Plenty going on here.
I just finished writing an article about the current state of music-and-the-brain research for the New York-based magazine Listen. (My article should appear in the Winter issue.) This is a topic on which I’m hardly an expert – so to give my words some credibility I interviewed several scientists who are deeply involved in this kind of research.
One of these was Aniruddh Patel of the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego. Patel kindly agreed to talk with me about his research on how humans process music. However, we didn’t talk exclusively about humans: our conversation also touched on Snowball, the dancing cockatoo.
One of these was Aniruddh Patel of the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego. Patel kindly agreed to talk with me about his research on how humans process music. However, we didn’t talk exclusively about humans: our conversation also touched on Snowball, the dancing cockatoo.
You may have seen Snowball – he’s the bird who became a YouTube star a little while ago, with his distinctive shimmy-and-jive routine. Intrigued, Patel paid Snowball a visit, and conducted a series of experiments to determine if he was really “dancing”: i.e. if he was truly interacting with the music’s beat.
“We did a scientific study," Patel told me, "where we slowed down and sped up the beat, to different degrees, and videotaped him – and he adjusted his dancing to stay synchronized. So it was a really clear demonstration of the sensitivity of another species to music. And another study was published where they found this characteristic in a number of other birds, so he’s not some kind of freak.”
Patel went on to explain that most animals – even intelligent ones like chimpanzees – have no apparent grasp of rhythm. But “vocal learners” like cockatoos and parrots seem to be able to pick it up.
“They did a study at Harvard,” Patel added. “And they didn’t find a dog or a horse or anything else that could dance – except for a couple of Asian elephants, which are also vocal learners.”
“We did a scientific study," Patel told me, "where we slowed down and sped up the beat, to different degrees, and videotaped him – and he adjusted his dancing to stay synchronized. So it was a really clear demonstration of the sensitivity of another species to music. And another study was published where they found this characteristic in a number of other birds, so he’s not some kind of freak.”
Patel went on to explain that most animals – even intelligent ones like chimpanzees – have no apparent grasp of rhythm. But “vocal learners” like cockatoos and parrots seem to be able to pick it up.
“They did a study at Harvard,” Patel added. “And they didn’t find a dog or a horse or anything else that could dance – except for a couple of Asian elephants, which are also vocal learners.”
© Colin Eatock 2011
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