Throughout history and across cultures, caregivers sing to their infants in the course of child-rearing. Research shows that infant-directed singing is finely tuned to infants’ emotions, helping to regulate their mood and arousal, while also physically calming them. These short-term effects benefit not only infants but also caregivers, improving their mood, reducing stress, and strengthening bonds with their infants. While these immediate benefits are well-established, the long-term impact of parental singing on health outcomes remains less clear.
​
To explore the cumulative, longer-term effects of infant-directed singing, we conducted a 10-week pilot study with 110 infant-caregiver pairs, using a singing intervention designed to increase the frequency of singing in their daily lives. We measured various health outcomes through smartphone-based ecological momentary assessments (EMA) and found significant improvements in infant mood after the intervention. This study also demonstrated the feasibility of using EMA with infants for longer-term research (with 92% retention and a 74% response rate) and the potential of longer-term and more intensive music enrichment interventions for families with young infants.
​
With recent support from a NICHD R21 grant, we are expanding this research to examine the long-term effects of infant-directed singing through an 8-month EMA study. In addition to exploring the broader health impacts on both infants and caregivers, we aim to identify specific elements of infant-directed singing that contribute to these benefits. To do so, we are comparing singing with two active control interventions: music listening and book reading.
​
Low-cost, simple interventions like infant-directed singing, which involve small adjustments to caregiving practices, hold promise because they are easy for families to adopt and come at no additional cost. We believe such interventions could help address disparities in early childhood access to nurturing environments. More updates on this ongoing project will be shared soon.
​
​
Cho, E., Yurdum, L., Ebinne, E., Hilton, C. B., Lai, E., Bertolo, M., Brown, P., Mills, B., Sened, H., Tamir, D. I., & Mehr, S. A.,. (2024). Ecological momentary assessment reveals causal effects of music enrichment on infant mood. PsyArXiv.
​​
​
Part of the pilot findings has been presented at the following conference:
​
-
Yurdum, L., Cho, E., Ebinnem E... Mehr, S. (August 2022). 'Effects of parental singing on infant and parent health: An ecological momentary assessment study'. The 17th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition. Tokyo, Japan.
This study examines the short-term effects of music listening on psychological and behavioral outcomes in young children (aged 0 to 5) using a modified version of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). Extensive research has demonstrated the broad impact of music listening on the human body, mind, and mood. Building on the rich evidence of the power of music listening, this study explores how children’s moods and behaviors change when parents strategically shape the home sonic environment. This project is a collaborative effort with Dr. Beatriz Ilari (University of Southern California) and Dr. Peter Miksza (Indiana University). The pilot study, completed in 2020, was published in Frontiers in Psychology. A follow-up study, conducted in partnership with Music Together®, involved 1,911 families in the U.S. and Canada, and we are currently preparing the manuscript.
​​​​
​
Cho, E., & Ilari, B. (2021). Mothers as home DJs: Recorded music and young children's well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 637569.
​​​
​
Part of the study findings from the follow-up study have been presented at the following conferences:
​
-
Cho, E., Pujol-Rovira, L., & Ilari, B. (June 2022). 'Effects of music listening on young children's psychological well-being'. The 16th International Research Symposium on Talent Education (virtual).
​
-
Cho, E., Pujol-Rovira, L., & Ilari, B. (July 2022). 'Parents as Home DJs: Strategic use of music and young children's psychological well-being'. The 35th International Society for Music Education Conference (virtual).
​
-
Cho, E., Pujol-Rovira, L., & Ilari, B. (August 2022). 'Parents as Home DJs: Effects of music listening on young children's psychological well-being'. Society for Music Perception and Cognition 2022 Conference. Portland, OR.​
​
-
Cho, E., Pujol-Rovira, L., & Ilari, B. (November 2022). 'Parents as Home DJs: Strategic use of music and young children's psychological well-being'. The 2022 National Association for Music Education National Conference. National Harbor, MD.
RECENT RESEARCH
PAST RESEARCH
Hearing music from one’s past often transports individuals back in time, triggering an array of memories of events, people, places, and time periods, often accompanied by powerful emotions. This phenomenon, known as music-evoked nostalgia, is a universal and deeply ingrained human experience. To explore music-evoked nostalgia in relation to (1) prosocial behavior, (b) emotional responses, and (3) autobiographical memories, this cross-cultural experimental project was conducted with 140 undergraduate students in the U.S and 99 students in Mexico. This is a collaboration between EARS at UC Riverside and Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras (CMMAS) in Morelia, Mexico, supported by a UC MEXUS-Conact grant (PI: Dr. Paulo C. Chagas).
Participants took part in a one-on-one music experiment in which they listened to five pieces of nostalgic music of their choice and completed questionnaires on their affective and nostalgic experiences. Additionally, they were interviewed to share their personal memories associated with the songs. Data analysis was carried out in collaboration with the EARS Research Group at UC Riverside, and the first paper from this project was published in Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain.
​Cho, E., Duarte-García, M. A., Sigal-Sefchovich, J. R., & Chagas, P. C. (2023). Music-evoked nostalgia and charitable giving: An cross-cultural study in the U.S. and Mexico. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain, 33(1-4), 57-69.
​​
​
Part of the study findings were presented at the following international conferences/symposiums/events:
​​​​
-
Chagas, P. C., Cho, E., Graham, O. J., Barreto, E., Morales, G. G., & Hwang, Y. J. (October 2021). 'Music-evoked nostalgia: Affect, behavior, and memory'. Florence Bayz Music Series – Wednesday@Noon, UCR Department of Music.
​​
-
Cho, E. (September 2021). 'Music-evoked nostalgia: What is it and what does it do to us?' The 17th Visiones Sonoras, Morales, Mexico (virtual).
​​
-
Cho, E., Chagas, P. C., Morales, G. G. (September 2021). 'Music-evoked autobiographical memories of a young adult cohort: What can they tell music educators?' The 13th Asia-Pacific Symposium for Music Education and Research, Tokyo, Japan (virtual). ​​​
​
-
Barreto, E., Cho, E., & Chagas, P. C. (September 2021). 'Nostalgia evocada por música: respostas emocionais de ouvintes a repertório musical auto selecionado'. International Conference of CIPEM/INET-md. Porto, Portugal (virtual).
​
-
Hwang, Y. J. & Morales, G. G. (September 2021). 'The meaning of music in young adults' autobiographical memories'. Conference of CIPEM/INET-md. Porto, Portugal (virtual).
​
-
Cho, E., Duarte-García, M. A., Sigal-Sefchovich, J. R., & Chagas, P. C. (July 2021). 'Music-evoked nostalgia and prosocial behavior: A cross-sectional study in the United States and Mexico'. The 16th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, Sheffield, UK (virtual)
​
-
Cho, E., Chagas, P. C., & Graham, O. J. (July 2021). 'Music-evoked autobiographical memories and nostalgia: A study of a young adult cohort'. The 16th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, Sheffield, UK (virtual)
​
-
Cho, E. & Chagas, P. C. (September 2020). 'Music-evoked nostalgia and prosocial behavior'. Affect, Personality, and Embodied Brain 2020 Conference, Mottingham, UK (virtual)
Adolescence is often viewed through a deficit lens, characterized as a "troublesome" period marked by increased experimentation and engagement in risky behaviors. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its profound effects on education, socialization, and mental health, has further fueled this deficit-based thinking, particularly through narratives of learning loss that place blame on individuals—children and adolescents alike. Adolescents, however, are known to engage with music more than any other age group, and participation in music during adolescence has been linked to social and emotional development. Despite this, the full potential of music learning programs to promote positive youth development, improve attitudes toward school, strengthen beliefs in the future, and enhance adolescent well-being remains underexplored.
In collaboration with the Fender Play Foundation and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), this project examines the relationship between participation in an innovative, hybrid music enrichment program focusing on popular music and adolescent social development. A total of 186 middle school students completed an anonymous online survey featuring five self-report measures, including the very-brief form of the Positive Youth Development (PYD) scale, a scale of school connectedness (SC), and a scale of hopeful future expectations (HFE). The findings revealed significant associations between extracurricular music participation and PYD, SC, and HFE. This study was published in Frontiers in Psychology.
​
​
Ilari, B. & Cho, E. (2023). Musical participation and positive youth development in middle school. Frontier in Psychology, 13, 1056542.