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Preference for consonant music over dissonant music by an infant

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DOI: 10.1007/s10329-009-0160-3 · Source: PubMed

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Primates (2010) 51:7–12
DOI 10.1007/s10329-009-0160-3
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Preference for consonant music over dissonant music
by an infant chimpanzee
Tasuku Sugimoto Æ Hiromi Kobayashi Æ Noritomo Nobuyoshi Æ Yasushi Kiriyama Æ
Hideko Takeshita Æ Tomoyasu Nakamura Æ Kazuhide Hashiya
Received: 8 December 2008 / Accepted: 22 June 2009 / Published online: 22 July 2009

Japan Monkey Centre and Springer 2009
Abstract It has been shown that humans prefer conso-
nant sounds from the early stages of development. From a
comparative psychological perspective, although previous
studies have shown that birds and monkeys can discrimi-
nate between consonant and dissonant sounds, it remains
unclear whether nonhumans have a spontaneous preference
for consonant music over dissonant music as humans do.
We report here that a five-month-old human-raised chim-
panzee (Pan troglodytes) preferred consonant music. The
infant chimpanzee consistently preferred to produce, with
the aid of our computerized setup, consonant versions of
music for a longer duration than dissonant versions. This
result suggests that the preference for consonance is not
unique to humans. Further, it supports the hypothesis that
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this
article (doi:10.1007/s10329-009-0160-3) contains supplementary
material, which is available to authorized users.
T. Sugimoto (&)
Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies,
Kyushu University, 6-19-1, Hakozaki,
Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
e-mail: tasukunzz@gmail.com
H. Kobayashi
T. Nakamura
K. Hashiya (&)
Faculty of Human-Environment Studies,
Kyushu University, 6-19-1, Hakozaki,
Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
e-mail: hashiya@mindless.com
N. Nobuyoshi
Y. Kiriyama
Itozu-no-Mori Park, 4-1 Itozu, Kokurakita-ku,
Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 803-0845, Japan
H. Takeshita
School of Human Cultures, The University of Shiga Prefecture,
2500 Hassakacho, Hikone, Shiga 522-8583, Japan
one major basis of musical appreciation has some evolu-
tionary origins.
Keywords Chimpanzee
Infant
Music
Consonance

