title: Rhythmic synchronization tapping to an audio-visual metronome in budgerigars.
abstract: In all ages and countries, music and dance have constituted a central part in human culture and communication. Recently, vocal-learning animals such as parrots and elephants have been found to share rhythmic ability with humans. Thus, we investigated the rhythmic synchronization of budgerigars, a vocal-mimicking parrot species, under controlled conditions and a systematically designed experimental paradigm as a first step in understanding the evolution of musical entrainment. We trained eight budgerigars to perform isochronous tapping tasks in which they pecked a key to the rhythm of audio-visual metronome-like stimuli. The budgerigars showed evidence of entrainment to external stimuli over a wide range of tempos. They seemed to be inherently inclined to tap at fast tempos, which have a similar time scale to the rhythm of budgerigars' natural vocalizations. We suggest that vocal learning might have contributed to their performance, which resembled that of humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan; Biolinguistics Laboratory, Brain Science Institute (BSI), Riken, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Ai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okanoya
authors.forename: Toshikazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Yoshimasa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Seki
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology; D003615:Dancing / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009146:Music; D010240:Parakeets / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013045:Species Specificity; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology