ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2019
Music in premature infants enhances high-level cognitive brain networks.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
62 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 149 citations in OpenAlex.
- Musical and vocal interventions to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes for preterm infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Effect of Musical Stimulation on Placental Programming and Neurodevelopment Outcome of Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Sensory-based interventions in the NICU: systematic review of effects on preterm brain development.Pediatric research · 2022Pooled it
- General movement based therapy to support neurodevelopment of preterm infants: a randomized clinical trial.Pediatric research · 2026Trial
- Impact of daily music on comfort scores in preterm infants: a randomized controlled trial.Pediatric research · 2025Trial
- Music Therapy in Infancy and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Preterm Children: A Secondary Analysis of the LongSTEP Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Creative music therapy to promote brain function and brain structure in preterm infants: A randomized controlled pilot study.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2020Trial
- Recorded music exposure and brain growth in preterm infants: a randomized controlled trial.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Effects of aging on the mechanisms of dynamic integration between the default mode network and other brain networks: evidence based on fMRI data with natural stimulation.Brain imaging and behavior · 2026Article
- Review
- Evolution of the auditory environment of very preterm infants before term-equivalent age in relation to room type and parental presence.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Face perception and impact of face masks at 6 months post-term age in preterm and term infants (The BabyFace Study).Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Regional BOLD variability reflects microstructural maturation and neuronal ensheathment in the preterm infant cortex.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The origins of embodiment: behavioral and cardiovascular responses to music in very preterm newborns.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Human newborns form musical predictions based on rhythmic but not melodic structure.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Rhythm Processing Across Development: Origins, Links to Language Processing, and Perspectives for Intervention.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Review
- Role of maternal sound stimulation in the NICU: improving outcomes for newborns and their families.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Review
- Music-based research in neonatal intensive care units requires guidelines grounded in developmental neurology and responsive to the individual needs of preterm infants.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The auditory environment drives superior temporal sulcus depth in the neonatal period.Brain structure & function · 2025Article
- Assessment of resting state structural-functional relationships in perisylvian region during the early weeks after birth.Brain structure & function · 2025Article
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Neonatal intensive care units are willing to apply environmental enrichment via music for preterm newborns. However, no evidence of an effect of music on preterm brain development has been reported to date. Using resting-state fMRI, we characterized a circuitry of interest consisting of three network modules interconnected by the salience network that displays reduced network coupling in preterm compared with full-term newborns. Interestingly, preterm infants exposed to music in the neonatal intensive care units have significantly increased coupling between brain networks previously shown to be decreased in premature infants: the salience network with the superior frontal, auditory, and sensorimotor networks, and the salience network with the thalamus and precuneus networks. Therefore, music exposure leads to functional brain architectures that are more similar to those of full-term newborns, providing evidence for a beneficial effect of music on the preterm brain.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.