This means someone dealt a good genetic hand may never realise their musical potential if they are not exposed to a musical environment or given the opportunity to sing, Dr Tan said. At the same time, someone may be able to overcome any genetic disadvantage by growing up with music, or by training and practice — although there is some evidence how likely you are to practice itself may itself be inherited. The new research also hopes to explore what age exposure to music education is going to be most effective.
Psychologist Bill Thompson of Macquarie University, who specialises in music cognition, said twin studies are a powerful technique. But, he said, it's important to remember that having golden tonsils is not the be-all and end-all of musical abilities. For example, he said, even if you can't sing well in tune you might be a genius instrumentalist or composer. The ability to sing in tune is often confused with what is known as 'perfect pitch', but the two are actually quite different, according to Professor Thompson.
But, stresses Professor Thompson, music is all about relationships between notes rather than individual notes. So, while people with perfect pitch are typically very musical, some music schools consider perfect pitch to be "a bit of a liability" said Professor Thompson. Dr Tan and her colleagues are looking for Australian twins aged over 15 who can spare minutes to complete an online test.
Among other things, participants will be asked to sing 'Happy Birthday'; listen to and sing back a series of single notes; and listen and sing back a series of seven-note random tunes they've never heard before. The researchers want young and old participants too, to look at whether the relative contribution of genes and environment to our tunefulness changes as we age. And don't worry, you don't have to be as good as The Veronicas or other rock star twins to participate.
You can just do it in the privacy of your own home. Lee Bowman and Paula Bowman are identical twins who "started singing when we started talking. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. But have you ever wondered how much of your ability to sing in tune is inherited?
In other words, AP may be predisposed by different genetic variants at different chromosomal regions, both within and across populations of different ancestries. A recently published study investigated the genetic relationship between AP and synaesthesia through a combined genome-wide linkage analysis of 53 multiplex families with AP i.
Interestingly, 28 of the AP possessors from the AP families reported synaesthesia, while eight synaesthesia families had a member with AP. Given this overlap and the hypothesis that the two phenotypes may be jointly influenced by genes underpinning brain structural and functional connectivity, the researchers combined the AP and synaesthesia datasets for analysis. This revealed significant linkage on chromosome 6q Upon sequencing several potential candidate genes in this region, Gregersen et al.
EPHA7 has been implicated in brain development, particularly establishing neural connectivity between auditory cortex and other cortical regions with the thalamus North et al. Since neuroimaging studies have reported that both AP and synaesthesia are marked by atypical structural and functional connectivity Rouw and Scholte, ; Loui et al.
More research involving extensive resequencing on the EPHA7 gene is needed in order to confirm its involvement. Using parametric linkage analysis, a more complex pattern of linkage was also observed on chromosome 2 in the combined AP and synaesthesia dataset, with a heterogeneity LOD score of 4.
Inherent neuroanatomical differences between AP and non-AP possessors may also be genetically influenced. AP possessors show increased leftward asymmetry of the planum temporale PT due to a significantly smaller right mean PT volume compared with non-AP possessors Keenan et al.
Keenan et al. Wilson et al. Other supporting evidence comes from the discovery of an adult AP possessor, R. This case indicates that an early onset of music training or any music training may not be essential for AP to emerge Ross et al. While the neurological basis of congenital amusia has been well-investigated Peretz and Hyde, ; Hyde et al.
In the first familial aggregation study on congenital amusia, Peretz et al. However, Mignault Goulet et al. This suggests that daily music listening is insufficient to improve pitch perception performance or stimulate neural plasticity in amusic children. Investigations of infant musical behavior have shown that infants are capable of detecting melodic or rhythmic changes in musical patterns, as well as perceiving changes in pitch and rhythm Trehub et al.
Coupled with the ubiquity of music across all cultures McDermott and Hauser, , these findings suggest that all humans are endowed with an intrinsic form of musicality, and that genetic factors may play a role in its manifestation.
In particular, individual differences in the ease of auditory skill acquisition point to predisposed differences in auditory ability. In one study, participants were classified as slow or fast learners in an auditory discrimination training task.
Differences in behavioral performance were reflected in differential patterns of training-induced functional activation between the two groups Gaab et al. Compared with the slow learners, fast learners recruited the left supramarginal gyrus and left Heschl's gyrus to a greater extent during the post-training phase.
Likewise, Zatorre et al. These findings suggest that predisposed differences in brain functioning may influence an individual's music perception abilities and the capacity to acquire musical skills. Relative pitch RP perception may also be genetically influenced, as inferred from an ethnicity study by Hove et al. These researchers examined the RP ability of secondary school students with minimal music background using an interval identification task. The researchers then conducted a similar study with Caucasian, Chinese, and Korean undergraduates with minimal music training Hove et al.
