Spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learner
Rhythm and vocal production learning are building blocks of human music and speech. Vocal learning has been hypothesized as a prerequisite for rhythmic capacities. Yet, no mammalian vocal learner but humans have shown the capacity to flexibly and spontaneously discriminate rhythmic patterns. Here we...
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The Royal Society
2022
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2022.0316 2024-06-23T07:53:31+00:00 Spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learner Verga, Laura Sroka, Marlene G. U. Varola, Mila Villanueva, Stella Ravignani, Andrea 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0316 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0316 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0316 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 18, issue 10 ISSN 1744-957X journal-article 2022 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0316 2024-06-04T06:22:58Z Rhythm and vocal production learning are building blocks of human music and speech. Vocal learning has been hypothesized as a prerequisite for rhythmic capacities. Yet, no mammalian vocal learner but humans have shown the capacity to flexibly and spontaneously discriminate rhythmic patterns. Here we tested untrained rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learning species, the harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ). Twenty wild-born seals were exposed to music-like playbacks of conspecific call sequences varying in basic rhythmic properties. These properties were called length, sequence regularity, and overall tempo. All three features significantly influenced seals' reaction (number of looks and their duration), demonstrating spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a vocal learning mammal. This finding supports the rhythm–vocal learning hypothesis and showcases pinnipeds as promising models for comparative research on rhythmic phylogenies. Article in Journal/Newspaper harbour seal Phoca vitulina The Royal Society Biology Letters 18 10 |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
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English |
description |
Rhythm and vocal production learning are building blocks of human music and speech. Vocal learning has been hypothesized as a prerequisite for rhythmic capacities. Yet, no mammalian vocal learner but humans have shown the capacity to flexibly and spontaneously discriminate rhythmic patterns. Here we tested untrained rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learning species, the harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ). Twenty wild-born seals were exposed to music-like playbacks of conspecific call sequences varying in basic rhythmic properties. These properties were called length, sequence regularity, and overall tempo. All three features significantly influenced seals' reaction (number of looks and their duration), demonstrating spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a vocal learning mammal. This finding supports the rhythm–vocal learning hypothesis and showcases pinnipeds as promising models for comparative research on rhythmic phylogenies. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Verga, Laura Sroka, Marlene G. U. Varola, Mila Villanueva, Stella Ravignani, Andrea |
spellingShingle |
Verga, Laura Sroka, Marlene G. U. Varola, Mila Villanueva, Stella Ravignani, Andrea Spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learner |
author_facet |
Verga, Laura Sroka, Marlene G. U. Varola, Mila Villanueva, Stella Ravignani, Andrea |
author_sort |
Verga, Laura |
title |
Spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learner |
title_short |
Spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learner |
title_full |
Spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learner |
title_fullStr |
Spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learner |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learner |
title_sort |
spontaneous rhythm discrimination in a mammalian vocal learner |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0316 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0316 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0316 |
genre |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 18, issue 10 ISSN 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0316 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
10 |
_version_ |
1802645228859949056 |