Despite my personal inability to dance, most people can, and take the ability for granted. Even complete klutzes like myself can tap a foot in synchrony with musical rhythm.
Sometimes it's almost involuntary to start tapping or swaying in response to musical rhythm. It's so common that most people don't give it much thought.
Nevertheless, this ability is very curious. In order to move in close concert with musical rhythm, auditory and motor neural pathways must closely communicate with one another.
The anatomical and physiological basis of this phenomenon is currently under investigation. Its possible evolutionary origins and consequences are also a matter of current debate.
Critical for such studies is knowing whether physical movement in response to musical rhythm is present from birth (i.e. is an innate ability), or must be learned. Marcel Zentner and Tuomas Eerola (University of York, United Kingdom, and University of Jyväskylä, Finland) have found that preverbal human infants move in response to musical rhythm, but found no evidence of synchronous movement.
This research is relevant to recent studies of the genetic basis of musical aptitude and creativity. Evidently, musical perception is a central feature of human cognition and psychology.
Infants' response to musical rhythm.
The scientists tested over one hundred infants in their study of response to musical rhythm. The musical rhythm was primarily from the Finale from Carnaval des Animaux (Carnival of the Animals) by Saint-Saëns (a French Romantic composer), the last movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music) by Mozart, and infant-directed speech.
The infants' movement in response to musical rhythm was much longer than their movement in response to adult speech. The infants on average moved for between roughly 6 and 8 seconds in response to classical music; in contrast, on average only roughly 2 seconds of motion was observed in response to adult speech.
Rhythm (music with the drumbeat components extracted with software) ellicited a roughly similiar effect as the music itself. Infants clearly perceive musical rhythm, and respond to it.
The scientists found that the infants moved faster in reponse to a faster musical tempo (speed). Although this correlation was relatively loose, note that infants are not highly coordinated.
Therefore, an extremely close correlation between musical speed and infant movement was not expected. Possibly for similar reasons, the scientists found no evidence of movement in synchrony with the musical rhythm.
Furthermore, in addition to reacting to the musical rhythm, the scientists found that the infants were also reacted positively to it. The infants who were able to better coordinate their motions with the musical rhythm smiled longer while doing so.
Infants between 5 and 24 months old behaved similarly, and the extent of their previous exposure to music did not affect their response to musical rhythm. Therefore, the ability appears to be present from birth or near-birth.
Implications.
The infants in this study were not trained or prompted at any point before or during the experiments, unlike previous studies of this type. It can therefore be concluded that infants inherently possess an ability to move in response to musical rhythm.
A reasonable explanation for the origin of movement in response to musical rhythm may be that the innate ability to precisely move in coordination with sound is a byproduct of the need to respond and adapt to local surroundings. Think of jumping in response to hearing leaves rustle behind you.
It's possible that movement specifically in response to musical rhythm imparts certain social abilities that facilitate communication and cooperation. Further research is needed to test such hypotheses.
for more information:
Zentner, M., & Eerola, T. (2010). Rhythmic engagement with music in infancy Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107 (13), 5768-5773 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1000121107