Maggie Koerth-Baker has an interesting entry on Boing Boing today on the biology of music and why humans like specific groups of tones. Her post discusses a recently published paper by Duke's Dale Purves, PhD, and Kamraan Gill, PhD.
Koerth-Baker writes:
The sounds humans make matter most, he said, because that's where we get information about our competitors and our potential mates--the things we need to know to be successful creatures. We developed an ear for the tones common in human vocalizations, the same way a sommelier might develop a taste for fine wines. Those are the tones we find most appealing and thus, the ones we made into our musical art.
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