A Biological Perspective on Musical
Appreciation
Bjørn Grinde
Editor's note:
This article was first published in 2000 in ©Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 9(2), pp 18-27.
Two comments on this article, one by Erik Christensen and one Bjørn Merker was published
in the same issue. Read these comments and participate in the following discussion at our
discussion FORUM.
The article is republished here with the kind permission from the author.
|Abstract| |Introduction| |The evolutionary perspective| |The language connection| |Play and explorative
behaviour| |Complexity, coherence, temporal patterning and the human touch| |Purity and harmony | |The
chill| |Safe and relaxing sounds| |Other contributing factors| |Conclusion| |References|
Abstract
Music has a powerful effect on the human psyche, an effect that can be used for therapeutic
purposes. As the capacity to respond to and enjoy music appears to be innate, it is relevant to
look for an evolutionary explanation. I suggest that a preoccupation with certain types of
sounds has been adaptive, and that the main evolutionary advantage is related to play and
exploratory behaviour associated with our dependence on language. The human brain
employs agreeable and punitive sensations in order to influence behaviour. I propose that the
brain induces us to concentrate on sounds, by offering pleasant sensations, in order to
improve our ability to hear and to vocalise, and that one reason why we appreciate music is
because it has the particular qualities required for maximum exploitation of these sensations.
Keywords: musical appreciation - evolutionary perspective - language - positive sensations
Introduction
Pleasant feelings, and other modifications of mood, associated with listening to music have
been described by several authors; for relevant reviews on the psychology of music see: Storr
(1992), Deliege and Sloboda (1997), North and Hargreaves (1997). As pointed out by
Sloboda (1991), music can arouse an emotional response of intensity rarely experienced in
everyday life.
The potentially positive effect of music on humans is presumably obvious for anyone engaged
in music therapy, but why sounds of particular qualities should evoke that kind of mental
response is less obvious. The present article offers a possible explanation.
The evolutionary approach has opened up new perspectives in psychology (see Barkow et al.,
1995; and Buss, 1998 for reviews), and the question of why music can induce such a strong
emotional response is one of the issues that may be addressed.
An understanding of the mental events that underlie musical appreciation should be relevant
for those engaged in using music for therapeutic purposes. Furthermore, the evolutionary
perspective may not only shed light on why we appreciate music, but also on which qualities
of sounds contribute to our appreciation; that is, the aesthetics of music. As discussed by Stige
(1998), the aesthetic aspects may also be relevant for the practice of music therapy.
As pointed out by Nesse (1991), most sensations or feelings have either a positive or a
negative connotation, as they serve the purpose of either instigating or discouraging
behaviour. Broadly stated, our sensations can be categorised as either agreeable or punitive.
When I use this categorisation it is important to note that the two categorises refer to the
evolutionary distinction between sensations evolved as attractants versus those evolved to
function as deterrents. The term "brain rewards" is closely related to what I refer to as
agreeable or positive sensations, but brain rewards tend to be associated with a neurological
characterised response associated with dopamine (Spanagel and Weiss, 1999; Rolls, 2000).
Some of the sensations that have evolved to function as incentives probably do not involve
this particular neurological mechanism.
Grinde (1996a) expands on the concept of positive and negative sensations as used in relation
to evolutionary aspects of human behaviour, and suggests why they are convenient for
particular types of analysis. I have previously used the concept as a framework for examining
human delight in visual aesthetics (Grinde, 1996b), and believe a related approach can help us
understand musical appreciation. Presumably, it is the aroused positive sensations that cause
people to devote time to either create or listen to music.
The evolutionary perspective
Although musical appreciation is clearly influenced by nurturing, there is evidence favouring
the notion that the capacity to appreciate music is an innate trait. One line of evidence for a
genetic influence is the universality of musical appreciation. Most cultures make use of music,
if not with advanced instruments, in the form of song and rhythm (Merriam, 1964). Playable
flutes that are almost 9000 years old have been found in China (Zhang et al., 1999), and a
piece of bone discovered at a Neanderthal site had holes drilled into the hollow part,
suggesting that even they made flutes (Turk et al., 1997).
