Unfamiliar songs, quieter hearts: What a new study suggests about preschoolers’ physiological responses in music sessions

A preliminary study tracking preschoolers’ heart rate during weekly music classes has found a curious pattern: heart rates tended to be lower when the music was unfamiliar than during familiar songs or transition moments. The work is small and not yet in final published form, but it raises practical questions for early childhood programs about novelty, predictability and group regulation during musical experiences.

The provisionally accepted Frontiers in Psychology article, The effect of music familiarity on preschoolers’ heart rate during musical engagement: Preliminary report, explored whether music familiarity is linked to changes in children’s heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) in real-world early childhood music classes. 

The study followed seven children aged 3–5 across 30 minute classes held once per week for 8 consecutive weeks. Children wore heart rate monitors while participating in the sessions. 

The authors positioned the work in existing evidence showing that young children’s heart rate can decrease and HRV can become suppressed in response to new stimuli, including unfamiliar sounds. 

What the study found

Two findings stand out:

1. Heart rates appeared to synchronise across the group. The study reported a “notable synchronisation” of heart rate across children and in response to musical content, suggesting shared physiological shifts during collective musical engagement. 
2. Unfamiliar music was linked with lower heart rates in one analysis, but not in another. An analysis of variance indicated that heart rates during unfamiliar music were significantly lower than during transitions or familiar music. However, a random effects linear panel model did not identify a statistically significant difference between mean heart rates across familiarity and transition conditions. 

That mixed statistical picture matters. It suggests the signal may be real but hard to capture with a small sample and relatively complex, time-linked data.

Heart rate is often used as one window into physiological arousal and attention. In some contexts, a lower heart rate can align with an “orienting” response, the body becoming quiet and attentive when something new happens. In other contexts, heart rate changes can reflect effort, excitement, movement, or stress.

HRV is commonly discussed as an indicator linked to regulation capacity, but it is sensitive to many influences, including breathing patterns, movement, and measurement quality in naturalistic settings.

For early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, the value is not in turning sessions into biometric monitoring, but in using research like this to sharpen observation and intentional planning around group experiences.

Music experiences sit naturally within Quality Area 1 of the National Quality Standard, which focuses on engaging, stimulating programs that enhance children’s learning and development. The Early Years Learning Framework also supports intentional teaching, responsiveness, and attention to children’s wellbeing in day-to-day curriculum decisions. 

If unfamiliar music truly lowers heart rate in some conditions, it may indicate focused attention rather than disengagement. That has practical implications for how novelty is introduced and how transitions are structured within sessions.

Services may consider the following curriculum and environment levers:

• Use familiar songs strategically for predictability. Familiar music can anchor routines and provide emotional safety, particularly at arrival, pack-up, or group gathering points.
• Introduce unfamiliar music with strong scaffolds. Predictable structures (repeated refrains, call-and-response, visual cues, or movement patterns) can help children engage with novelty without becoming dysregulated.
• Treat transitions as high-load moments. The study’s higher heart rates during transition periods aligns with many educators’ observations that switching activities can increase arousal and reduce group cohesion. Planning smoother transitions (clear cues, consistent sequencing, fewer “dead spaces”) may reduce stress for children and educators alike.
• Lean into co-regulation and group synchrony. The reported heart rate synchronisation invites reflection on how shared musical experiences can support belonging and collective regulation, especially when the adult’s pacing, tone, and presence remain steady.

These considerations align with regulatory expectations around respectful, developmentally appropriate interactions. Regulation 155 of the Education and Care Services National Regulations sets requirements for how education and care is provided, including interactions that consider each child’s needs and context. 

This is a preliminary report with a very small sample. It also takes place in one type of naturalistic music class setting, which may not reflect the diversity of ECEC programs, group sizes, staffing patterns, or children’s needs.

The paper itself flags methodological development needs, including more sophisticated modelling to account for serial correlation and “moving trends” in heart rate data, as well as improved technology for continuous tracking in natural settings and a larger sample. 

Follow-up studies with larger cohorts and stronger analytic approaches could help clarify:

• whether unfamiliar music reliably triggers a lower heart rate “orienting” response in group music sessions
• whether that pattern differs for children with sensory sensitivities, anxiety, or neurodivergent profiles
• how educator-led transition strategies change physiological responses and behavioural indicators of engagement
• whether synchrony in heart rate maps onto observed social connection, participation, and sustained attention

For now, the most useful takeaway for ECEC leaders is not a prescriptive “familiar is better” rule, but a prompt to plan musical experiences with intentional pacing, predictable transitions, and thoughtful doses of novelty.

Source: Dansereau DR, Leahy K and Carbaugh J, The effect of music familiarity on preschoolers’ heart rate during musical engagement: Preliminary report, Frontiers in Psychology.