PSYB65H3 Chapter 10: Chapter 10 (1)
Document Summary
Research focus 10. 1: evolution of language and music. Music is important in our evolution (homo sapiens) as it can be seen in our social and emotional lives. Of 26 species of singing primates, the male and female sing duets, therefore suggesting a relationship to sexual behaviour. Music and language might have evolved simultaneously. Neanderthals had large brains and shared cultural similarities as humans: buried the dead with artifacts, made flutes with hollow bones. However their larynx suggested that they had poor language ability due to their terrible larynx. Plays a central role in our mental and social lives because it provides a way to communicate, social identification, parenting, and cultural transmission. Sound is the mechanical energy we hear and results from changes in air pressure/molecules. The ear analyzes the sound energy into: frequency (repetitive rate), amplitude (size), and complexity. The brain then translates these energies into the sound we hear: pitch, loudness, and timbre.
