Elena Longhi

Music and well-being in long-term hospitalized children

The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological responses of long-term hospitalized children when exposed to live music. Twenty-one paediatric patients at Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital, London, between 3 months and 14 years of age, took part in the study. They were all long-term patients with cardiac and/or respiratory problems. They received music sessions for about 30 minutes, according to the childs state, during which a musician sang and played guitar. The childrens physiological responses were measured with a pulse oximeter and their oxygen saturation level as well as their heart rate recorded before and after the music session. The analysis of the data showed that during the music sessions, the childrens heart rate did not change significantly. However, when their oxygen saturation level was examined, a different picture emerged. In fact, the percentage of oxygen present in the blood increased significantly by the end of the music session. This suggests that music has an effect on the state of paediatric patients, potentially improving their physiological and psychological well-being.

Discrimination of Biomechanically Possible and Impossible Hand Movements at Birth

The development of human body perception has long been investigated, but little is known about its early origins. This study focused on how a body part highly relevant to the human species, namely the hand, is perceived a few days after birth. Using a preferential-looking paradigm, 24- to 48-hr-old newborns watched biomechanically possible and impossible dynamic hand gestures (Experiment 1, N = 15) and static hand postures (Experiment 2, N = 15). In Experiment 1, newborns looked longer at the impossible, compared to the possible, hand movement, whereas in Experiment 2 no visual preference emerged. These findings suggest that early in life the representation of the human body may be shaped by sensory-motor experience.

In the beginning was the song: The complex multimodal timing of mother-infant musical interaction

In this commentary we raise three issues: (1) Is it motherese or song that sets the stage for very early mother-infant interaction? (2) Does the infant play a pivotal role in the complex temporal structure of social interaction? (3) Is the vocal channel primordial or do other modalities play an equally important role in social interaction?

Wellbeing and hospitalized children: Can music help?:

Live music in hospital has been suggested to be effective in helping paediatric patients to relax, and reduce their pain and anxiety. In this study we explored whether it is music per se or the adult attention linked to it that might be beneficial to the children. Thirty-seven paediatric patients with cardiac and/or respiratory problems between the ages of 7 days and 4 years were recruited at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London. Each child participated in three 10-minute sessions: 1) Music; 2) Reading; 3) No interaction. Their physiological responses, i.e., oxygen saturation level and heart rate, and pain assessment were taken before and after each session. A significant decrease in heart rate and pain level were found at the end of the music session. Oxygen saturation level increased significantly only in the younger paediatric patients group, mostly at the end of the no interaction session, and less so at the end of the music session. The music survey showed that parents and hospital staff rated the use of music in hospital positively. We conclude that it is music per se, and not the social component associated with it, that helps to improve paediatric patients’ wellbeing.

Seeing touches early in life

The sense of touch provides fundamental information about the surrounding world, and feedback about our own actions. Although touch is very important during the earliest stages of life, to date no study has investigated infants’ abilities to process visual stimuli implying touch. This study explores the developmental origins of the ability to visually recognize touching gestures involving others. Looking times and orienting responses were measured in a visual preference task, in which participants were simultaneously presented with two videos depicting a touching and a no-touching gesture involving human body parts (face, hand) and/or an object (spoon). In Experiment 1, 2-day-old newborns and 3-month-old infants viewed two videos: in one video a moving hand touched a static face, in the other the moving hand stopped before touching it. Results showed that only 3-month-olds, but not newborns, differentiated the touching from the no-touching gesture, displaying a preference for the former over the latter. To test whether newborns could manifest a preferential visual response when the touched body part is different from the face, in Experiment 2 newborns were presented with touching/no-touching gestures in which a hand or an inanimate object—i.e., a spoon- moved towards a static hand. Newborns were able to discriminate a hand-to-hand touching gesture, but they did not manifest any preference for the object-to-hand touch. The present findings speak in favour of an early ability to visually recognize touching gestures involving the interaction between human body parts.

Dynamic facial expressions of emotions are discriminated at birth

The ability to discriminate between different facial expressions is fundamental since the first stages of postnatal life. The aim of this study is to investigate whether 2-days-old newborns are capable to discriminate facial expressions of emotions as they naturally take place in everyday interactions, that is in motion. When two dynamic displays depicting a happy and a disgusted facial expression were simultaneously presented (i.e., visual preference paradigm), newborns did not manifest any visual preference (Experiment 1). Nonetheless, after being habituated to a happy or disgusted dynamic emotional expression (i.e., habituation paradigm), newborns successfully discriminated between the two (Experiment 2). These results indicate that at birth newborns are sensitive to dynamic faces expressing emotions.

Correction: Seeing Touches Early in Life.

There are errors in the author affiliations. The affiliations should appear as shown here: Margaret Addabbo1, Elena Longhi1,2, Nadia Bolognini1,3, Irene Senna1,4, Paolo Tagliabue5, Viola Macchi Cassia1, Chiara Turati1 1 Department of Psychology and NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milan-Bicocca, Piazza Ateneo Nuovo 1 (U6), 20126, Milano, Italy, 2 Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom, 3 Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milano, Italy, 4 Cognitive Neuroscience Department and Cognitive Interaction Technology-Center of Excellence, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany, 5 Neonatology and Intensive Care Unit, MBBM Foundation, San Gerardo Hospital, 20900, Monza, Italy.