DOI: 10.5061/dryad.sf7m0cgjr
title: Monkeys have rhythm: Macaque and human tapping responses to musical excerpts

description: Synchronizing movements to music is one of the hallmarks of human culture
 whose evolutionary and neurobiological origins remain unknown. The ability
 to synchronize movements requires 1) detecting a steady rhythmic pulse, or
 beat, out of a stream of complex sounds, 2) projecting this rhythmic
 pattern forward in time to predict future input, and 3) timing motor
 commands in anticipation of predicted future beats. Here, we demonstrate
 that the macaque is capable of synchronizing taps to a subjective beat in
 real music, and even spontaneously chooses to do so over alternative
 strategies. This contradicts the influential “vocal learning hypothesis”
 that musical beat synchronization is only possible in species with complex
 vocalizations such as humans and some songbirds. We propose an alternative
 view of musical beat perception and synchronization ability as a continuum
 onto which a wider range of species can be mapped depending on their
 ability to perform and coordinate the general abilities listed above
 through association with reward.
description: # Monkeys have rhythm Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.sf7m0cgjr](10.5061/dryad.sf7m0cgjr) ## Description of the
 data and file structure The data provided here reproduce the results
 reported in ‘**Monkeys have rhythm**’ by Vani G. Rajendran, Luis Prado,
 Juan Pablo Márquez, and Hugo Merchant from the National Autonomous
 University of Mexico. The data consist of tap times recorded from two
 monkeys (M1 & M2) and 18 human subjects (H01-H18) who performed three
 main experiments: * Experiment 1: Music * Experiment 2: Scrambled Music *
 Experiment 3: Free Tapping Additionally, the data file includes
 supplementary data collected from one monkey (M1) that includes: *
 Extended tapping to music (Song 1 & 3 only): 7 taps * Free tapping to
 6 new songs ## Files and variables #### File: data_monkeys_have_rhythm.mat
 This single .mat file contains 4 datatables #### Variables *
 **m_datatable:** Monkey datatable, contains all data used to create the
 manuscript’s main figures * **h_datatable.mat**: Human datatable, contains
 the data used to make Supp. Fig. S4 showing human data for the 3 main
 experiments  * **m_suppdata_7taps.mat:** Supplementary monkey datatable
 presenting Song 1 & 3, 7 taps (M2 only), used to create Supp. Fig. S6
 * **m_suppdata_freetapping_newsongs_6taps.mat:** Free tapping, new songs,
 6 taps (M2 only), used to create Supp. Fig. S7 Each row of the datatables
 is a trial. #### **Datatable column definitions:**
 .**timestamp**: timestamp of experiment
 .**justdate**: yyyymmdd .**fn**:
 filename of raw data files (available if desired, but datatables provided
 for convenience) .**exptname** and
 .**stimset** describe the stimuli used and are the
 following: * Monkey data table (**m_datatable.mat**) * Experiment 1: Music
 (exptname: **'01,02,05’**, stimset: **‘mirex’** & **‘mirex_p’**
 for 0 and pi data respectively) * Experiment 2: Scrambled Music 
 (exptname: **'01,02,05’**, stimset: **‘mirexQ’** & **‘mirexQ_p’**
 for 0 and pi data respectively) * Experiment 3: Free Tapping  (exptname:
 **‘libre’**, stimset: **‘backstreet’** & ‘**backstreet_pi**’ for 0 and
 pi data respectively) * Human data table (**h_datatable.mat**) *
 Experiment 1: Music (exptname: **'01,02,05’**, stimset: **‘mirex’**
 & ‘**mirex_p**’ for 0 and pi data respectively) * Experiment 2:
 Scrambled Music (exptname: **'01,02,05’**, stimset: **‘Q’** &
 ‘**Q_p**’ for 0 and pi data respectively) * Experiment 3: Free Tapping
 (exptname: **‘libre’**, stimset: **‘backstreet’** &
 **‘backstreet_pi’** for 0 and pi data respectively) * Supplementary monkey
 data tables:  * Song 1 & 3, 7 taps (M2 only) (exptname: **‘music(2
 songs(0.465, 0.882))’** & ‘**music_pi(2 songs(0.465, 0.882))**’ for 0
 and pi data respectively, stimset: **‘7taps’** ) * Free tapping, new
 songs, 6 taps (M2 only) (exptname: **‘Extra1’, ‘Extra2’, ‘Extra3’,
 ‘Extra4’** referring to the pairs of songs presented, stimset: **‘6taps’**
 ) .**subject**: ‘Gil’ or ‘Tomas’ (M1 & M2,
 respectively), or H01-H18 (human data) .**interval**:
 correct target tempo of the song/stimulus, in seconds
 \.**P:** number of intervals that make up the
 “perception” phase. For intervals &lt;800 ms, the GO signal was presented
 at approximately P x interval + 0.975 seconds after the start of the
 trial, or at approximately P x interval + 0.2 seconds if the interval was
 &gt;800 ms. Taps occurring after the estimated GO signal were used in the
 analysis. .**S**: number of taps required for a trial to
 be accepted as correct .**taps**: subject tap “times”,
 subtract from this “stimstart” for this trial to get tap times in seconds,
 relative to start of trial .**stimstart**: when the trial
 starts, ie time “0” ## Code/software **Matlab R2022a** was used to analyze
 the data using custom scripts. **Note:** If you have any further questions
 feel free to contact
 [vani.g.rajendran@gmail.com](mailto:vani.g.rajendran@gmail.com) or
 [hugomerchant@unam.mx](mailto:hugomerchant@unam.mx). **Enjoy!** May 26,
 2025 ## Human subjects data Participants granted their explicit consent to
 publish the de-identified data in the public domain. Data were
 de-identified by assigning participants an anonymous ID (H01, H02, ...).