Categorical Rhythms Are Shared between Songbirds and Humans

Roeske, Tina C.; Tchernichovski, Ofer; Poeppel, David; Jacoby, Nori

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.072

Cited by 57 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Moreover, acoustic similarities between birdsong and human speech give rise to surfacelevel perceptual features of birdsong that may be particularly salient to human infants. Songbirds produce complex songs that are harmonically rich and incorporate phonological syntax and prosodic properties (e.g., rhythm, pitch excursions, changes in duration, intonation-like patterns) that resemble aspects of human speech [21,28,29]. Converging evidence for these perceptual similarities comes from very young infants' perceptual preferences.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Birdsong fails to support object categorization in human infants

2021

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Recent evidence reveals a precocious link between language and cognition in human infants: listening to their native language supports infants’ core cognitive processes, including object categorization, and does so in a way that other acoustic signals (e.g., time-reversed speech; sine-wave tone sequences) do not. Moreover, language is not the only signal that confers this cognitive advantage: listening to vocalizations of non-human primates also supports object categorization in 3- and 4-month-olds. Here, we move beyond primate vocalizations to clarify the breadth of acoustic signals that promote infant cognition. We ask whether listening to birdsong, another naturally produced animal vocalization, also supports object categorization in 3- and 4-month-old infants. We report that listening to zebra finch song failed to confer a cognitive advantage. This outcome brings us closer to identifying a boundary condition on the range of non-linguistic acoustic signals that initially support infant cognition.

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Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Birdsong fails to support object categorization in human infants

2021

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“…In further experiments, the authors determined that “intermediate” notes tended to be classified as “short” if they fell at the beginning of a syllable and “long” if they fell at the end. Roeske et al's ( 2020 ) discovery of small ratio, categorical rhythms in Thrush Nightingale songs suggests a similar perceptual grounding—scrambling note order redistributes the onset-to-onset interval times in a given song, possibly shifting them toward ratios less typical (and therefore possibly less preferred) for the species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather, they are merely available for aesthetic evaluation by receivers, and subject to subsequent sexual or social selection. However, the sharing of components of musicality by some complex bird songs and human music implies that these avian acoustic signals are extremely non-random in another way—their aesthetic impact upon the receiver (Rothenberg et al, 2014 ; Roeske et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Empirical data already document that there are significant variations among species in bird song's musical acoustic structure. Some species appear to explore harmonic content, whereas others explore rhythmic variation (e.g., Doolittle et al, 2014 ; Rothenberg et al, 2014 ; Roeske et al, 2020 ). Although our study was not designed to investigate differential musical temporal structure among species, our data do yield some useful comparative observations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Patel et al ( 2009 ; see also Keehn et al, 2019 ) reported behavioral evidence of musical beat perception and synchronization in a Sulfur-crested Cockatoo ( Cacatua galerita eleonora ), the first description of such behavior in a non-human animal. In another rhythmicity study, Roeske et al ( 2020 ) showed that Thrush Nightingale ( Luscinia luscinia ) rhythms, similar to many human ones, are categorical and centered around small ratios. Earp and Maney ( 2012 ) found when female White-throated Sparrows ( Zonotrichia albicollis ) in a reproductive state listened to song from male conspecifics, immediate early gene activity increased in every region of the mesolimbic reward pathway that shows differential response to music in its putative human homolog.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Higher-Order Musical Temporal Structure in Bird Song

et al. 2021

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Bird songs often display musical acoustic features such as tonal pitch selection, rhythmicity, and melodic contouring. We investigated higher-order musical temporal structure in bird song using an experimental method called “music scrambling” with human subjects. Recorded songs from a phylogenetically diverse group of 20 avian taxa were split into constituent elements (“notes” or “syllables”) and recombined in original and random order. Human subjects were asked to evaluate which version sounded more “musical” on a per-species basis. Species identity and stimulus treatment were concealed from subjects, and stimulus presentation order was randomized within and between taxa. Two recordings of human music were included as a control for attentiveness. Participants varied in their assessments of individual species musicality, but overall they were significantly more likely to rate bird songs with original temporal sequence as more musical than those with randomized temporal sequence. We discuss alternative hypotheses for the origins of avian musicality, including honest signaling, perceptual bias, and arbitrary aesthetic coevolution.

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Manual preference, performance, and dexterity for bimanual grass‐feeding behavior in wild geladas (Theropithecus gelada)

Truppa,

Gamba,

Togliatto

et al. 2024

American J Primatol

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We assessed whether wild geladas, highly specialized terrestrial grass eaters, are lateralized for bimanual grass‐plucking behavior. According to the literature, we expected that complex motor movements in grass feeding would favor the emergence of a population‐level hand bias in these primates. In addition, we described geladas' manual behavior based on systematic observations of several individuals. Our study group included 28 individuals belonging to a population of free‐ranging geladas frequenting the Kundi plateau, Ethiopia. We filmed monkeys while feeding on grass, and hand preference and performance were coded. Geladas performed more plucking movements per second with their left hand (LH) compared to the right one and preferred their LH both to start and finish collection bouts. Also, the rhythmic movements of each hand had a significant tendency toward isochrony. Finally, geladas used forceful pad‐to‐pad precision grips, in‐hand movements, and compound grips to pluck and collect grass blades, considered the most advanced manual skills in primate species. The LH's leading role suggests an advantage of the right hemisphere in regulating geladas' bimanual grass‐feeding behavior. The tactile input from the hands and/or rhythmic hand movements might contribute to explaining this pattern of laterality. Our findings highlighted the importance of adopting multiple laterality measures to investigate manual laterality. Moreover, the need to speed up the execution time of manual foraging might be a further important factor in studying the evolution of manual laterality and dexterity in primates.

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Categorical Rhythms Are Shared between Songbirds and Humans

Cited by 57 publications

References 54 publications

Birdsong fails to support object categorization in human infants

Birdsong fails to support object categorization in human infants

Higher-Order Musical Temporal Structure in Bird Song

Manual preference, performance, and dexterity for bimanual grass‐feeding behavior in wild geladas (Theropithecus gelada)

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