Interestingly, these ethnicity effects only occurred in the pitch domain with no differences observed on a rhythm-pattern task. Moreover, as most of the Korean participants spoke Seoul or standard South Korean, both of which are non-pitch-accented Sohn, , it is unlikely that the ethnicity effects stemmed from tone-language experience. Neither the degree of tone-language experience fluent or non-fluent , the primary language spoken at home tonal or non-tonal , nor time spent in East Asia during early childhood were associated with RP ability of the East Asian participants.
It is therefore possible that the ethnicity effects observed for RP processing have a genetic basis. Foster and Zatorre observed that gray matter volume and cortical thickness in the right Heschl's sulcus and bilateral intraparietal sulcus predicted performance on a relative pitch task, even after accounting for music training.
Although music training-induced structural neuroplasticity has been well-documented see in this Research topic Barrett et al. A study conducted on 15 musical Finnish families investigated the genetic basis of music aptitude using three widely-used music perception tests: the Karma Music Test, and Seashore's pitch and rhythm discrimination tests Pulli et al.
The Seashore tasks use paired discrimination to assess pitch and rhythm perception Radocy and Boyle, , while the Karma Music Test assesses the ability to recognize patterns in sound sequences Karma, Interestingly, the suggestive linkage peak at 8q was close to the linkage on chromosome 8q A possible candidate gene at the tallest linkage peak of chromosome 4q22 is the netrin receptor UNC5C.
Netrins are proteins that direct axon extension and cell migration during neural development, with studies showing interactions between netrins and robo family receptors Stein and Tessier-Lavigne, One of the genes found on 8q is TRPA1 , which was proposed as a non-essential subunit of the hair-cell transduction channel in the vertebrate inner ear Corey, The authors of this study posited that the low selection pressure of TRPA1 may make it susceptible to mutations and perhaps lead to variability in the sound perception ability of individuals.
Taken together, these linkage results suggest a genetic contribution to music perception underpinned by several predisposing genes on 4q and 8q Pulli et al. Previous studies have shown that arginine vasopressin AVP plays a key role in social cognition and behavior Ferguson et al.
Its association with auditory pattern perception in this study suggests a potential link between music perception and human social functioning. Using the same music perception measures as the two aforementioned studies, a recent study analyzed genome-wide CNVs in five multigenerational Finnish families and in unrelated individuals Ukkola-Vuoti et al. The CNV analysis detected several copy number variable regions CNVRs containing genes that influence neurodevelopment, learning and memory.
Notably, a deletion on 5q Since learning and memory are crucial to music skill acquisition, including music perception McLachlan et al. Also noteworthy was the identification of a novel large 1. This region was previously reported as a major linkage region for AP Theusch et al. As large duplications may have detrimental effects on neurodevelopment Almal and Padh, ; Grayton et al.
Due to the relatively small sample size and a lack of screening for neurocognitive deficits, the authors acknowledge that these results are preliminary, and there remains a possibility that the identified CNVs may not be predisposing for music perception per se. In the first study to demonstrate a link between music perception and genes that are expressed in the auditory pathway, the same Finnish research group conducted a large-scale genome-wide linkage and association study on the music perception abilities of people from 76 Finnish families Oikkonen et al.
While the heritability estimates for the Karma Music Test and the rhythm discrimination task are similar to the estimates reported by Pulli et al. SNP linkage and association analyses uncovered multiple chromosomal regions containing auditory pathway genes.
Specifically, the strongest association was observed on 3q Located close to 3q The inferior colliculus is a key structure in the peripheral auditory pathways that supports the initial integration of pitch, direction and loudness information necessary for music perception McLachlan and Wilson, Linkage analysis also revealed several linkage regions on chromosome 4, spanning 4p15 to 4q The strongest linkage was observed for the pitch discrimination task on chromosome 4p14, which is located next to the PCDH7 protocadherin 7 gene.
PCDH7 is expressed in the developing cochlea of the chicken and the amygdala of the mouse Hertel et al. Finally, some evidence of linkage was found on 4q The current study, however, did not replicate the previously reported association between AVPR1A and music perception Ukkola et al.
In the rhythm domain, one study has reported that mutation of the FOXP2 Forkhead box protein P2 gene on chromosome 7q31 impairs rhythm perception and production, while leaving pitch perception and production abilities intact Alcock et al.
There is evidence that six to eight-month old infants have already developed long-term memories for music and are able to distinguish between familiar and novel music Saffran et al. In addition, exposure to melodies presented prenatally for three weeks elicits significant heart rate change in one-month old infants compared to unexposed controls, suggesting that newborn infants are capable of retaining music representations up to six weeks following prenatal exposure Granier-Deferre et al.