The observation that musical appreciation apparently arises spontaneously in children offers
further evidence in favour of an innate tendency (Zentner and Kagan, 1996). So does the
powerful effect music has on the human mind. The effect has been documented in a variety of
studies, ranging from neurological and physiological correlations, to the use of music as
therapy, as relaxation, in enhancing physical performance, in creating an attentive or receptive
mood in connection with advertising and shopping, and in promoting social interaction (Clark
et al., 1998; Dube et al., 1995; Karageorghis and Terry, 1997; Morris and Boone, 1998; North
and Hargreaves, 1997; Panksepp, 1995; 1998b; Panksepp and Bekkedal, 1997).
As the Neanderthal lineage is thought to have diverged from the lineage leading to presentday humans more than half a million years ago (Ward and Stringer, 1997), the ability to
appreciate music may have been present in hominids for a long time.
Music can have a mental effect on animals as well, exemplified by the study of Uetake et al.
(1997) who demonstrated that dairy cows exposed to soothing music are more willing to be
milked. There are various accounts of animals, such as birds, dogs and apes, that take a
particular interest in music, but dogs who "join in" when people sing probably do so because
they have a tendency to howl with the pack rather than because they enjoy the particular song.
Likewise, those species of birds that have an innate tendency to imitate sounds may imitate
music, but this is probably not driven by the kind of enjoyment we feel.
The more common effect seen on animals is one of music being soothing or relaxing. It seems
fair to assume that the intense emotional response to music is a specific human trait, which
probably evolved during the last few million years.
The language connection
Accepting that our passion for music is based on an innate tendency, which developed after
our lineage split off from that of the apes, the question is: Why is the human brain designed to
connect certain forms of auditory signals with pleasurable sensations? In other words, what
sort of evolutionary forces carved this tendency into the human mind?
Oral language is the most obvious evolutionary advantage associated with complex sounds. A
possible evolutionary connection between language and music has been discussed by several
authors, starting with Darwin in his "Descent of Man". Downing (1995) and Pinker (1999)
provide recent discussions, but there is to my knowledge no model that offers an evolutionary
explanation that accounts for all the attributes associated with music. Below I try to
incorporate the various characteristics into a coherent theory for the evolution of musical
appreciation.
The language connection is the pivotal element in this theory, but other forces are presumably
also involved. For example, sexual selection may have contributed to our innate
predisposition. Other factors, which not necessarily cause a direct selection for musical
interest, may also influence our appreciation of music. I refer to the latter as secondary
selectors. The relaxing effect is one example of a possible secondary selector.
For most vertebrates, smell and visual signals are more important than sound as means of
communication. A greater reliance on sound developed independently in at least three
lineages. In two of them, birds and cetaceans (which include whales), olfactory
communication is impractical. The air and the open sea are unsuitable for depositing chemical
signals, and some of these animals range over large distances. The third lineage is the
anthropoids, which include humans and apes.
Although apes use more complex auditory signals than do monkeys, the human language is
unparalleled in both its complexity and its importance for survival. Unlike the case of birds
and cetaceans, the environment of our anthropoid ancestors was suitable for chemical
communication; thus the shift towards sounds was more likely due to the advantage of
evolving a system that can handle elaborate information.
Play and explorative behaviour
The way human infants learn language is different from the way birds learn to vocalise. The
sound-producing capacity of most birds tends to be fixed. Some are able to learn by imitation
and to elaborate on themes, thus creating both dialects and individual signatures, but their
song is mainly innate (Ball and Hulse, 1998). It is hard-wired into their brains. Humans are
born with an innate capacity for language, but this is only a template; extensive practice is
required in order to learn to produce and decipher language (for a more detailed treatment of
language acquisition in children, see Pinker, 1995).
Physical play is necessary for infants to develop the nerve circuitry required for muscular coordination. I suggest that focusing the mind on the production and interpretation of sounds is
adaptive behaviour because it helps develop the nerve circuitry required for language. The
sound-processing neurones in the auditory cerebral cortex need a proper input of signals in
order to mature; the lack of relevant auditory signals during the period sensitive for language
acquisition can severely limit a child's potential for developing communicative skills (Fitch et
al., 1982; Nishimura et al., 1999).
