Music and Cats / Book of Abstracts - Catalog - Page 17
Abstracts
Panel 3: Cats as Listeners
13:35 – 13:50
Do Cats Entrain
to Music?
Tom Solomon / University of Bergen
This paper explores the question of whether cats
can entrain or not to music. It uses videos taken at
the
presenter’s
home
showing
everyday
interaction between the presenter, his partner, and
the cat Viktor, in which Viktor appears to entrain
—via movements of his tail—to the rhythm of a
simple song improvised and sung by the
presenter’s partner. The paper begins by
introducing Viktor and the social situations in
which he appears to entrain to the singing. The
paper then discusses entrainment as a concept
more generally, giving a brief definition of the
phenomenon with reference to relevant research in
ethnomusicology and the psychology of music. The
paper then briefly reviews a few examples from the
scientific
literature
discussing
whether
non-human animals can entrain to music, and
briefly notes the presence of this as a meme in
popular culture (for example the proliferation
on YouTube of birds, especially cockatoos, who
appear to be entraining to music played in the
background). The paper then returns to some
videos of Viktor in his home setting, in which
various aspects of the performance situation
are controlled for (for example a stillness of
the tail before the singing starts, contrasted
with the immediate onset of synchronized
rhythmic movement when the singing
commences; and tail movements that match
variations in the tempo of the singing). While
the evidence presented is anecdotal, it does
suggest that Viktor did indeed entrain to the
singing in those situations, and that further,
more properly scientific studies of whether
cats can entrain to music are warranted.
15
Peter Alupka
