodic information is hindered when linguistic and melodic properties of music are presented simultaneously over a short duration of time. The purpose of the present study is to examine infants' memory for melody and lyrics when the two stimuli are presented simultaneously over a prolonged exposure time. The design is a head turn preference paradigm. Thirty 6- to 8- month-old infants were familiarized to a song at home for a seven-day period. On day eight, infants were tested and randomly assigned to one of two conditions. The Melody Condition compared the familiar melody to a novel melody, and the Lyric Condition compared the familiar lyrics to novel lyrics. Infants' looking times to the novel or familiar stimuli were recorded. Results indicated no significant difference in head turn preferences to the novel or familiar stimuli in either condition. The implications of these findings are discussed.