The human brain is designed by evolution to use agreeable sensations to favour adaptive
behaviour. I contend that such sensations are involved in the initiation of a range of
behaviours, including both physical and mental play or practice. The play behaviour helps us
develop neurological structures capable of handling future challenges. Thus, by producing
sounds, listening to sounds, and trying to interpret sounds, we improve our capacity to handle
tasks involving auditory signals.
The processing of sounds is important for most mammals, for example in evaluating whether
a noise stems from a predator. However, due to the evolution of language, auditory signals are
particularly vital for humans. Consequently, it is to be expected that the human brain is
designed to offer particularly strong rewards for attending to sounds.
According to this hypothesis, our appreciation for music was designed by evolution primarily
in order to improve brain structures involved in language. It might be argued that the
hypothesis would predict that a preoccupation with music as a form of play behaviour should
be associated with children, as the main period in which auditory signals are required for the
development of language is thought to last until the age of six or seven (Osberger et al.,
1991).
In response to that it should be noted that even when the main circuitry has been established,
the mind presumably continues to pay attention to sounds for two reasons: Firstly, as adults
we may still need to exercise our sound producing and interpreting capacity. Secondly, we
should be stimulated not just to improve our senses, but also to use them in exploratory
behaviour. Exploratory behaviour, that is, taking an interest in our surroundings, may
decrease upon ageing, but does not disappear (Mayes, 1991; Lalonde and Badescu, 1995).
Humans are "non-specialists" in that we have evolved to consume a variety of edible plants,
insects and animals (Jolly, 1985). While a cow may concentrate on what is green and grows
on the ground, humans are expected to take an interest in all aspects of the environment. As a
consequence we have a natural curiosity, and are inclined to explore our surroundings. Visual
and auditory stimuli are assumed to be particularly interesting, because in humans these are
the most important senses for investigating the environment.
The concept of agreeable sensations designed for the purpose of improving the capacity for
oral communication, and learning about the environment, can explain a delight in sounds, but
if the rewards are there to encourage us to practice or explore auditory signals, then any sound
should do. A further explanation is required to understand why we distinguish between noise
and music.
Complexity, coherence, temporal patterning and the
human touch
As with visual art (Grinde, 1996b), a certain complexity of sounds presumably has a positive
effect on the listener (Finnas, 1989).
A single, pure tone is not that interesting to explore, it is to be expected that a measure of
intricacy is required to excite human curiosity. Sounds that are too complex, however, tend to
be overwhelming. We presumably prefer some sort of coherence, that is, a principle that
connects the various sounds and make them comprehensible.
A main feature of human language, as opposed to oral communication in apes, is the
importance of the temporal patterning of sounds. Single sounds are in most cases not
sufficient to convey meaning, whereas when put together in a sequence they form words and
sentences. Temporal patterning is equally important in music - if the tones are not in some
way tied together sequentially, or are not rhythmical, people are unlikely to show
appreciation. The temporal patterning is related to what the musical literature refers to as
melody.
It is conceivable that music requires similarities to language, such as complexity and melody,
in order to be valued, because only then does it utilise the brain resources involved in
processing the spoken words.
Another element in the appreciation of sounds, as in the visual arts, is the communicative
aspect. Humans seek to gain knowledge about other individuals as part of our social nature
(Wilson, 1975). When a person creates sounds, we tend to search for a message, or at least we
expect that something about that person can be inferred, such as facets of his or her emotional
life. A voice satisfies this expectation, the same goes for an instrument in the hands of a
skilled musician, while it is difficult to program a computer to display emotion. In other
words, the complexity should have a human flavour. It is interesting to note that people tend
to agree on what emotions a given sequence of music reflects (Hevner, 1936; Sloboda, 1991).
Purity and harmony
The tendency to distinguish between pure sounds and scrambled discord is a central element
in the enjoyment of music, and a possible further consequence of the language connection.
Several authors have suggested that a preference for purity, and possibly for consonance, is
innate (Roederer, 1995; Schellenberg and Trehub, 1996; Zentner and Kagan, 1996).
