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      The Evolutionary Biology of Musical Rhythm: Was Darwin Wrong?

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      Journal: PLoS Biology
      Publisher: Public Library of Science

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          Abstract

          Are other species able to process basic musical rhythm in the same way that humans do? Darwin supported this intuitive idea, but it is being challenged by new cross-species research.

          Abstract

          In The Descent of Man, Darwin speculated that our capacity for musical rhythm reflects basic aspects of brain function broadly shared among animals. Although this remains an appealing idea, it is being challenged by modern cross-species research. This research hints that our capacity to synchronize to a beat, i.e., to move in time with a perceived pulse in a manner that is predictive and flexible across a broad range of tempi, may be shared by only a few other species. Is this really the case? If so, it would have important implications for our understanding of the evolution of human musicality.

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          Most cited references34

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          Learned birdsong and the neurobiology of human language.

          Erich D. Jarvis (2004)
          Vocal learning, the substrate for human language, is a rare trait found to date in only three distantly related groups of mammals (humans, bats, and cetaceans) and three distantly related groups of birds (parrots, hummingbirds, and songbirds). Brain pathways for vocal learning have been studied in the three bird groups and in humans. Here I present a hypothesis on the relationships and evolution of brain pathways for vocal learning among birds and humans. The three vocal learning bird groups each appear to have seven similar but not identical cerebral vocal nuclei distributed into two vocal pathways, one posterior and one anterior. Humans also appear to have a posterior vocal pathway, which includes projections from the face motor cortex to brainstem vocal lower motor neurons, and an anterior vocal pathway, which includes a strip of premotor cortex, the anterior basal ganglia, and the anterior thalamus. These vocal pathways are not found in vocal non-learning birds or mammals, but are similar to brain pathways used for other types of learning. Thus, I argue that if vocal learning evolved independently among birds and humans, then it did so under strong genetic constraints of a pre-existing basic neural network of the vertebrate brain.
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            Experimental evidence for synchronization to a musical beat in a nonhuman animal.

            Simone I Schulz, John R. Iversen, R. Patel … (2009)
            The tendency to move in rhythmic synchrony with a musical beat (e.g., via head bobbing, foot tapping, or dance) is a human universal [1] yet is not commonly observed in other species [2]. Does this ability reflect a brain specialization for music cognition, or does it build on neural circuitry that ordinarily serves other functions? According to the "vocal learning and rhythmic synchronization" hypothesis [3], entrainment to a musical beat relies on the neural circuitry for complex vocal learning, an ability that requires a tight link between auditory and motor circuits in the brain [4, 5]. This hypothesis predicts that only vocal learning species (such as humans and some birds, cetaceans, and pinnipeds, but not nonhuman primates) are capable of synchronizing movements to a musical beat. Here we report experimental evidence for synchronization to a beat in a sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita eleonora). By manipulating the tempo of a musical excerpt across a wide range, we show that the animal spontaneously adjusts the tempo of its rhythmic movements to stay synchronized with the beat. These findings indicate that synchronization to a musical beat is not uniquely human and suggest that animal models can provide insights into the neurobiology and evolution of human music [6].
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              Motor cortical representation of speed and direction during reaching.

              D Moran, A Schwartz (1999)
              The motor cortical substrate associated with reaching was studied as monkeys moved their hands from a central position to one of eight targets spaced around a circle. Single-cell activity patterns were recorded in the proximal arm area of motor cortex during the task. In addition to the well-studied average directional selectivity ("preferred direction") of single-cell activity, we also found the time-varying speed of movement to be represented in the cortical activity. A single equation relating motor cortical discharge rate to these two parameters was developed. This equation, which has both independent (speed only) and interactive (speed and direction) components, described a large portion of the time-varying motor cortical activity during the task. Electromyographic activity from a number of upper arm muscles was recorded during this task. Muscle activity was also found to be directionally tuned; however, the distributions of preferred directions were found to be significantly different from cortical activity. In addition, the effect of speed on cortical and muscle activity was also found to be significantly different.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Robert Zatorre: Role: Academic Editor
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): PLoS Biol
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): PLoS Biol
                Journal ID (publisher-id): plos
                Journal ID (pmc): plosbiol
                Title: PLoS Biology
                Publisher: Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )
                ISSN (Print): 1544-9173
                ISSN (Electronic): 1545-7885
                Publication date Collection: March 2014
                Publication date (Electronic): 25 March 2014
                Volume: 12
                Issue: 3
                Electronic Location Identifier: e1001821
                Affiliations
                [1]Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, United States of America
                McGill University, Canada
                Author notes

                The author has declared that no competing interests exist.

                Article
                Publisher ID: PBIOLOGY-D-13-02588
                DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001821
                PMC ID: 3965380
                PubMed ID: 24667562
                SO-VID: a1b4d32c-2cd2-443b-ab09-532e5f0ba640
                Copyright statement: Copyright @ 2014
                License:

                Patel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                Page count
                Pages: 6
                Funding
                Salary from Tufts University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
                Categories
                Subject: Unsolved Mystery
                Subject: Biology and Life Sciences
                Subject: Evolutionary Biology
                Subject: Neuroscience

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Life sciences
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Life sciences

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