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Bianco R, Zuk NJ, Bigand F, Quarta E, Grasso S, Arnese F, Ravignani A, Battaglia-Mayer A, Novembre G. Neural encoding of musical expectations in a non-human primate. Curr Biol 2024; 34:444-450.e5. [PMID: 38176416 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Revised: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
The appreciation of music is a universal trait of humankind.1,2,3 Evidence supporting this notion includes the ubiquity of music across cultures4,5,6,7 and the natural predisposition toward music that humans display early in development.8,9,10 Are we musical animals because of species-specific predispositions? This question cannot be answered by relying on cross-cultural or developmental studies alone, as these cannot rule out enculturation.11 Instead, it calls for cross-species experiments testing whether homologous neural mechanisms underlying music perception are present in non-human primates. We present music to two rhesus monkeys, reared without musical exposure, while recording electroencephalography (EEG) and pupillometry. Monkeys exhibit higher engagement and neural encoding of expectations based on the previously seeded musical context when passively listening to real music as opposed to shuffled controls. We then compare human and monkey neural responses to the same stimuli and find a species-dependent contribution of two fundamental musical features-pitch and timing12-in generating expectations: while timing- and pitch-based expectations13 are similarly weighted in humans, monkeys rely on timing rather than pitch. Together, these results shed light on the phylogeny of music perception. They highlight monkeys' capacity for processing temporal structures beyond plain acoustic processing, and they identify a species-dependent contribution of time- and pitch-related features to the neural encoding of musical expectations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberta Bianco
- Neuroscience of Perception & Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161 Rome, Italy.
| | - Nathaniel J Zuk
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, 50 Shakespeare Street, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, UK
| | - Félix Bigand
- Neuroscience of Perception & Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Eros Quarta
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Grasso
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Flavia Arnese
- Neuroscience of Perception & Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Andrea Ravignani
- Comparative Bioacoustics Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, Universitetsbyen 3, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Alexandra Battaglia-Mayer
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Giacomo Novembre
- Neuroscience of Perception & Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161 Rome, Italy.
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De Gregorio C, Valente D, Raimondi T, Torti V, Miaretsoa L, Friard O, Giacoma C, Ravignani A, Gamba M. Categorical rhythms in a singing primate. Curr Biol 2021; 31:R1379-R1380. [PMID: 34699799 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.09.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
What are the origins of musical rhythm? One approach to the biology and evolution of music consists in finding common musical traits across species. These similarities allow biomusicologists to infer when and how musical traits appeared in our species1. A parallel approach to the biology and evolution of music focuses on finding statistical universals in human music2. These include rhythmic features that appear above chance across musical cultures. One such universal is the production of categorical rhythms3, defined as those where temporal intervals between note onsets are distributed categorically rather than uniformly2,4,5. Prominent rhythm categories include those with intervals related by small integer ratios, such as 1:1 (isochrony) and 1:2, which translates as some notes being twice as long as their adjacent ones. In humans, universals are often defined in relation to the beat, a top-down cognitive process of inferring a temporal regularity from a complex musical scene1. Without assuming the presence of the beat in other animals, one can still investigate its downstream products, namely rhythmic categories with small integer ratios detected in recorded signals. Here we combine the comparative and statistical universals approaches, testing the hypothesis that rhythmic categories and small integer ratios should appear in species showing coordinated group singing3. We find that a lemur species displays, in its coordinated songs, the isochronous and 1:2 rhythm categories seen in human music, showing that such categories are not, among mammals, unique to humans3.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; Equipe de Neuro-Ethologie Sensorielle (ENES), Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon (CRNL), CNRS, INSERM, University of Lyon/Saint-Étienne, Saint-Étienne, France
| | - Teresa Raimondi
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Longondraza Miaretsoa
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; Groupe d'Etude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Olivier Friard
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Andrea Ravignani
- Comparative Bioacoustics Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
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Burchardt LS, Picciulin M, Parmentier E, Bolgan M. A primer on rhythm quantification for fish sounds: a Mediterranean case study. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:210494. [PMID: 34567587 PMCID: PMC8456132 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
We have used a lately established workflow to quantify rhythms of three fish sound types recorded in different areas of the Mediterranean Sea. So far, the temporal structure of fish sound sequences has only been described qualitatively. Here, we propose a standardized approach to quantify them, opening the path for assessment and comparison of an often underestimated but potentially critical aspect of fish sounds. Our approach is based on the analysis of inter-onset-intervals (IOIs), the intervals between the start of one sound element and the next. We calculate exact beats of a sequence using Fourier analysis and IOI analysis. Furthermore, we report on important parameters describing the variability in timing within a given sound sequence. Datasets were chosen to depict different possible rhythmic properties: Sciaena umbra sounds have a simple isochronous-metronome-like-rhythm. The /Kwa/ sound type emitted by Scorpaena spp. has a more complex rhythm, still presenting an underlying isochronous pattern. Calls of Ophidion rochei males present no rhythm, but a random temporal succession of sounds. This approach holds great potential for shedding light on important aspects of fish bioacoustics. Applications span from the characterization of specific behaviours to the potential discrimination of yet not distinguishable species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara S Burchardt
- Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Animal Behaviour, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustr. 6, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Eric Parmentier
- Laboratory of Functional and Evolutionary Morphology (Freshwater and Oceanic sCience Unit of reSearch), Institut de Chimie B6c, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Marta Bolgan
- Laboratory of Functional and Evolutionary Morphology (Freshwater and Oceanic sCience Unit of reSearch), Institut de Chimie B6c, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
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