One reason why these qualities are favoured may be because they enhance oral
communication. The capacity to produce pure sounds is most advanced in animals in which
auditory signals are the prominent form of communication, such as songbirds and certain
cetaceans. A pure tone presumably carries further, and although language typically includes a
mixture of relatively pure (vowels) and dissonant (consonants) sounds, purity and consonance
are expected to reduce ambiguity. The brain centres involved in the production and processing
of sounds are probably predisposed to prefer qualities that are suitable.
Several languages, including Chinese, are referred to as tone languages; that is, the meaning
of a particular sound depends on the pitch. Speakers of these languages appear to be more
able to recognise variations in pitch compared to speakers of non-tonal languages (Brown,
1999).
A third of the world's present population have tone languages. It is conceivable that the first
languages to evolve depended on pitch, in which case one consequence to be expected would
be an augmented concern for the frequency of sounds.
To summarise so far, I propose that humans are rewarded by the brain to take an interest in
sounds, because the brain needs practice, and because we need to explore spoken words and
other sounds present in our environment. The pleasure may not be very obvious, and the
typical environment of modern communities is probably so filled with background noise that
the system is overloaded. We are therefore unlikely to appreciate just any sound. Qualities
such as complexity, coherence, temporal patterning, the human touch, purity, and harmony
will enhance the sensations.
The chill
The above suggestions may explain a general appreciation for music, yet the emotional
response is sometimes more overwhelming than what would be anticipated. Particular
passages can generate the intense pleasurable experience described as a chill, a thrill, or a
shiver (Goldstein, 1980; Panksepp, 1995).
It is not an expected evolutionary strategy to encourage a certain type of behaviour in excess
of what is adaptive. A person who is preoccupied with song or music pays less attention to
other tasks or to possible dangers. For example, if you are engrossed in singing you are
unlikely to detect an approaching predator. Thus the rewards associated with sounds should
not divert our attention to a greater extent than what the contribution to survival suggests. The
chill appears to be excessive encouragement.
Certain qualities of music that tend to produce chills point towards a possible explanation.
Research suggests that chills are evoked more often by sad music than by happy music, by
familiar music rather than an unknown piece, and intense passages such as crescendos are
particularly chilling; furthermore chills are more commonly experienced by women than by
men (Sloboda, 1991; Panksepp, 1995; Motluk, 1996).
Panksepp (1995) has suggested that chills appear because music hooks directly into the brain's
primitive emotional circuits; more specifically, that music has some sort of relationship with
the call of an infant crying for its mother. Separation calls are expected to evoke powerful
feelings in parents, and especially in mothers (Panksepp et al., 1988; Rendall et al., 2000).
Panksepp points out that human separation calls have properties related to chill-producing
sounds, that the cry of a baby is at once intense, familiar and sad. He also claims that he has
been able to evoke chills in parents by playing recordings of their infant's cries.
Long before the development of language, the genes had presumably designed the brain to
offer ample rewards to ensure attentiveness to the call of infants. It is possible that a chill is an
accidental sensation evoked when music happens to approach the sounds we are programmed
to react to as caregivers. However, it is also conceivable that a chill can be explained by the
way evolution tends to utilise structures already present for novel purposes, as exemplified by
the way legs evolved from the fins of fish. The need for positive sensations to encourage the
processing and production of sounds, which I suggest appeared as a consequence of the
introduction of language, may have triggered evolution to employ the emotional pathways
associated with parents' attention to the cries of their babies.
Another feature that several authors associate with chills is the creation and subsequent
violation of expectancy (Sloboda, 1991). Composers typically make striking themes and then
repeat different variations several times in the composition. The creation of expectancy
implies a certain familiarity, which could be related to parents presumably reacting more
strongly to the cry of their own babies than to the cry of unknown babies. The changes in the
expected pattern of sounds may be appreciated because they stimulate our curiosity. We tend
to investigate the unfamiliar until it becomes familiar; good music offers a series of
interesting surprises set against a background of expectation.