Dissonance
Introduction
The appreciation of music is a universal aspect of human
nature, one that transcends cultural differences. However,
much controversy surrounds the origins of music. The
perception of consonance and dissonance is an enigmatic
aspect of this issue. Whereas consonance is static and
evokes a pleasant feeling, dissonance is dynamic and
intense, and gives rise to an unpleasant feeling. Neuro-
physiological studies have shown distinct neural correlates
of the perception of consonant and dissonant music in
human adults (Blood et al. 1999; Sammler et al. 2007);
further, they have also proposed that those neural correlates
are associated with pleasant and unpleasant emotional
states.
Evidence shows that humans tend to prefer consonant
sounds. This leads to the following question: Is such a
preference the result of cultural learning or does it have
some basis that is independent of experience? Develop-
mental psychologists have empirically demonstrated that
preverbal human infants prefer consonant chords and music
to dissonant ones; in other words, they pay more attention
to consonant chords and music than to dissonant ones
(Crouder et al. 1991; Zentner and Kagan 1996; Trainor and
Heinmiller 1998; Trainor et al. 2002). Such a preference
can be observed even in two-day-old newborns with nor-
mal hearing born to deaf parents (Masataka 2006). This
suggests that the preference for consonant sounds is present
123
8 Primates (2010) 51:7–12
from birth and is independent of specific prenatal or early
postnatal ‘‘cultural’’ experiences. Thus, we may infer that
human infants possess a biological preparedness that makes
consonance perceptually more attractive.
The next question with regard to the origin of music
pertains to its evolution and whether the preference for
consonant sounds is unique to humans. In this regard,
researchers have asked whether abilities of nonhuman
animals are comparable with those of humans. In fact,
studies have demonstrated that Java sparrows (Padda
oryzivora) (Watanabe et al. 2005), European starlings
(Sturnus vulgaris) (Hulse et al. 1995), and Japanese mon-
keys (Macaca fuscata) (Izumi 2000) can differentiate
between consonant and dissonant sounds. Further, the neural
correlates for consonance and dissonance in the auditory
cortex of macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) and
humans have also been clarified (Fishman et al. 2001).
However, most of these studies have focused on the animals’
ability to discriminate between the consonant/dissonant
dichotomy; it remains unclear whether animals evaluate
this dichotomy in the same manner as humans do.
As an exception to these studies, one study examined
spontaneous sound preference in cotton-top tamarins
(Saguinus oedipus), a nonhuman primate species. The
results differed from findings of studies on human infants;
tamarins showed no preference for consonant chords over
dissonant ones (McDermott and Hauser 2004). The
researchers concluded that the preference of tamarins in
this regard might be qualitatively different from that of
humans. However, as the authors pointed out, the tamarins’
lack of preference for consonant or dissonant chords cannot
be regarded as adequate evidence of the preference for
consonance as unique to humans. Other primate species
that are phylogenetically closer to humans, e.g., chimpan-
zees, might have more similar acoustic preferences
(McDermott and Hauser 2004), which could be important
for shedding light on the evolutionary origin of the per-
ception of music.
Our study examined the spontaneous preference for
consonant music over dissonant music of a five-month-old
(age at the beginning of the experiment) female chimpan-
zee (Pan troglodytes). We used a computerized apparatus
that made it possible to produce consonant version (CV) or
dissonant version (DV) music when the subject pulled a
string tied to her arm. We chose this operant-based pro-
cedure in an attempt to collect data which were as stable as
possible within the limitation that only one subject was
available. We predicted that if the established human
preference for the consonance over dissonance has evolu-
tionary origins shared with their phylogenetically close
species, then the chimpanzee infant would show the same
bias and respond to produce CV music more frequently
than DV music.
123
Methods
The study was conducted in accordance with the 2002
version (2nd edn) of the Guide for Care and Use of Lab-
oratory Primates published by the Primate Research
Institute of Kyoto University. The chimpanzee was not
deprived of food or water at any point during research.
Subject
One infant female chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) (named
Sakura) served as the subject from 17 to 23 weeks of age.
Since birth she had been reared by humans, mainly the
third and fourth authors, at Itozu-no-Mori Park, Kitakyu-
shu-Fukuoka, Japan; this was because her biological
mother failed to rear her. We confirmed that she had not
been exposed to any particular music source such as a
radio, TV, or CD player throughout her development, apart
from that required for the purpose of this experiment.
Stimuli
Six stimulus sets—three melody patterns (A/B/C) 9 two
timbres (piano/marimba)—were prepared using Midi
Orchestrator software (Internet Singer Song Writer 8.0).
The three music patterns were selected from simple min-
uets in the etudes of recorders duets (Giesbert 1978). Each
stimulus set consisted of two versions of a music pattern–
timbre combination referred to in a previous study (Trainor
and Heinmiller 1998); the CV was played as written by the
original composer, whereas for the DV some tones were
changed to create dissonant intervals. Other musical factors
potentially related to musical preferences, for example
tempos (as shown by McDermott and Hauser 2007),
intensities, and articulations of the stimuli were the same
across the CV/DV in a stimulus set. The tempos of the
stimuli were 90–140 quarter notes per minute, and the
intensities were approximately 60 dBs SPL (Fig. 1).
A detailed description of the stimuli is provided below.
Melody pattern A: A 38-second minuet from Duette
Englischer Meister in F major. In the DV, all the Gs
were changed to GE and all the Cs were changed to CE.
It comprised a total of 82 intervals. Whereas the CV had
no dissonant intervals the DV had 32 (three augmented
fourths and 29 major seconds).
Melody pattern B: A 38-second minuet from 1720
German handwritten music in C major. In the DV, all the
Ds were changed to DE, all the Gs were changed to GE,
and all the As were changed to AE. It comprised a total
of 84 intervals. The CV had 16 dissonant intervals (eight
major seconds, seven minor sevenths, and one aug-
mented fourth) and the DV had 23 dissonant intervals
Primates (2010) 51:7–12 9

Fig. 1 Part of the stimuli

(melody pattern A). The CV
was played as written by the
original composer; in the DV
some tones were changed (all
the Gs were changed to GE and
all the Cs were changed to CE)
to create dissonant intervals

(six major seconds, ten minor sevenths, two augmented

fourths, and five sharp dissonant intervals—three minor
seconds and two major sevenths).
Melody pattern C: A 63-second minuet from Barocke
Spielstucke in C major. In the DV, all the Ds were
changed to DE and all the Gs were changed to GE. It
comprised a total of 126 intervals. The CV had no
dissonant intervals whereas the DV has 40 (two
augmented fourths, two minor sevenths, and 36 major
seconds).

Apparatus

The experiment was conducted in the park keepers’ room.

