Indifference to dissonance in native Amazonians reveals cultural variation in music perception

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 535; no. 7613; pp. 547 - 550
• Main Authors: McDermott, Josh H., Schultz, Alan F., Undurraga, Eduardo A., Godoy, Ricardo A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 28.07.2016; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/378/2619; 631/477/2811; Acoustic Stimulation; Acoustics; Adult; Auditory Perception; Bolivia - ethnology; Culture; Esthetics - psychology; Female; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Indians, South American - psychology; letter; Male; multidisciplinary; Music; Music - psychology; Musical ability; Native peoples; Pleasure; Psychological aspects; Rainforest; Science; Sensory perception; Singing; Social aspects; Sound; United States - ethnology; Urban Population; Young Adult; Bolivia; United States; Brazil
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/nature18635

A native Amazonian society rated consonant and dissonant chords and vocal harmonies as equally pleasant, whereas Bolivian city- and town-dwellers preferred consonance, indicating that preference for consonance over dissonance is not universal and probably develops from exposure to particular types of polyphonic music. Cultural variation in music perception In Western cultures, some combinations of musical notes are perceived as pleasant, or consonant, and others as unpleasant, or dissonant. The aesthetic contrast between consonance and dissonance is commonly thought to be biologically determined and thus to be universally present in humans. Josh McDermott and colleagues put this idea to the test by conducting experiments in remote areas of the Bolivian Amazon rainforest, working with the Tsimane', an indigenous society that has remained relatively isolated from Western culture. They found that the Tsimane' rated consonant and dissonant chords and vocal harmonies as equally pleasant. By contrast, Bolivian city- and town-dwellers preferred consonance, albeit to a lesser degree than US residents. These findings suggest that the preference for consonance over dissonance is not universal, and probably develops from exposure to particular types of polyphonic music. Music is present in every culture, but the degree to which it is shaped by biology remains debated. One widely discussed phenomenon is that some combinations of notes are perceived by Westerners as pleasant, or consonant, whereas others are perceived as unpleasant, or dissonant 1 . The contrast between consonance and dissonance is central to Western music 2 , 3 , and its origins have fascinated scholars since the ancient Greeks 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 . Aesthetic responses to consonance are commonly assumed by scientists to have biological roots 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , and thus to be universally present in humans 15 , 16 . Ethnomusicologists 17 and composers 8 , in contrast, have argued that consonance is a creation of Western musical culture 6 . The issue has remained unresolved, partly because little is known about the extent of cross-cultural variation in consonance preferences 18 . Here we report experiments with the Tsimane’—a native Amazonian society with minimal exposure to Western culture—and comparison populations in Bolivia and the United States that varied in exposure to Western music. Participants rated the pleasantness of sounds. Despite exhibiting Western-like discrimination abilities and Western-like aesthetic responses to familiar sounds and acoustic roughness, the Tsimane’ rated consonant and dissonant chords and vocal harmonies as equally pleasant. By contrast, Bolivian city- and town-dwellers exhibited significant preferences for consonance, albeit to a lesser degree than US residents. The results indicate that consonance preferences can be absent in cultures sufficiently isolated from Western music, and are thus unlikely to reflect innate biases or exposure to harmonic natural sounds. The observed variation in preferences is presumably determined by exposure to musical harmony, suggesting that culture has a dominant role in shaping aesthetic responses to music.