Move precisely to the rhythm of the music believed to be an innate ability unique to humans, however a new study notes that also the rats move their heads following the rhythm.
A study by Japanese researchers published in Science Advances demonstrates, for the first time, the innate rhythm synchronization in animals.
The rats show a perception and synchronization with music similar to that of humans when the musical rhythm reaches 120-140 beats per minute (BPM), which is the one that is frequently used in musical composition.
The results suggest that rhythmic synchronization may be inherent in neuronal dynamics that are conserved across species, rather than being specific to any one species, a discovery that offers not only a greater understanding of the animal mind, but also of origins of our own music and dance.
Animals also react to noise, they can make rhythmic sounds or be trained to respond to music, but it’s not the same as the complex neural and motor processes that work together to allow us to naturally recognize, respond to, or even predict the beat of a song. This is what is known as rhythm synchronization.
Recent studies have shown that some animals seem to share our drive to move to music, and new research from the University of Tokyo shows that rats are one of them.
“The rats showed a innate timing – without any training or previous exposure to music – of the rhythms, most clearly within 120-140 bpm, to which humans also show the clearest synchronization”, explained one of the signatories Hirokazu Takahashi.
The research, involving twenty people and ten rats, suggests that the optimal tempo for beat synchronization depends on the time constant in the brain, showing, he added, that ehe animal brain may be useful in elucidating the perceptual mechanisms of music.
In the experiment, the rodents wore miniature wireless accelerometers, which could measure the slightest movements of the head. Human participants also had them on their headphones.
They all listened to one minute excerpts from Mozart’s Sonata for two pianos in D major, K. 448, at four different tempos: 75%, 100%, 200% and 400% of the original speed.
Mozart
The original tempo is 132 BPM and the results showed that the timing of the rats’ beats was clearest within the range of 120-140 BPM.
Both rats and humans shook their heads to a similar rhythm.and the level decreased the faster the music was sped up.
“To our knowledge,” Takahashi said, “this is the first report of innate rhythm synchronization in animals that was not achieved through musical training or exposure.”
As well as being a fascinating insight into the minds of animals and the development of our own rhythmic synchronization, the researchers also see it as an insight into the creation of music itself.
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Takahashi noted that he would now like to investigate how other musical properties, such as melody and harmony, relate to brain dynamics, and how, why, and what mechanisms in the brain create human cultural fields such as fine arts, music, science, technology and religion.
The researcher considered that this question is the key to understanding how the brain works and developing next-generation artificial intelligence.