The subject was made to lie on her back on a bed and was
loosely fastened to the bed with a soft belt. A pair of
loudspeakers (Time Domain Mini) was located one on each
side of the bed and every stimulus was presented through
both. A woolen string was attached to the subject’s right
arm; her pulling responses were detected by a digital
switch (AbleNet String Switch 1-SS) and a USB input
device (Technotool Corporation TSWNA-A01 ver.1) con-
nected to the PC (NEC PC-LR900ED). The PC controlled
the stimulus presentations and recorded the frequency and
time course of the subject’s string-pulling responses. The
experimenters observed the subject’s responses from a
distance (about 3 m) by means of a video camera, ensuring
that the subject’s natural responses were not affected
(Fig. 2).
Procedure
Before the actual experiment began, four preliminary
training sessions (15–20 min per session) were conducted
weekly to establish the procedure and sequence of the
experiment. We verified whether the subject’s pulling
response depended on the music being played; we also
decided the duration of the musical presentation and
musical instruments. For the preliminary training we used
different musical pieces from those in the main experiment.
Although statistical analyses were not feasible as the
number of trials was small and the experimental conditions
varied across training sessions, we observed that the
Fig. 2 Schematic illustration of the experimental setup. The
subject lay on her back on a bed that was enclosed within three
cloth screens; she was loosely fastened to the bed with a soft belt.
A pair of loudspeakers were located one on each side of the bed
(behind the curtains). A woolen string was attached to the subject’s
right arm, and the subject’s pulling response was recorded by
means of a PC
pulling response occurred frequently as a part of the sub-
ject’s spontaneous repertoire and that it was more frequent
when it resulted in auditory feedback.
The main experiment lasted six weeks and was con-
ducted in weekly sessions. Each session comprised one
test. One of the six stimulus sets was used in a single test
session. The order of the test session was:
• Melody pattern A-piano,
• Melody pattern B-marimba,
• Melody pattern B-piano,
• Melody pattern C-piano,
• Melody pattern A-marimba, and
• Melody pattern C-marimba.
Upon confirming the subject was awake and calm, we
began the test and completed it in 15–20 min, depending
on the subject’s state. In three of the six sessions, testing
began with the CV presentation, and in the remaining three,
with the DV presentation. The procedure basically

