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Avian and Human Movement to Music: Two Further Parallels Communicative & Integrative Biology ISSN: (Print) 1942-0889 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/kcib20 Avian and human movement to music: Two further parallels Aniruddh D. Patel, John R. Iversen, Micah R. Bregman & Irena Schulz To cite this article: Aniruddh D. Patel, John R. Iversen, Micah R. Bregman & Irena Schulz (2009) Avian and human movement to music: Two further parallels, Communicative & Integrative Biology, 2:6, 485-488, DOI: 10.4161/cib.2.6.9373 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cib.2.6.9373 Copyright © 2009 Landes Bioscience Published online: 01 Nov 2009. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 42 View related articles Citing articles: 2 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=kcib20 Download by: [Tufts University] Date: 01 July 2016, At: 11:17 ARTICLE ADDENDUM ARTICLE ADDENDUM Communicative & Integrative Biology 2:6, 485-488; November/December 2009; © 2009 Landes Bioscience Avian and human movement to music Two further parallels Aniruddh D. Patel,1,* John R. Iversen,1 Micah R. Bregman1,2 and Irena Schulz3 1The Neurosciences Institute; 2University of California San Diego; San Digeo, CA USA 3Bird Lovers Only Rescue Service, Inc.; Dyer, IN USA t has recently been demonstrated that Ia nonhuman animal (the medium sul- phur-crested cockatoo Cacatua galerita eleonora) can entrain its rhythmic move- ments to the beat of human music across a wide range of tempi. Entrainment occurrs in “synchronized bouts”, occa- sional stretches of synchrony embed- ded in longer sequences of rhythmic movement to music. Here we examine non-synchronized rhythmic movements made while dancing to music, and find strong evidence for a preferred tempo around 126 beats per minute (bpm). The animal shows best synchroniza- tion to music when the musical tempo is near this preferred tempo. The tendency to dance to music at a preferred tempo, and to synchronize best when the music is near this tempo, parallels how young humans move to music. These findings support the idea that avian and human synchronization to music have similar Downloaded by [Tufts University] at 11:17 01 July 2016 neurobiological foundations. Key words: rhythm, music, All over the world, people move rhythmi- synchronization, entrainment, beat, cally in response to music with a regular tempo, birds, evolution, comparative beat. One notable feature of this response cognition is the tendency to synchronize movements Snowball, a cockatoo that dances to music. Submitted: 06/26/09 to the timing of perceived beats.1 This abil- Accepted: 06/29/09 ity involves the conjunction of two under- lying abilities: musical beat perception human, reflecting an evolutionary adapta- Previously published online: (the ability to infer a regular pulse from a tion for music cognition.4 However, recent www.landesbioscience.com/journals/cib/ complex rhythmic/melodic pattern), and empirical research has documented BPS article/9373 rhythmic motor production synchronized abilities in a number of vocal-learning spe- *Correspondence to: to the inferred beat. Musical beat percep- cies,5,6 supporting the hypothesis that BPS Aniruddh D. Patel; Email: [email protected] tion and synchronization (BPS) is a com- is a consequence of the brain circuitry for plex form of biological entrainment that complex vocal learning.7 Addendum to: Patel AD, Iversen JR, Bregman MR, Schulz I. Experimental evidence for differs in several ways from other examples At least one species, the medium synchronization to a musical beat in a nonhu- of synchrony in nature, such as the chorus- sulphur-crested cockatoo Cacatua gal- man animal. Curr Biol 2009; 19:827–30; PMID: ing of certain frogs or insects.2,3 Some the- erita eleonora, can entrain its rhythmic 19409790; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.03.038. orists have speculated that BPS is uniquely movements to the beat of human music www.landesbioscience.com Communicative & Integrative Biology 485 tended to dance at a tempo of about 155 bpm. Older children (3–4 years) tended to dance a bit more slowly, around 145 bpm, and showed a slight (but statistically nonsignificant) tendency to adjust move- ment tempo according to musical tempo. Hence when young children dance rhyth- mically to music, they tend to move at a preferred tempo which is not very sensi- tive to the musical tempo. Does Snowball, like young children, also have a preferred tempo when he is moving rhythmically to music but not synchronized to the beat? Evidence for Preferred Tempo To address this question, we examined all head bobs in our study which were not part of synchronized bouts. Figure 1A shows Snowball’s mean