Your Parents May Be To Blame For Your Taste In Music, Says Science

People’s taste in music is a result of their upbringing, rather than biology, according to new research from MIT.

For decades, scientists have hypothesised that human brains are hardwired to prefer consonant sounds.

In Western music, including everything from classical to pop, some combinations of notes are considered to be more harmonious and pleasant to listen to - these are known as consonant sounds.

In contrast, dissonant sounds are usually more jarring and often used by composers to unsettle the listener.

“This study suggests that preferences for consonance over dissonance depend on exposure to Western musical culture, and that the preference is not innate,” says MIT neuroscience professor Josh McDermott, co-leader of the study published in Nature.

In the study of more than 100 people belonging to a remote Amazonian tribe with little or no exposure to Western music, the researchers found that although the participants could tell the difference between consonant and dissonant chords, they didn’t have a preference for either.

“It’s pretty hard to find people who don’t have a lot of exposure to Western pop music due to its diffusion around the world,” McDermott says.

“Most people hear a lot of Western music, and Western music has a lot of consonant chords in it. It’s thus been hard to rule out the possibility that we like consonance because that’s what we’re used to, but also hard to provide a definitive test.”

After studying several groups of people across Bolivia and the U.S, the researchers found that the preference for harmonious, consonant music varied greatly.

In the Amazonian tribe it was undetectable, whereas in the two groups from Bolivia, there was a small degree of preference, while among the American groups it was much larger.

The researchers concluded that musical preferences are most likely learned as part of our culture and upbringing, rather than being the result of a biological preference.

Image credit: WestEnd61/REX/Shutterstock