Two investigators from the Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab, which studies the relationships between music and health, have received a grant from the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative to further their research on virtual interventions for preterm infants that harness music to promote development.
Amy Smith, PhD, a postdoctoral research scholar in the Music Cognition Lab, and Miriam Lense, PhD, associate professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the lab’s director, received the grant for their project titled “Building resilient beginnings through a virtual music program for preterm infants.”
The grant, funded by the Renée Fleming Foundation and administered through the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative and the Aspen Institute, supplies research teams with $25,000 to support an interdisciplinary research project whose results will contribute to the growing body of scientific evidence underpinning the field of neuroarts.
Neuroarts is defined by the awarding organizations as an interdisciplinary field that explores how the arts and aesthetic experiences change the brain, body and behavior and how this knowledge can be applied to advance individual and community health and well-being as well as other aspects of society.
Smith and Lense’s project aims to identify how music enhances parent responsiveness with preterm infants.
“Parent responsiveness, or the ways in which parents are attuned to their infants’ behavior and needs, predicts children’s language development,” said Lense. “Prior research from our lab and others in the field highlights that social musical experiences can serve as a platform to promote positive parent-child interactions.”
Enrolled families will be randomized to either a six-week virtual child development and play program or a six-week virtual music program, which includes curated music activities specifically designed by the Music Cognition Lab to support responsive parent-infant interactions.
The research will analyze participants’ emotional regulation as well as data collected during families’ daily routines via a wearable recording device, supporting analysis of vocal interactions between parents and children. Together, these methods will provide insights into multiple aspects of parent responsiveness in a real-world context.
“This study will lay the groundwork for scalable interventions that promote early developmental resilience in preterm infants,” said Smith. “We’re excited to expand our lab’s work in the field of music-based interventions to this population.
“There is a clear gap in preventive interventions for preterm infants after hospital discharge, and our work seeks to address this gap to improve development of those infants through the therapeutic power of music within their family setting.”
