Avian and human movement to music: Two further parallels

It has recently been demonstrated that a nonhuman animal (the medium sulphur-crested cockatoo Cacatua galerita eleonora) can entrain its rhythmic movements to the beat of human music across a wide range of tempi. Entrainment occurrs in “synchronized bouts”, occasional stretches of synchrony embedded in longer sequences of rhythmic movement to music. Here we examine non-synchronized rhythmic movements made while dancing to music, and find strong evidence for a preferred tempo around 126 beats per minute [bpm]. The animal shows best synchronization to music when the musical tempo is near this preferred tempo. The tendency to dance to music at a preferred tempo, and to synchronize best when the music is near this tempo, parallels how young humans move to music. These findings support the idea that avian and human synchronization to music have similar neurobiological foundations.