Chimpanzees prefer African and Indian music over silence.

Abstract

All primates have an ability to distinguish between temporal and melodic features of music, but unlike humans, in previous studies, nonhuman primates have not demonstrated a preference for music. However, previous research has not tested the wide range of acoustic parameters present in many different types of world music. The purpose of the present study is to determine the spontaneous preference of common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) for 3 acoustically contrasting types of world music: West African akan, North Indian raga, and Japanese taiko. Sixteen chimpanzees housed in 2 groups were exposed to 40 min of music from a speaker placed 1.5 m outside the fence of their outdoor enclosure; the proximity of each subject to the acoustic stimulus was recorded every 2 min. When compared with controls, subjects spent significantly more time in areas where the acoustic stimulus was loudest in African and Indian music conditions. This preference for African and Indian music could indicate homologies in acoustic preferences between nonhuman and human primates.

Interaction of music and emotional stimuli in modulating working memory in macaque monkeys

“…Although music may prevent stress‐induced elevation in anxiety and related autonomic aspects such as blood pressure and heart rate in humans, background music had no effects on various measures of emotional state and arousal in African green monkeys (Hinds, Raimond, & Purcell, ). In another study examining the preference of chimpanzees to different types of background music (Japanese taiko, North Indian raga, and African Akan), they preferred to stay in areas where they could hear Indian and African music conditions (Mingle et al, ). Like humans, infant chimpanzees also show a preference for consonant music compared to dissonant music (Sugimoto et al, ).…”

Music preference in degus (Octodon degus): Analysis with Chilean folk music

“…They also preferred silence over Stravinsky. Chimpanzees preferred African and Indian music (Mingle et al, 2014), but did not show a preference for Japanese music. It is, however, premature to conclude that these data reveal their general preferences.…”

“…However, all of them showed a preference for silence over music or showed no clear preference. Mingle, Eppley, Campbell, Hall, and de Waal (2014) presented traditional African music to chimpanzees and observed that the animals moved closer to the sound source when African music was broadcast. These results suggest the possibility of preference for native folk music in the animals' habitat over Western (non-habitat) music in nonhuman animals.…”

Animals Make Music: A Look at Non-Human Musical Expression

“…Recent research in the field of cognitive biology has focused on the role of animals listening to human music as a concept of enrichment [10][11][12][13]. Since most of the music is selected by humans, this can lead to anthropomorphic biases.…”

“…Studies have shown that non-human species also have musical skills [14][15][16] and display entrainment to auditory stimuli [17,18]. Animal species such as grey parrots, cockatoos, elephants, primates, pigeons, and carps have been found to be able to discriminate between different composers or different genres, prefer music to silence, or move in rhythmic synchronicity to the musical beat [10,14,[17][18][19].…”