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Music Matters

Exploring music and the mind.

Cognition
Do Chimpanzees Like Music?

Henkjan Honing Ph.D. on July 12, 2014

Chimpanzees prefer West-African and North-Indian music. That is the conclusion of an interesting study, co-authored by primatologist Frans de Waal, that appeared last week in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition.

Chimpanzees prefer West-African and North-Indian music. That is the conclusion of an interesting study, co-authored by primatologist Frans de Waal, that appeared last week in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition.

Binaural Beats
Why Humans Can, But Apes and Monkeys Can’t Sync to the Beat

Henkjan Honing Ph.D. on January 19, 2014

Despite their genetic proximity, human and non-human primates differ in their capacity for ‘beat induction’, which is the ability to perceive a regular pulse in music or auditory stimuli and accordingly align motor skills by way of foot-tapping or dancing.

Despite their genetic proximity, human and non-human primates differ in their capacity for ‘beat induction’, which is the ability to perceive a regular pulse in music or auditory stimuli and accordingly align motor skills by way of foot-tapping or dancing.

Neuroscience
What makes a theory compelling?

Henkjan Honing Ph.D. on March 5, 2009

Can a theory be surprising in itself? Karl Popper was a philosopher of science that was very much interested in this question. He tried to distinguish 'science' from 'pseudoscience', but got more and more dissatisfied with the idea that the empirical method could effectively mark this distinction.

Can a theory be surprising in itself? Karl Popper was a philosopher of science that was very much interested in this question. He tried to distinguish 'science' from 'pseudoscience', but got more and more dissatisfied with the idea that the empirical method could effectively mark this distinction.