Subject: Re: Fw: animals and music From: Robert Zatorre <robert.zatorre(at)mcgill.ca> Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 11:40:12 -0500--=====================_4948241==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed At 20:28 05/03/05 +0000, Lowel P. O'Mard wrote: >Hi People, > >We as humans have a tendency towards elitism with regard to the >capabilities of other animals. Just because they do not seem moved by >human music as much as humans can be, does not mean that they are >incapable of being so moved. We as humans also have a tremendous capacity to anthropomorphize. As scientists, we are supposed to be extra-careful not to fall into this trap. Just because the dog comes and stares at the speakers doesn't mean he's listening to the music, much less enjoying it. We need a higher standard that that, folks! Besides, the assumption that animals do not respond to human music the way that humans do is merely the appropriate null hypothesis--to be disproved by appropriate data. It does NOT mean we are elitist. It merely means that we are being careful, and are aware of cross-species differences. We do not respond to a given animal sound in the same way the animal does, so why should it respond the way we do to our sounds? It would be elitist if we said "we're better than they are" it is not elitist to say "we have a different set of adaptations than they do." Our auditory system is really bad at, say, echolocation, but is particularly good at music and speech; other animals are specialized differently. Our job is to understand how each nervous system works based on its particular biology. Now perhaps we can all stop barking up this same tree...or flogging the dead horse....at least for a while! Robert -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Robert J. Zatorre, Ph.D. Montreal Neurological Institute 3801 University St. Montreal, QC Canada H3A 2B4 phone: 1-514-398-8903 fax: 1-514-398-1338 web site: www.zlab.mcgill.ca --=====================_4948241==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <html> <font size=3>At 20:28 05/03/05 +0000, Lowel P. O'Mard wrote:<br> <blockquote type=cite cite>Hi People,<br> <br> We as humans have a tendency towards elitism with regard to the<br> capabilities of other animals. Just because they do not seem moved by<br> human music as much as humans can be, does not mean that they are<br> incapable of being so moved.</blockquote><br> We as humans also have a tremendous capacity to anthropomorphize. As scientists, we are supposed to be extra-careful not to fall into this trap. Just because the dog comes and stares at the speakers doesn't mean he's listening to the music, much less enjoying it. We need a higher standard that that, folks!<br> <br> Besides, the assumption that animals do not respond to human music the way that humans do is merely the appropriate null hypothesis--to be disproved by appropriate data. It does NOT mean we are elitist. It merely means that we are being careful, and are aware of cross-species differences. We do not respond to a given animal sound in the same way the animal does, so why should it respond the way we do to our sounds? It would be elitist if we said "we're better than they are" it is not elitist to say "we have a different set of adaptations than they do." Our auditory system is really bad at, say, echolocation, but is particularly good at music and speech; other animals are specialized differently. Our job is to understand how each nervous system works based on its particular biology. <br> <br> Now perhaps we can all stop barking up this same tree...or flogging the dead horse....at least for a while!<br> <br> Robert<br> </font><br> <div>-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+</div> <br> <div>Robert J. Zatorre, Ph.D.</div> <div>Montreal Neurological Institute</div> <div>3801 University St.</div> <div>Montreal, QC Canada H3A 2B4</div> <div>phone: 1-514-398-8903</div> <div>fax: 1-514-398-1338</div> <div>web site: <a href="http://www.zlab.mcgill.ca/" EUDORA=AUTOURL>www.zlab.mcgill.ca</a></div> </html> --=====================_4948241==_.ALT--