High C and Low C – Humans can perceive sounds separated by an octave as similar – this is important for music and language development, among other things. But rats have this ability too: octave equivalence.
In any case, humans can perceive melodies as belonging together, regardless of pitch, and sounds as belonging together, despite differences in frequency. “This does not have to be learned, we do it automatically, for example when we sing together, simply because we have different voices,” scientist Marisa Hoeschele explains in a broadcast.
Do animals also have this ability? The team led by Bernhard Wagner and Marisa Hoeschele from the Institute for Sound Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) investigated the question, as reported in the journal “Royal Society Open Science”.
Rats responded surprisingly
The researchers played different notes to rats in the lab. If the rodents responded to certain notes—such as the middle four in an octave—they received a reward. The animals were then played different notes, but also the same ones in different octaves. In the experiment, the lab rats responded to these notes one octave offsetting them. This suggests that they were perceived as similar, despite having different frequencies.
According to the authors, the results indicate that octave equivalence may be widespread in mammalian species or may be natural due to harmonic vocal structure and not culturally learned. However, further research is needed.
Source: Krone
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