title: Musicality: instinct or acquired skill?
abstract: Is the human tendency toward musicality better thought of as the product of a specific, evolved instinct or an acquired skill? Developmental and evolutionary arguments are considered, along with issues of domain-specificity. The article also considers the question of why humans might be consistently and intensely drawn to music if musicality is not in fact the product of a specifically evolved instinct.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, New York University, NY 10003, USA. gary.marcus@nyu.edu
authors.forename: Gary F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Marcus
mesh_terms: D001076:Aptitude / Q000502:physiology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007323:Instinct; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology; D012641:Selection, Genetic / Q000502:physiology