Evolution Can't Explain Dancing Babies | The Institute for Creation Research

Evolution Can't Explain Dancing Babies

Humans don’t need to learn the ability to move to a rhythm, according to a new study. They are born with it. Two researchers from Finland and the United Kingdom wanted to find out how soon in life people begin to dance to rhythms. They were surprised to find that babies as young as five months old match body motion to music.

Psychologists Marcel Zentner and Tuomas Eerola published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.1 The babies’ bodies did not move in perfect synchrony with the rhythms they heard, a lack of fine motor control which the authors suggested is due to the infants’ still-developing nervous systems. But the link between hearing a beat and responsively moving the body is evidently well-established early in a child’s development. Science NOW posted a research video online that shows a baby dancing to Mozart.2

The psychologists further stated that dancing is “a human universal typically involving whole-body movements. Dancing rests on humans’ unique ability to tightly couple auditory-motor circuits.”1 But where did dancing come from?

Evolutionists had suggested that dancing evolved from social pressures, as if an external factor could somehow generate a novel internal response to it. But in the study infants began dancing spontaneously, unbidden by other people, and these researchers found it “all the more surprising that the current [dancing] behaviors occurred in the absence of any kind of social cues.”1 The behavior must therefore be an innate part of being human.

Science NOW admitted that “it remains a mystery how humans evolved our musical wiring, [though] it’s now clear that we enjoy it and always did.”2 In the context of creation, however, it makes sense that humans’ musical aptitudes were purposely placed in them to praise their Creator in a unique way.3

References

  1. Zentner, M., and Eerola, T. Rhythmic engagement with music in infancy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Published online before print March 15, 2010.
  2. Telis, G. Video: Babies Are Born to Dance. Science NOW. Posted on news.sciencemag.org March 15, 2010, accessed March 16, 2010.
  3. Psalm 149:2-4.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research

Article posted on March 24, 2010.

The Latest
CREATION PODCAST
Homo Naledi: The Lies Behind Evolution's Rising Star | The Creation...
Homo naledi, once evolution's 'rising star,' was considered to be a prime example of human evolution. But is it really proof? Or...

NEWS
A Subsurface Ocean on Mimas?
Scientists have analyzed data obtained from the Cassini spacecraft and concluded that irregularities in the orbit of Saturn’s moon Mimas indicate...

NEWS
In Theaters March 20 & 21: The Ark and the Darkness
Is Genesis true? What about Noah’s Flood? How did Noah fit the animals on the ark? Wasn’t it a local flood? Have you asked these questions? Though...

NEWS
Enigmatic Fossil Plants
The pre-Flood world thousands of years ago was unlike the world of today.1 Unfamiliar animals and plants were common, and there were a lot...

NEWS
Surprisingly Colorful Fossil Snail Shells
Finding organic compounds such as flexible dinosaur collagen and complete bone cells1,2 is becoming common, much to the shock and consternation...

NEWS
March 2024 ICR Wallpaper
"He is not here; for He is risen, as He said." (Matthew 28:6 NKJV) ICR March 2024 wallpaper is now available for mobile, tablet,...

CREATION PODCAST
Homo Erectus: The Shocking Truth About the "Ape Man"...
Homo erectus, or "Upright Man," has been upheld as a piece of mankind's "evolutionary history" since its discovery in 1891....

NEWS
Mystery of Moths' Warning Sound
Insects of all types continue to amaze entomologists with their design and physiology. Cleveland Hickman, Jr., et al. stated, “insect ears are...

NEWS
Geneticist Fired for Affirming Humans Once Lived 900 Years?
Geneticist Alexander Kudryavtsev, the head of the Russian Academy of Science’s Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, has been fired, reportedly...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Solar Eclipses
Designed by Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover fun facts...