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Perhaps the love of music is due to genetics
Last reviewed: 17.10.2021
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Finnish researchers argue that addiction to music is a neurobiological feature that influences the formation of social relations.
Music was listened to at all times, in any culture. The similarities between the human and bird song are described long and in detail: both contain a message and fix an internal state that can be recognized even by representatives of other species. Meanwhile, the perception of music has a number of characteristics that are important from the point of view of biology: the lullaby strengthens the relationship between the child and the parent, joint singing or playing music involves people in collective action and strengthens social ties in the group ...
In the new work of the staff of the University of Helsinki and the Sibelius Academy, a possible biological base was investigated that would predispose to a passion for music. Scientists and musicologists with prejudice interviewed 437 people 8-93 years old from 31 Finnish families. Among the respondents there were both professional musicians and people without any musical education. Researchers have divided into different poles active and passive listeners: the first when listening to pay all the attention to music and go to concerts, the latter perceive music only as a background for some other activity. All participants were taken blood samples for a DNA test.
Genetic analysis showed a "family" distribution of the occurrence of musical deafness, absolute hearing, a tendency to own musical creativity. Also, depending on the pedigree, the love for listening to music and the level of musical education changed. Moreover, love and dislike for music correlated at the molecular level with the presence of the gene of arginine-vasopressin receptor 1A (AVPR1A). Its influence on the level of socialization and the active formation of interpersonal contacts in humans and other animals is shown. Homologues of vasopressin in various animals increase singing abilities in birds and affect the processes associated with breeding offspring in lizards and fish.
The results of the study say (although so far at the level of correlations) about the role of biology in the perception of music, pointing to the molecular factors that link the perception of sound and social behavior. Further work in this direction can clarify the understanding of how genetics and culture interact through music.
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