As to the preference for sadness, it is interesting to note that not only do we enjoy sad music,
we also appreciate visual art that elicits this type of emotion (Grinde, 1996b). An appreciation
of sadness and sorrow may sound like a paradox, but the paradox can be explained by
considering the function of positive sensations. They are there to encourage us to engage in
adaptive cognition and behaviour. Humans have evolved the capacity to mourn and to feel sad
because such emotions are adaptive in appropriate situations (Nesse, 1991). The adaptive
value suggests that these emotions should be connected with a positive sensation.
At least in Western culture, sadness is thought of as a negative feeling, yet we flock to movies
known to make us cry. Both visual art and music offer us the possibility of taking gratification
from sorrow without having to undergo the bereavement that normally precedes this feeling.
In this context it may be relevant to note that sadness and joy are neurologically related, in
that they use much of the same brain structures and neurochemistry (Panksepp, 1998a).
Safe and relaxing sounds
The appreciation of music depends on a variety of qualities of sounds, the language
connection does not necessarily explain them all.
As pointed out in the introduction, music can have a relaxing effect not only on humans, but
on animals as well. One possible explanation for the relaxing effect is that music is
continuous and rhythmical. In a natural environment, danger tends to be accompanied by
sudden, unexpected sounds. A background of constant noise suggests peaceful conditions;
discontinuous sounds demand more attention. Even soft discontinuous sounds that we
consciously realise do not signal danger can be disturbing, for example, the dripping of a
leaky tap. A continuous sound, particularly one that is judged to be safe, relaxes the brain.
As to the soothing effect on humans, it may also be pointed out that music presumably is
intuitively understood to be man-made, and as such not related to dangerous situations (with
the exception of music culturally associated with violence, such as war drums).
Fink (1970) has pointed out that the appreciation of continuity may be another reason why we
appreciate consonance. Concord creates continuity because the notes typically have overtones
or harmonies that will match the next notes in an audible way. By tying the notes together,
consonance promotes a relaxing and consequently pleasing effect.
One of the most characteristic features of music is rhythm. In tribal music, rhythm
instruments are often the main element, but even elaborate music seems to require rhythm in
order to be appreciated. The rare cases of experimental music without a beat have, as
expected, not enjoyed commercial success.
As previously suggested, we appreciate rhythm because it helps us organise the sound;
however, another reason would be because it is a comforting feature. The comfort can be
related to the absence of danger associated with rhythmic sounds, but also to a resemblance to
the pulse of the mother's heart imprinted prenatally, as suggested by DeCasper and Sigafoos
(1983). Newborns have been shown to appreciate sound in the form of voices, vocal music or
heartbeats (Butterfield and Siperstein, 1972).
Other contributing factors
I believe the language connection and the relaxing quality are the most important factors
responsible for the human devotion to music. However, there are other facets of musical
appreciation that deserve mentioning.
A musician may feel that reducing musical appreciation to an innate trait does not do music
justice. It is important to stress that the force postulated is no more than a general influence.
Musical appreciation depends on this influence, but in present society music has gained a "life
of its own", rather independent of our innate preferences for particular qualities.
Rewards that are gained promote a preoccupation with sounds and direct our preferences
towards what can broadly be referred to as music, while the individual's particular taste is
governed by personal and cultural traits. Thus the observation that the same music may
produce pleasure in one person and discomfort in another does not contradict the suggested
association with brain rewards.
It should be pointed out that the present theory of musical appreciation does not require all
music-related behaviour to be adaptive.
The various functions that have been assigned to music in literature on ethnomusicology (see
e.g. Deliege and Sloboda, 1997), do not necessarily reflect the advantages that led to the
evolution of a preference for musical sounds. Music may very well take on secondary
functions such as the maintenance of social cohesion or communication with spirits. It is
conceivable that these cultural effects did contribute to the proposed evolution of a genetic
disposition for musical appreciation. However, the previously listed elements would have
been expected to precede possible cultural benefits.
To some extent it is therefore relevant to look at music as what Gould and Vrba (1982) would
call an "exaptation", a trait coopted for a use for which evolution did not shape it. For
example, even if the flippers of turtles evolved for swimming, rather than for burying eggs in
the sand, the turtles may still obtain an advantage by using the flippers to conceal their eggs.
