Study: Universality of Lullabies

Description:

WHY? Help us learn about how we use music to interact with others

WHAT? You will be asked to sing or hum into your microphone a lullaby, a love song and one other song you might listen to, to help you to fall asleep. We will then ask you a few (optional) questions about yourself.

HOW LONG? About 5

Participation in this study is entirely voluntary and you are free to withdraw at any given moment without further consequences. All data collected and all results will only be analyzed at the group level for publications in scientific journals. The study has been reviewed for compliance with ethical research standards and approved by the Bundeswehr University. Only investigators directly involved with the study will have access to the collected data, which will be treated as strictly confidential and handled in accordance with the GDPR. To our knowledge, there are no risks involved in participating in this task. If you are interested in hearing more about our research or have questions or concerns, please contact us on: merle.fairhurst@unibw.de

Please read the following and tick the box below to continue:

I have read the above information about the study,

I have been given contact details to raise any further questions regarding the study,

I understand that I can terminate and withdraw my participation in this study at any time without the need to provide a reason for doing so,

I consent to investigators' use of gathered data in anonymised form for research purposes only,

I understand that if I wish to withdraw this consent at a later stage, I can request the removal of my data from research datasets by contacting the investigators on merle.fairhurst@unibw.de

Take me to the survey.

Task 1

Sing or hum a lullaby into your microphone in the same manner that you would do to soothe a child. Please try to sing for approximately 30 seconds.

REFRESH TASK: Listen to the following clip and choose the option that best fits.

Task 2

Please now sing a love song or another song that you like that is not a lullaby but which has a similar feel to it. (30 seconds)

REFRESH TASK: Listen to the following clip and choose the option that best fits.

 

 

Task 3
And lastly, please sing another song that is not a lullaby but which is a song that you would listen to - to fall asleep. (30 seconds)

Thank you for taking part in the practical part.

Please help us to better understand the data by answering a few quick questions about yourself before finishing the study.

Thank you for taking part in our study!

Debrief: 

In this study, we want to investigate the universality of lullabies and, importantly, we want to see if the way we sing to our children to soothe and relax them overlaps with how we do so through touch and gentle stroking. Our key question is whether the speed of gentle stroking aligns with the tempo of lullabies regardless of language and culture?

Why all humans across time and across cultures make and listen to music has troubled scientists since Darwin’s theory of evolution in the 19th century. Evolutionary theories suggest that music acts as a social glue and helps us select our mates. Here we focus on one type of music, lullabies, to dig deeper into the idea that music facilitates social cohesion. Specifically, one interesting line of thinking would suggest that lullabies are sung for the purpose of assuring the baby that the caregiver is present - something which can also be achieved through human touch. We stroke one another to comfort, soothe but most importantly to reassure that person that we are there for them. These relaxing, stress-reducing benefits are also products of gentle touch which depend on the activation of a special set of nerves in the skin by a specific speed of stroking. Similarly, we might sing to our babies at a similar or the same tempo to have similar effects. Through song one might improve the child’s wellbeing, reducing fear and distress, even when the caregiver is not able to be physically skin-to-skin with the baby (think about the modern parent multitasking). Modern research of the universal soothing effect of lullabies, regardless of language, suggest an innate preference for some temporal features of lullabies and potentially a biological mechanism that overlaps with stroking speed. 

By collecting lullabies from across the globe we want to test whether the tempo of lullabies aligns cross-culturally with the optimal stroking speed used to comfort and soothe. With your help, we could provide the first evidence of a strong biological connection and function of lullabies that underpins their cultural universality.

If you are interested in hearing more about our research or have questions or concerns, please contact us on:

merle.fairhurst@unibw.de

Positly Completion Link:

https://app.positly.com/#/f?task_id=p6263ac94