What makes us musical animals
Friday, July 6, 2012 - 07:00
in Psychology & Sociology
Researchers argue that at least two, seemingly trivial musical skills can be considered fundamental to the evolution of music: relative pitch – the skill to recognize a melody independent of its pitch level – and beat induction – the skill to pick up regularity (the beat) from a varying rhythm. Both are considered cognitive mechanisms that are essential to perceive, make and appreciate music, and, as such, could be argued to be conditional to the origin of music.