Rats really are just like us!
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have discovered that rats are able to accurately move to the beat of popular songs – something it was previously believed only humans could do.
“Rats displayed innate — that is, without any training or prior exposure to music — beat synchronization most distinctly within 120-140 bpm (beats per minute), to which humans also exhibit the clearest beat synchronization,” explained Hirokazu Takahashi, an associated professor at the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology.
Researchers measured head movements while the rats listened to one-minute excerpts from Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448, at four different tempos.
According to a release from the university, “both rats and humans jerked their heads to the beat in a similar rhythm, and that the level of head jerking decreased the more that the music was sped up.”
Also played in the study were Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” and Maroon 5’s “Sugar.” (What, nothing by deadmau5? - ed.)
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on innate beat synchronization in animals that was not achieved through training or musical exposure,” Takahashi said.
The study was published in Science Advances.