Editorial: The Evolution of Rhythm Cognition: Timing in Music and Speech

Ravignani, Andrea; Honing, Henkjan; Kotz, Sonja A.

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2017.00303

Cited by 34 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…In addition, rhythmic sequences converged towards all rhythmic universal features which characterize music around the world 9,10 . This experiment, enriched by similar findings in nonmusical domains [11][12][13][14][15][16] , suggests a link among cognition, biology, and culture in human music 17,18 . In particular, features present in almost all musical traditions around the world emerge through basic bio-cognitive biases amplified by the process of cultural transmission.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Evolving building blocks of rhythm: How human cognition creates music via cultural transmission

Ravignani

Thompson

Grossi³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Short Title (<50 characters): How cognition creates rhythm via cultural evolutionAbstract (<200 words): Musical rhythm, in all its cross-cultural diversity, exhibits several commonalities across world cultures. Traditionally, music research has been split in two fields. Some scientists focused on musicality, namely the human biocognitive predispositions for music, with an emphasis on cross-cultural similarities. Other scholars investigated music, seen as cultural product, focusing on the large variation in world musical cultures. Recent experiments found deep connections between music and musicality, reconciling these opposing views. Here we address the question of how individual cognitive biases affect the process of cultural evolution of music. Data from two experiments is analyzed using two different, complementary techniques. In the experiments, participants hear drumming patterns and imitate them. These patterns are then given to the same or another participant to imitate. The structure of these -initially random -patterns is tracked down to later experimental 'generations'. Frequentist statistics show how participants' biases are amplified by cultural transmission, making drumming patterns more structured. Structure is achieved faster than in transmission within, rather than between, participants. A Bayesian model approximates the motif structures participants learned and created. Overall, our data and model show that individual biases for musicality play a central role in shaping cultural transmission of musical rhythm. Main text (no more than 3500 words, 2-4 figures and/or tables): Do not incorporate tables, illustrations, figure legends, or footnotes within the main stream of text. Word count: 3159

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Evolving building blocks of rhythm: How human cognition creates music via cultural transmission

Ravignani

Thompson

Grossi³

et al. 2017

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, rhythmic sequences converged toward all rhythmic universal features that characterize music around the world . This experiment, which aligns with similar findings in nonmusical domains, suggests a link among cognition, biology, and culture in human music . It shows that features present in almost all musical traditions around the world emerge through basic biocognitive biases and are thereby amplified by the process of cultural transmission.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…6,19 This experiment, which aligns with similar findings in nonmusical domains, [20][21][22][23][24][25] suggests a link among cognition, biology, and culture in human music. 26,27 It shows that features present in almost all musical traditions around the world emerge through basic biocognitive biases and are thereby amplified by the process of cultural transmission. This experiment also raised a number of additional questions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolving building blocks of rhythm: how human cognition creates music via cultural transmission

Ravignani

Thompson

Grossi

et al. 2018

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Why does musical rhythm have the structure it does? Musical rhythm, in all its cross-cultural diversity, exhibits commonalities across world cultures. Traditionally, music research has been split into two fields. Some scientists focused on musicality, namely the human biocognitive predispositions for music, with an emphasis on cross-cultural similarities. Other scholars investigated music, seen as a cultural product, focusing on the variation in world musical cultures. Recent experiments found deep connections between music and musicality, reconciling these opposing views. Here, we address the question of how individual cognitive biases affect the process of cultural evolution of music. Data from two experiments are analyzed using two complementary techniques. In the experiments, participants hear drumming patterns and imitate them. These patterns are then given to the same or another participant to imitate. The structure of these initially random patterns is tracked along experimental "generations." Frequentist statistics show how participants' biases are amplified by cultural transmission, making drumming patterns more structured. Structure is achieved faster in transmission within rather than between participants. A Bayesian model approximates the motif structures participants learned and created. Our data and models suggest that individual biases for musicality may shape the cultural transmission of musical rhythm.

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“…Beat‐based rhythms have distinct psychological properties . For example, they engender an ongoing mental process of temporally precise and periodic predictions .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musical rhythm and reading development: does beat processing matter?

Ozernov‐Palchik

Patel

2018

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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There is mounting evidence for links between musical rhythm processing and reading-related cognitive skills, such as phonological awareness. This may be because music and speech are rhythmic: both involve processing complex sound sequences with systematic patterns of timing, accent, and grouping. Yet, there is a salient difference between musical and speech rhythm: musical rhythm is often beat-based (based on an underlying grid of equal time intervals), while speech rhythm is not. Thus, the role of beat-based processing in the reading-rhythm relationship is not clear. Is there is a distinct relation between beat-based processing mechanisms and reading-related language skills, or is the rhythm-reading link entirely due to shared mechanisms for processing nonbeat-based aspects of temporal structure? We discuss recent evidence for a distinct link between beat-based processing and early reading abilities in young children, and suggest experimental designs that would allow one to further methodically investigate this relationship. We propose that beat-based processing taps into a listener's ability to use rich contextual regularities to form predictions, a skill important for reading development.

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Editorial: The Evolution of Rhythm Cognition: Timing in Music and Speech

Cited by 34 publications

References 95 publications

Evolving building blocks of rhythm: How human cognition creates music via cultural transmission

Evolving building blocks of rhythm: How human cognition creates music via cultural transmission

Evolving building blocks of rhythm: how human cognition creates music via cultural transmission

Musical rhythm and reading development: does beat processing matter?

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