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Musical evolution in the lab exhibits rhythmic universals

Author

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  • Andrea Ravignani

    (Centre for Language Evolution, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh
    Artificial Intelligence Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

  • Tania Delgado

    (Centre for Language Evolution, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh
    University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive)

  • Simon Kirby

    (Centre for Language Evolution, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh)

Abstract

Music exhibits some cross-cultural similarities, despite its variety across the world. Evidence from a broad range of human cultures suggests the existence of musical universals1, here defined as strong regularities emerging across cultures above chance. In particular, humans demonstrate a general proclivity for rhythm2, although little is known about why music is particularly rhythmic and why the same structural regularities are present in rhythms around the world. We empirically investigate the mechanisms underlying musical universals for rhythm, showing how music can evolve culturally from randomness. Human participants were asked to imitate sets of randomly generated drumming sequences and their imitation attempts became the training set for the next participants in independent transmission chains. By perceiving and imitating drumming sequences from each other, participants turned initially random sequences into rhythmically structured patterns. Drumming patterns developed into rhythms that are more structured, easier to learn, distinctive for each experimental cultural tradition and characterized by all six statistical universals found among world music1; the patterns appear to be adapted to human learning, memory and cognition. We conclude that musical rhythm partially arises from the influence of human cognitive and biological biases on the process of cultural evolution3.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Ravignani & Tania Delgado & Simon Kirby, 2017. "Musical evolution in the lab exhibits rhythmic universals," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 1-7, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:1:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41562-016-0007
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-016-0007
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    Cited by:

    1. Mason Youngblood, 2019. "Cultural transmission modes of music sampling traditions remain stable despite delocalization in the digital age," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-12, February.
    2. Nori Jacoby & Rainer Polak & Jessica A. Grahn & Daniel J. Cameron & Kyung Myun Lee & Ricardo Godoy & Eduardo A. Undurraga & Tomás Huanca & Timon Thalwitzer & Noumouké Doumbia & Daniel Goldberg & Eliza, 2024. "Commonality and variation in mental representations of music revealed by a cross-cultural comparison of rhythm priors in 15 countries," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(5), pages 846-877, May.
    3. Maria Niarchou & Daniel E. Gustavson & J. Fah Sathirapongsasuti & Manuel Anglada-Tort & Else Eising & Eamonn Bell & Evonne McArthur & Peter Straub & J. Devin McAuley & John A. Capra & Fredrik Ullén & , 2022. "Genome-wide association study of musical beat synchronization demonstrates high polygenicity," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(9), pages 1292-1309, September.

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