123
10
Stimulus CV Resp. bout DV Resp. bout
presentation
CV CV DV
Pull
IPI
string
7 sec 14 sec 14 sec
Fig. 3 Schematic sequence of the experiment. An IPI of longer than
14 s or a stimulus presentation of more than 120 s resulted in the
completion of one CV/DV response bout and the beginning of the
pulling response of the next DV/CV response bout
followed the contingency procedure previously adopted in
human infant studies (e.g., DeCasper and Fifer 1980; Sul-
livan and Lewis 2003). If the subject pulled the string that
was attached to her right arm, it activated a digital switch
connected to a PC; thereafter, CV or DV music was pre-
sented through the loudspeakers for 7 s. If the subject
pulled the string again within an interval (inter-pulling
interval: IPI) of less than 7 s, the same music was presented
continuously for up to 120 s. An IPI of between 7 and 14 s
also resulted in the continuation of the same music, but
following a pause of 0 to 7 s. An IPI of more than 14 s or
the presentation of a particular version of music for more
than 120 s terminated that particular trial and resulted in
the music being changed from CV to DV or vice versa. A
series of pulling responses between the onset and the end of
one version without interruption by another version was
defined as a response bout (Fig. 3 and supplementary
video).
Results
The number of response bouts included in a single session
varied among the six sessions (from 22 to 28) because the
termination of each response bout depended on the subject.
However, one session included at least 11 response bouts
for each of the CV and DV presentations. To equalize the
number of data points among sessions, response bouts over
the 22nd were excluded from the main analysis. We also
eliminated the first four response bouts (two CV and two
DV presentations) of each session, because the subject
tended to respond rather feverishly to the onset of the novel
stimulus set at the beginning of the session. Therefore, 18
response bouts (between the 5th and 22nd; nine CV and
nine DV presentations) served as samples for the analysis.
Figure 4 shows the mean durations of the stimulus pre-
sentation per response bout for the CV and DV of each
melody pattern and timbre combination. The overall mean
durations across the sessions were 24.58 s (SE = 1.78) for
CV presentations, and 15.89 s (SE = 0.95) for DV
presentations.
123
Primates (2010) 51:7–12
CV Resp. bout
CV
Time
Fig. 4 Results of the six sessions in the order of being tested from
left to right. The mean duration of the CV or DV presentation per
response bout is represented in each bar. The error bars show the
standard errors of the mean
By treating each response bout as a sample, we con-
ducted ANOVA with the three melody patterns, two types
of timbres, and the CV/DV dichotomy as within-subject
factors. A significant main effect was revealed for the CV/
DV dichotomy (F (1, 8) = 7.50, P = 0.03, g2p = 0.48), but
not for the melody patterns (F (2, 16) = 0.66, P = 0.53,
g2p = 0.08) or timbres (F (1, 8) = 1.21, P = 0.30,
g2p = 0.13). No significant interaction was found among the
three factors. We also conducted ANOVA with six sessions
and the CD/DV dichotomy, which again revealed only the
significant main effect of the CV/DV dichotomy, with no
significant main effect of session (F (5, 40) = 0.89,
P = 0.50, g2p = 0.10) or significant interaction (F (5,
40) = 0.28, P = 0.92, g2p = 0.03). This indicated that the
subject’s performance was consistent across the six ses-
sions and any effect of learning or experience through the
test was estimated as rather small. These results suggested
that the infant chimpanzee consistently acted to produce
CV music of longer duration than DV music, regardless of
the melody pattern or timbre.
Discussion
The preference for consonant music over dissonant music
in an infant chimpanzee has implications for the debate
surrounding human uniqueness in the capacity for music
appreciation. Specifically, the results suggest that one of
the major factors that constitute musical appreciation might
not be unique to humans; instead it might be something that
we share with our phylogenetically closest relatives.
Although based on a single-case study with only six
experimental sessions, our results showed a robust prefer-
ence for consonant music across the sessions. This bias is
consistent with that previously obtained in human infants
under different experimental paradigms (Crouder et al.
Primates (2010) 51:7–12
1991; Zentner and Kagan 1996; Trainor and Heinmiller
1998; Trainor et al. 2002; Masataka 2006).
The infant chimpanzee’s limited exposure to music
before the experiment (including preliminary training ses-
sions), which clearly contrasts with the typical case of
human infants, suggests that musical experience itself
might not be necessary for the emergence of a preference
for consonance (Masataka 2006). It would also support the
view that music perception draws upon a capacity that has
evolved for a more general auditory analysis (Hauser and
McDermott 2003). According to Helmholtz’s psychoa-
coustic theory, the perception of dissonance with regard to
the sensation of ‘‘beats’’ and ‘‘roughness’’ is caused by
interactions in the auditory periphery between adjacent
partials of complex tones comprising a musical chord
(Helmholtz 1954). Based on its explanation regarding the
lack of preference for dissonance and the consequent
(relative) appreciation of consonance, this theory leads to
the prediction that animal species sharing similar auditory
systems and neural mechanisms will also dislike disso-
nance and prefer consonance.
One possibility, which we did not test, is that somehow
the dissonant music was more relaxing for the chimpanzee,
causing her to be less active. Although we feel that this
possibility seems unlikely, it is desirable for future studies
to develop a procedure that would enable determination of
possible mechanisms underlying preferences more clearly.
The lack of preference for consonance in tamarins
(McDermott and Hauser 2004), which seems to contradict
the above-mentioned theory, might be explained by the
different vocal repertoires, including a higher frequency
range of vocalizations in tamarins, as compared with
humans and chimpanzees. One good method for further
exploration of a possible preference for consonance in
tamarins would be to use a higher pitch than those used in
the previous study (McDermott and Hauser 2004). More-
over, another major difference between the study on tam-
arins and our study is that the latter tested an infant
chimpanzee whereas the former used adult tamarins. In the
course of development, specialization with regard to bio-
logically important sounds, for example conspecific
vocalizations might occur, resulting in the loss of sensi-
tivity to acoustic properties that are not relevant to the
individual’s environment. This recalls what happens in the
development of human speech perception, wherein the
individual adapts to his/her native language (Kuhl et al.
1992; Iverson et al. 2003) and the case of rhythmic change
perception (Hannon and Trehub 2005) that might reflect
the development of specific perceptual and neural sensi-
tivities (Stewart and Walsh 2005). In this context, studies
of adult chimpanzees might be of interest to determine the
origin of the appreciation of consonance.
11
Although replication of these results with other chim-
panzee infants and more strict control of the early auditory
environment are desirable, this study suggests that one
basic characteristic of human musical appreciation appears
not to be species-specific; it might be shared with chim-
panzees at least in the earlier stages of ontogeny. It would
be of interest to further address patterns of convergence
and divergence of musical capacities of other animals, to
construct a clearer picture of what aspects of the music
faculty might be unique to humans, along with the building
blocks that provide the foundation for its evolution.
Acknowledgments We would like to thank Sumiharu Nagumo for
his help in programming and for his technical assistance. We are also
grateful to the staff of Itozu-no-Mori Park for their help. Thanks are
also due to the referees of the article for their constructive criticism
and warm support. This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for
Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science (JSPS), #16203034 to H.T. and #39047364 to K.H. This
article is in memory of Sakura, our chimpanzee participant, who
passed away in an accident on 26th Nov. 2008.
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