9 research outputs found
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Human music perception ability is not a sexually dimorphic trait
Since Darwin (1871), researchers have proposed that
musicality evolved in a reproductive context in which males
produce music to signal their mate quality. The extent to
which evidence supports this contention, however, remains
unclear. Related traits in many non-human animals are
sexually differentiated, and while some sex differences in
human auditory perception have been documented, the pattern
of results is murky. Here, we study melodic discrimination,
mistuning perception, and beat alignment perception in
360,009 men and 194,291 women from 208 countries. We
find that, in contrast to other non-music human traits, and in
contrast to non-human traits, there was no overall advantage
for either sex, and the observed sex differences were
minuscule (Cohen’s d: 0.009 - 0.11) and of inconsistent
direction. These results do not provide compelling support for
human music perception being a sexually dimorphic trait, and
therefore it is unlikely to have been shaped by sexual
selection
Recording quality does not influence relaxation responses to lullabies; sampling criteria do, as they should (Reply to "Sampling criteria and recording quality influence relaxation responses to lullabies")
This is a short reply to "Sampling criteria and recording quality influence relaxation responses to lullabies"
Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures
When interacting with infants, humans often alter their speech and song in ways thought to support communication. Theories of human child-rearing, informed by data on vocal signalling across species, predict that such alterations should appear globally. Here, we show acoustic differences between infant-directed and adult-directed vocalizations across cultures. We collected 1,615 recordings of infant- and adult-directed speech and song produced by 410 people in 21 urban, rural and small-scale societies. Infant-directedness was reliably classified from acoustic features only, with acoustic profiles of infant-directedness differing across language and music but in consistent fashions. We then studied listener sensitivity to these acoustic features. We played the recordings to 51,065 people from 187 countries, recruited via an English-language website, who guessed whether each vocalization was infant-directed. Their intuitions were more accurate than chance, predictable in part by common sets of acoustic features and robust to the effects of linguistic relatedness between vocalizer and listener. These findings inform hypotheses of the psychological functions and evolution of human communication
Infants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies
Music is characterized by acoustical forms that are predictive of its behavioral functions. For example, adult listeners accurately identify unfamiliar lullabies as infant-directed on the basis of their musical features alone. This property could reflect a function of listeners’ experiences, the basic design of the human mind, or both. Here, we show that American infants (N = 144) relax in response to 8 unfamiliar foreign lullabies, relative to matched non-lullaby songs from other foreign societies, as indexed by heart rate, pupillometry, and electrodermal activity. They do so consistently throughout the first year of life, suggesting the response is not a function of their musical experiences, which are limited relative to those of adults. The infants’ parents overwhelmingly chose lullabies as the songs that they themselves would use to calm their fussy infant, despite their unfamiliarity. Together, these findings suggest that infants are predisposed to respond to universal features of lullabies
Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures
National audienceWhen interacting with infants, humans often alter their speech and song in ways thought to support communication. Theories of human child-rearing, informed by data on vocal signalling across species, predict that such alterations should appear globally. Here, we show acoustic differences between infant-directed and adult-directed vocalizations across cultures. We collected 1,615 recordings of infant- and adult-directed speech and song produced by 410 people in 21 urban, rural and small-scale societies. Infant-directedness was reliably classified from acoustic features only, with acoustic profiles of infant-directedness differing across language and music but in consistent fashions. We then studied listener sensitivity to these acoustic features. We played the recordings to 51,065 people from 187 countries, recruited via an English-language website, who guessed whether each vocalization was infant-directed. Their intuitions were more accurate than chance, predictable in part by common sets of acoustic features and robust to the effects of linguistic relatedness between vocalizer and listener. These findings inform hypotheses of the psychological functions and evolution of human communication
Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures
When interacting with infants, humans often alter their speech and song in ways thought to support communication. Theories of human child-rearing, informed by data on vocal signalling across species, predict that such alterations should appear globally. Here, we show acoustic differences between infant-directed and adult-directed vocalizations across cultures. We collected 1,615 recordings of infant- and adult-directed speech and song produced by 410 people in 21 urban, rural and small-scale societies. Infant-directedness was reliably classified from acoustic features only, with acoustic profiles of infant-directedness differing across language and music but in consistent fashions. We then studied listener sensitivity to these acoustic features. We played the recordings to 51,065 people from 187 countries, recruited via an English-language website, who guessed whether each vocalization was infant-directed. Their intuitions were more accurate than chance, predictable in part by common sets of acoustic features and robust to the effects of linguistic relatedness between vocalizer and listener. These findings inform hypotheses of the psychological functions and evolution of human communication
Recommended from our members
Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures.
When interacting with infants, humans often alter their speech and song in ways thought to support communication. Theories of human child-rearing, informed by data on vocal signalling across species, predict that such alterations should appear globally. Here, we show acoustic differences between infant-directed and adult-directed vocalizations across cultures. We collected 1,615 recordings of infant- and adult-directed speech and song produced by 410 people in 21 urban, rural and small-scale societies. Infant-directedness was reliably classified from acoustic features only, with acoustic profiles of infant-directedness differing across language and music but in consistent fashions. We then studied listener sensitivity to these acoustic features. We played the recordings to 51,065 people from 187 countries, recruited via an English-language website, who guessed whether each vocalization was infant-directed. Their intuitions were more accurate than chance, predictable in part by common sets of acoustic features and robust to the effects of linguistic relatedness between vocalizer and listener. These findings inform hypotheses of the psychological functions and evolution of human communication