Some recent studies are bringing forth new information about rhythmic entrainment. A few of them are from a few years back, but due to different search terms in my current research, I just stumbled upon them this week!
Not only you can dance….
According to a new study, humans aren’t the only ones who synchronize movements to an external auditory cue. Hattori et al. (2013) found that Chimpanzees also possess this skill. This was found by teaching they Chimp to tap a button on a keyboard, then turning on a paced auditory cue, to which the Chimp began moving.
Another study showed that the California Sea Lion synchronized head bobbing to a stimulus and music. The researchers (Cook et al., 2013) point out that this animal does not have vocal mimicry, unlike all others that have been shown to entrain. These studies suggest that auditory motor synchronization is more engrained in beings than previously realized. Is this music therapy – well, no – but I do find this interesting.
Back to humans…
Kokal et al. (2011) measured brain responses with synchronous and out-of synch “drumming” with a client and experimenter. They found that the caudate in the brain was active during synchronous key presses, indicating reward responses. They also measured the amount of “prosocial commitment” after drumming. For this, the experimenter “accidentally” dropped pencils and measured how many the participants picked up. Individuals in the synchronous drumming condition were found to be more helpful (by picking up more pencils) than those in the condition where the researcher was not playing in synch. This is interesting since there is indication that synchronized activity activates reward centers and may promote prosocial behavior. This is an open-access article, so you can read the entire study!
A few other studies that I encourage you to look at:
Sowiński, J., Dalla Bella, S. (2013). Poor synchronization to the beat may result from deficient auditory-motor mapping. Neuropsychologia. 2013 Aug;51(10):1952-63. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.06.027. PMID: 23838002
Grau-Sánchez J, Amengual JL, Rojo N, Veciana de Las Heras M, Montero J, Rubio F, Altenmüller E, Münte TF, Rodríguez-Fornells A. (2013). Plasticity in the sensorimotor cortex induced by Music-supported therapy in stroke patients: a TMS study. Front Hum Neurosci. 2013 Sep 3;7:494. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00494. PMID: 24027507
References:
Cook P, Rouse A, Wilson M, Reichmuth C. (2013). A California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) Can Keep the Beat: Motor Entrainment to Rhythmic Auditory Stimuli in a Non Vocal Mimic. J Comp Psychol.Apr 1. [Epub ahead of print]
Hattori Y, Tomonaga M, Matsuzawa T. (2013). Spontaneous synchronized tapping to an auditory rhythm in a chimpanzee. Sci Rep., 3:1566. doi: 10.1038/srep01566. PMID: 23535698
Kokal, I., Engel, A., Kirschner, S., Keysers, C. (2011). Synchronized drumming enhances activity in the caudate and facilitates prosocial commitment–if the rhythm comes easily. PLoS One., 6(11), 27272. PMID: 22110623
Announcing our Speech and Language CMTE!! On sale until 10/10/13. When you buy a CMTE from us, the funds are used to support music therapy research. More info here.