The dance of the mice: Japanese scientists discover that rodents dance to the rhythm of Lady Gaga and Queen

Scientists at the University of Tokyo have discovered that rats have rhythm and dance to the tune of Queen, Lady Gaga and even Mozart, after an extensive study that required about a year of various tests.

It was believed to move timing accuracy with music was an ability unique to humans, as only a few animals, such as cockatoosthey have been shown to be in sync with music throughout the workout.

To find out whether rodents have an innate ability to synchronize with rhythm, scientists at the University of Tokyo fitted rats with accelerometers. miniature wireless devices capable of measuring the slightest movements of the head.

Next, one-minute fragments of Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major were played, at four different speeds.

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The original tempo is 132 beats per minute (bpm), and the results showed that the mice banged their heads more in time when music was played in the 120-140 bpm range.

The rats also managed to keep up with the songs Another bites the dustby the queen, e Born like thisby Lady Gaga.

Initially, scientists thought that the preferred rhythm may be related to heart rate.which varies significantly between species and which would suggest that rats would prefer a heartbeat of around 300 bmp.

But the researchers found that the rats were able to clock most successfully at around 120 bpm.which is likely related to innate timing in the brain and is similar across species.

Associate Professor Hirokazu Takahashi, from the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo, said: ‘As far as we know, This is the first report that innate rhythm synchronization in animals has not been achieved through training or musical exposure.”.

Music in the brain of rats

“Some of us think that music is special to human culture, but its origin is somehow inherited from our parents. We find it in terms of brain dynamics,” Takahashi said.

‘Music exerts a strong pull on the brain and has profound effects on emotion and cognition. To use music effectively, we need to unravel the neural mechanism behind this empirical fact,’ he added.

The team also found that the mice bobbed their heads in time to the music in a similar way to humans, with the head movements slowing down as the music was speeded up, as if they were struggling to keep up.

Understanding how music stimulates the brain may help scientists discover how it can be used to elicit an emotional or therapeutic response.

The team now hope to move on to studying melody and harmony and believe their findings could lead to the creation of AI music that can be more easily synchronized with the brain.

“After conducting our research with 20 human and 10 rat participants, our results suggest that the optimal time for rhythm synchronization depends on the time constant in the brain. This demonstrates that the animal brain can be useful in elucidating the perceptual mechanisms of music.”