inter-bob-interval (mean Snowball ibi) for all non-entrained head bobs in each of the 22 trials with bouts. Mean Snowball ibi is plotted as a function of the musical inter-beat-interval (music Figure 1. The rate of Snowball’s inter-bob-intervals (SB ibi) for head bobs not entrained to the ibi, i.e., the temporal interval between musical beat. (A) Mean SB ibi of non-entrained head bobs in the 22 trials with bouts, as a function of musical inter-beat-intervals (Musical ibi). The best fitting regression line is shown (thick solid, musical beats as computed from the musi- Y = 0.286 + 0.366 * X; if outlier point is excluded, Y = 0.262 + 0.427 * X), as well as the identity line cal tempo: see Figure 1 caption for the (thin dashed). (B) Histogram of all non-entrained SB ibi’s in trials with bouts (n = 1,529; mean value equation relating tempo and music ibi). As shown by red line). (C) SB ibi as a function of Music ibi in the 16 trials without bouts. The best fitting evident from the figure, there is a tendency regression line is shown (thick solid, Y = 0.384 + 0.149 * X; if outlier point is excluded, Y = 0.387 + for these non-entrained head bobs to slow 0.153 * X), as well as the identity line (thin dashed). (D) Histogram of SB ibi in trials without bouts (n = 1,693; mean value shown by red line). In the scatterplots, tempo and musical inter-beat-interval down as the music slows down in tempo are related by the following equation: Musical tempo [bpm] = 60/Musical ibi (s). In the histograms, (i.e., as music ibi increases). However, bin width is 33 ms (equal to 1 video frame at 30 frames per second), and values >=1 s have been the regression relating Snowball ibi to excluded, as these indicate pauses in dancing. Music ibi is only marginally significant (p = 0.08, r2 = 0.14). If the outlying data across a wide range of tempi.5 This tem- experiment, bouts occurred in a subset of point with Snowball ibi <0.4 s is excluded, poral flexibility provides an important trials (58%), and in these trials, accounted the regression becomes significant Downloaded by [Tufts University] at 11:17 01 July 2016 parallel to human BPS, and raises the for about 25% of the head bobs on aver- (p < 0.01), but still explains only a modest question of whether other parallels exist age. In fact, across all head bobs measured amount of variance (r2 = 0.35, see Figure 1 between avian and human movement to in the study (n = 3,999), only 14% were caption for regression equations). In other music. One might expect further paral- part of bouts. words, the rate of non-entrained head bobs lels if similar brain mechanisms subserve The current paper focuses on the is only moderately sensitive to musical movement to music in birds and humans. remaining 86% of head bobs, and asks if tempo. Figure 1B suggests this could be Here we provide evidence for two further these show any systematic timing patterns. due to a tendency for the timing of these parallels, based on data gathered during In particular, do they show any evidence of head bobs to be dominated by a preferred our experimental study of a Cacatua gal- a preferred tempo, a rate of rhythmic move- tempo. This figure presents a histogram of erita eleonora named “Snowball”.5 In that ment toward which Snowball naturally all non-entrained Snowball ibi durations study, Snowball entrained his head bobs to gravitates while dancing? This question is across the 22 trials with bouts. The dis- the beat of music at nine different tempi motivated by research on young children.8 tribution has a single clear peak, near the spanning 98–130 beats per minute [bpm]. Specifically, a study of 2–4 year old chil- mean value of 0.480 s, corresponding to a Entrainment occurred in “synchronized dren dancing rhythmically to music found tempo of 125 bpm. bouts” (henceforth, “bouts”), episodes of strong evidence for a preferred movement Figure 1C and D extend these analyses synchrony embedded in longer stretches tempo. In that study, the tempo of a musi- to the 16 trials without bouts. Figure 1C of rhythmic movement to music. Notably, cal excerpt was varied across four rates, shows mean Snowball ibi values as a func- bouts accounted for a minority of head spanning 113 to 169 bpm. Despite this tion of Music ibi values during these trials. bobs made to music. Across the entire variation, younger children (2–3 years) Once again, the regression line relating 486 Communicative & Integrative Biology Volume 2 Issue 6 Snowball ibi to Music ibi is not significant (p = 0.20, r2 = 0.11). If the outlying data point with Snowball ibi <0.4 s is excluded, the regression becomes significant (p < 0.04), but explains only a modest amount of variance (r2 = 0.29, see Figure 1 caption for regression equations).
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