The evolution of rhythmic cognition: New perspectives and technologies in comparative research

Music is a pervasive phenomenon in human culture, and musical rhythm is virtually present in all musical traditions. Research on the evolution and cognitive underpinnings of rhythm can benefit from a number of approaches. We outline key concepts and definitions, allowing fine-grained analysis of rhythmic cognition in experimental studies. We advocate comparative animal research as a useful approach to answer questions about human music cognition and review experimental evidence from different species. Finally, we suggest future directions for research on the cognitive basis of rhythm. Apart from research in semi-natural setups, possibly allowed by “drum set for chimpanzees” prototypes presented here for the first time, mathematical modeling and systematic use of circular statistics may allow promising advances

Primate drum kit: A system for studying acoustic pattern production by non-human primates using acceleration and strain sensors

The possibility of achieving experimentally controlled, non-vocal acoustic production in non-human primates is a key step to enable the testing of a number of hypotheses on primate behavior and cognition. However, no device or solution is currently available, with the use of sensors in non-human animals being almost exclusively devoted to applications in food industry and animal surveillance. Specifically, no device exists which simultaneously allows: (i) spontaneous production of sound or music by non-human animals via object manipulation, (ii) systematical recording of data sensed from these movements, (iii) the possibility to alter the acoustic feedback properties of the object using remote control. We present two prototypes we developed for application with chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) which, while fulfilling the aforementioned requirements, allow to arbitrarily associate sounds to physical object movements. The prototypes differ in sensing technology, costs, intended use and construction requirements. One prototype uses four piezoelectric elements embedded between layers of Plexiglas and foam. Strain data is sent to a computer running Python through an Arduino board. A second prototype consists in a modified Wii Remote contained in a gum toy. Acceleration data is sent via Bluetooth to a computer running Max/MSP. We successfully pilot tested the first device with a group of chimpanzees. We foresee using these devices for a range of cognitive experiments. © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Goal, source, and route preverbs in Latin: Their interaction with spatial datives

Prefixed verbs in Latin may take an argument in the dative case, interpreted as the ground of the spatial relation codified by the preverb. This phenomenon is constrained by the semantics of that spatial relation: while preverbs encoding a location, a goal, or a source of motion generally accept the dative argument, preverbs encoding a route do not. I propose a syntactic analysis of this phenomenon, framed within the Spanning framework. I assume Acedo-Matellán’s (2017) analysis of the spatial dative as an applied argument interpreted as a possessor of the final location of motion. Developing a configurational theory of spatial relations, on the basis of Pantcheva’s (2011) seminal proposal, I show how only the syntax-semantics of the preverbs interpreted as encoding a location, be this final (a goal), initial (a source), or unrelated to motion (a static location), is compatible with the projection of an Appl(icative)P integrating the dative argument. By the same token, pure route preverbs, involving a path but not a location, are correctly predicted to disallow the projection of ApplP, and hence the spatial dative

Revisiting -ej(ar) verbs in Catalan: argument and event structure

We explore the properties of the Catalan verbalizing suffix -ej(ar), centering on intransitive verbs. After presenting the rich variety of outputs that this suffix allows, we focus on two generalizations. The first one has to do with the consistent eventive nature of verbs derived with this suffix, even from bases that count as individual-level predicates, like colour adjectives, or proper names. Importantly, their eventivity is orthogonal to their dynamic/non-dynamic status. The second one is the robust unergative status of intransitive -ej(ar) vebs. We show that previous work on -ej(ar) has failed to capture these two properties. Adopting a Ramchandian, nanosyntactic perspective, we propose that this suffix is the spellout of the subeventive structure of a caused process, i.e., the heads Init and Proc. The (non-)dynamic interpretation of the verbs is claimed to emerge from interactions among the contents of the roots involved in the predicate, at the conceptual, non-grammatical level. We finally extend the proposed analysis to account for the behaviour of transitive -ej(ar) verbs

Roots into functional nodes: Exploring locality and semi-lexicality

We explore certain predictions of the theory first presented in Acedo-Matellán and Real-Puigdollers (2014), whereby roots correspond to (lately inserted) Vocabulary Items that phonologically and semantically interpret functional nodes. First, we deal with categorizers (a, n, v), a prominent locus for the insertion of roots. Roots such as cat or up are Vocabulary Items that have no context of insertion and are insertable into any categorizer, accounting for the categorial variability of simple words. Derivational affixes like -ation or -al also correspond to roots inserted into little head categorizers (n and a, respectively, in this case), but their Vocabulary Items have a context of insertion accounting for their categorial rigidity and their c-selection properties. The exploration proposed here focuses, first, on the locality properties of morphemic interactions at the semantic interface, namely, allosemic interactions. We show that our approach makes felicitous predictions seemingly unavailable to those other localist approaches in which roots are distinct nodes in the syntax. Second, we show that the phenomenon of semi-lexicality, as illustrated by classifiers, can be successfully modeled, in our framework, as the insertion of roots into inflectional nodes

The Evolution of Rhythmic Cognition: New Perspectives and Technologies in Comparative Research

Music is a pervasive phenomenon in human culture, and musical rhythm is virtually present in all musical traditions. Research on the evolution and cognitive underpinnings of rhythm can benefit from a number of approaches. We outline key concepts and definitions, allowing fine-grained analysis of rhythmic cognition in experimental studies. We advocate comparative animal research as a useful approach to answer questions about human music cognition and review experimental evidence from different species. Finally, we suggest future directions for research on the cognitive basis of rhythm. Apart from research in semi-natural setups, possibly allowed by “drum set for chimpanzees” prototypes presented here for the first time, mathematical modeling and systematic use of circular statistics may allow promising advances