Similarly, even if the adaptive advantage that led to a preference for musical sounds was
primarily connected with improving our linguistic capacity, music can have taken on social
function, and these functions may also have adaptive value.
Another point that should be considered is that musical appreciation may have been enhanced
by selection even in the absence of any value as to the survival of the species. According to
Miller (2000), the process of sexual selection may be responsible for much of our artistic and
intellectual acrobatics.
It is definitely conceivable that sexual selection spurred the evolution of musical capacities,
that is, mate choice could depend to some extent on musical ability. As pointed out by Miller,
most of the advanced acoustic signals in nature are courtship signals; a statement that applies
to birds and whales, as well as to gibbons, the most "musical" of the apes. It is easy to
imagine that competence as to singing, or following a rhythm, may have improved the chance
in a human courtship situation. The theory would help explain why love is the most popular
theme for songs.
While it is likely that sexual selection did contribute to the appreciation of music, it seems
unlikely that this form of evolution is responsible for our enjoyment. Sexual selection tends to
expand particular features, among the more famous are the peacock's feathers, but generally
the feature to be expanded is already present. I believe that in the absence of the language
connection, the functions associated with social life or partner choice would not have
emerged.
Conclusion
I contend that our innate tendency to appreciate music depends on the combination of several
elements: one, qualities that we are favourably disposed towards solely because they are
relevant in connection with language (purity, harmony, melody/temporal patterning); two,
qualities that stimulate our curiosity or feed our imagination (complexity, the human touch);
three, the link with rewards associated with caring for infants (familiarity, intensity, sadness);
four, the relaxing effect (security, continuity, rhythm); and five, the possible contribution of
sexual selection (love songs). The power of sensations evoked depends on how efficiently the
sounds exploit these elements.
Although the above statement implies that music should be analysed as a conglomerate of
several factors, the evolution of language was probably pivotal for developing the particular
positive sensations associated with music. That is, the more specific rewards evolved
primarily to induce us to concentrate our minds on sounds with qualities relevant for
communication.
Given the importance of language, the instigation makes sense.
The life of dogs depends on a keen sense of smell. It is unlikely that a dog will insist on going
to a concert, but dogs would appreciate visiting a "gallery" where they can sniff interesting
odours. Compared to dogs, we are expected to derive more pleasure from auditory signals,
and less from olfactory signals, simply because the auditory signals are more important for
human survival.
The use of agreeable sensations to influence behaviour may be more important in humans
than in any other species (Grinde, 1996a). Evolution granted humans a measure of free will. It
seems plausible to suggest that we evolved more potent sensations in order to ensure that the
behaviour remained biologically adaptive. A free will in the absence of strong incentives for
behaviour that secures subsistence and procreation could easily lead towards extinction.
While the songbirds may experience a slight pleasure when singing, their song presumably
reflects an innate, hard-wired response to particular stimuli in the environment and therefore
does not require particular sensations. We, for whom the song was never intended, are
probably the most appreciative listeners, because our behaviour is guided more by pleasure
and less by instinct, and because the birds' song happens to have qualities that we have
evolved an appreciation for.
The positive sensation model for musical appreciation is supported by the observation that
listening can take on an addictive character. Stimuli that engage pleasure centres in the brain
have a tendency to initiate excessive consumption if they are easily accessible. In modern
society, music is available at any time and any intensity. Florentine et al. (1998) conclude that
for some people listening to music is reminiscent of the maladaptive behaviour associated
with addictive substances; for example, they knowingly insist on playing music so loud that it
results in a loss of hearing, or so often that it prevents the execution of tasks more important
for survival.
Our appreciation of sounds with qualities resembling what we today call music presumably
evolved because it was adaptive for our stone-age ancestors. Music is designed to hit
particular pleasure circuitries in the brain with maximum power; that is, music offers an
exaggerated stimulus akin to the way a nesting bird will prefer a plastic egg if it is bigger than
the real egg. However, although misuse may occur, the contribution to our quality of life
seems far more important.
If evolution has bestowed on us a capacity to derive pleasure from music, we should rejoice,
and listen. As stated by Panksepp (1998b), for those who seek long-term health and happiness
the question is to play or not to play.
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