Presentation Information
[S1-04]Rhythmic synchronization ability of rats
*Reo Wada1, Hiroki Koda1 (1. The University of Tokyo (Japan))
Keywords:
Rhythmic synchronization,rats
Studying how animals perceive and respond to rhythm is important for understanding the evolutionary origins of musical abilities. Rhythmic synchronization, where animals coordinate their movements with a rhythmic stimulus, is one way to examine rhythmic cognition and is thought to be accompanied by vocal learning ability. Recent studies suggest possible rhythmic synchronization in rats, a non-vocal learning animal, but different tasks and limited findings make species comparisons difficult. Here, we employed an approach similar to that for other species and investigated whether rats also spontaneously synchronize their tapping with a rhythmic auditory stimulus. The results showed that rats responded synchronously to stimulus presentation in the fast-tempo condition. This finding suggests that non-vocal learning species, such as rats, can synchronize external rhythm only when the tempo of the rhythm is close to the tempo of their movement.