image: A male chimpanzee making a rhythmic display at the enclosure in the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Yuko Hattori.
A study explores how sound induces rhythmic movement in chimpanzees. Music influences rhythmic movement in humans, suggesting a link between the brain's auditory and motor areas. Understanding chimpanzees' predisposition to music could shed light on the evolutionary origins of humans' response to music. Yuko Hattori and Masaki Tomonaga examined how music affects rhythmic movement, or repetitive movement of the entire body or body parts, in 7 chimpanzees that listened to 6 2-minute piano sounds with different tempos for 6 days. In response to an auditory stimulus, the chimpanzees often swayed and sometimes executed rhythmic hand-clapping and foot-tapping movements. Compared with female chimpanzees, male chimpanzees were more likely to respond to sound with vocalization and sway rhythmically for longer durations. A separate experiment focused on the chimpanzee most responsive to the auditory stimuli. The chimpanzee was exposed to 4 2-minute sound sessions for 24 days. Both random and regular beats induced rhythmic swaying in the chimpanzee, and beat tempo affected the chimpanzee in a bipedal posture but not a quadrupedal posture. The chimpanzee also stayed longer in a sound source area when there was an auditory stimulus compared with when the area had no sound, suggesting that the chimpanzee sought auditory stimulation. The findings suggest a foundation for dancing in a common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans, according to the authors.
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Article #19-10318: "Rhythmic swaying induced by sound in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)," by Yuko Hattori and Masaki Tomonaga.
MEDIA CONTACT: Yuko Hattori, Kyoto University, JAPAN; tel: 81-90-1719-2398; email: yuko.hattori@gmail.com
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences