Why don't apes
have musical talent, while humans, parrots, small birds, elephants, whales, and
bats do? Matz Larsson, senior physician at the Lung Clinic at Örebro University
Hospital, attempts to answer this question in the scientific publicationAnimal Cognition.
result of the fact that synchronised group movement quite simply makes it
possible to perceive sounds from the surroundings better.
A behaviour that has survival value tends to produce dopamine, the "reward molecule." In dangerous terrain, this could result in the stimulation of rhythmic movements and enhanced listening to surrounding sounds in nature. If that kind of synchronized behaviour was rewarding in dangerous environments it may as well have been rewarding for the brain in relative safety, resulting in activities such as hand- clapping, foot-stamping and yelping around the campfire. From there it is just a short step to dance and rhythm. The hormone dopamine flows when we listen to music
In his article, he asserts
that the ability to mimic and imitate things like music and speech is the
The hypothesis is that the
evolution of vocal learning, that is musical traits, is influenced by the need
of a species to deal with the disturbing sounds that are created in connection
with locomotion. These sounds can affect our hearing only when we move.
"When several people
with legs of roughly the same length move together, we tend to unconsciously
move in rhythm. When our footsteps occur simultaneously, a brief interval of
silence occurs. In the middle of each stride we can hear our surroundings
better. It becomes easier to hear a pursuer, and perhaps easier to conduct a
conversation as well," explains Larsson.
A behaviour that has survival value tends to produce dopamine, the "reward molecule." In dangerous terrain, this could result in the stimulation of rhythmic movements and enhanced listening to surrounding sounds in nature. If that kind of synchronized behaviour was rewarding in dangerous environments it may as well have been rewarding for the brain in relative safety, resulting in activities such as hand- clapping, foot-stamping and yelping around the campfire. From there it is just a short step to dance and rhythm. The hormone dopamine flows when we listen to music
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