Genetic determinants of memory have been reported in the broader literature, with some studies indicating that memory ability can be predicted by a particular SNP Val66Met variant of the BDNF brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene Egan et al.
BDNF is evident in the hippocampus a structure fundamental to new learning and memory and has been implicated in neuronal growth, survival and maturation, including arborization and synaptic plasticity in the adult brain Park and Poo, In the only genetic study of music memory to date, Granot et al. The rationale for targeting these two genes included a previously reported relationship between arginine vasopressin AVP and spatial and social memory Ferguson et al. There is also evidence that serotonin interacts with AVP in the hypothalamus Albers et al.
This points to a possible epistatic relationship between the gene AVPR1A , which contains the blueprint to synthesize the AVP receptor, and the gene SLC6A4 , which is the serotonin transporter protein crucial for regulating serotonin supply to serotonin receptors.
In view of this, Granot et al. The phonological and music memory performance of the participants were assessed using an extensive battery of tests. Results revealed significant gene by gene epistatic interactions between the AVPR1A and SLC6A4 polymorphisms for two melodic memory tasks, one rhythmic memory task, and one phonological memory task, even after applying conservative Bonferroni corrections for multiple testing.
This provides initial evidence for an epistatic relationship between AVPR1A and SLC6A4 polymorphisms that may be linked to short-term memory for music, or more generally, to phonological memory. Family-based association analysis revealed positive associations between AVPR1A haplotypes and active music listening. No significant association was observed between music listening and the SLC6A4 polymorphisms. In this study, active listening referred to attentive music listening, such as going to concerts.
Moreover, the authors reported that when music perception test scores and music education were covaried with music listening in the association analysis, the significant effect remained, indicating that music listening is independently associated with AVPR1A.
More broadly, this association suggests that music listening may share common neurobiological pathways with social attachment and communication, given the well-established findings of AVP's mediating role in social behavior Ferguson et al. Across all cultures humans have a propensity to sing. Most children begin imitating songs at approximately age two, by age four they can sing complete songs, and by age 5 most of them can accurately reproduce entire songs McPherson and Williamon, ; Parncutt, Although it is likely that variability in children's singing competency is, in part, attributable to environmental factors, such as early music exposure and training, a behavioral study has suggested there may also be an inborn aspect to singing accuracy.
Watts et al. Park et al. They administered a pitch production accuracy test and found that of the participants The findings overlap with regions on chromosome 4q, where there is linkage evidence for music perception ability Pulli et al. A family-based association analysis performed at the putative linkage region revealed that SNP rs on 4q26 was most significantly associated with singing accuracy.
The authors also utilized exome sequencing to find other potential candidate SNPs and discovered a non-synonymous SNP rs in UGT8 on 4q26 that was significantly associated with singing accuracy.
In addition, CNV analysis using an array comparative genomic hybridization aCGH platform showed that a copy number loss at 5. Although environmental factors such as education and music training were not considered in this study, the authors argued that because the participants resided in an isolated region with homogeneous culture and most were educated in the same school without additional music training, environmental factors were unlikely to impact greatly on the results.
In other words, this study yields evidence that singing accuracy may be heritable in this population and possibly associated with a region on chromosome 4q. Coon and Carey analyzed the music ability of 11th grade twins by extracting music-related questionnaire data from an earlier study Loehlin and Nichols, The significant gender difference in the estimates indicates that a shared environment exerted a stronger effect on females than males, while heritability was much higher in males than females.
The authors suggested this may be due to a stereotypical perception that singing is a feminine activity and therefore, males might require greater interest and intrinsic ability to take part in such activities.
As this study relied on self-reported data and did not objectively assess the singing ability of the twin pairs, more investigation is warranted to ascertain the genetic contribution to singing ability.
Similar to the association study on music memory by Granot et al. An overall association with choral singer status was observed at the STin2 intron 2 polymorphism in the SLC6A4 gene, with the STin2 9-repeat and repeat alleles being more common in choral singers, and the repeat alleles more common in non-musically active controls.
Previous studies have reported possible involvement of STin2 in personality traits and reward behavior Kazantseva et al. The genetic basis of music creativity was investigated in 19 Finnish musical families using a web-based questionnaire. Participants were asked about their music background and participation in creative music activities, such as music composition, improvisation or arrangement Ukkola et al.
A significant positive association between music creativity and high music perception test scores was also observed. Ukkola-Vuoti et al. Results showed that a deletion on 5p The region 2p The medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus forms part of the auditory pathways, and more generally has been implicated in music-related functions such as beat perception McAuley et al. Other studies have found a link between the serotonin transporter gene SLC6A4 and music-related functions such as choir participation Morley et al.
On the other hand, deletions in three CNV regions 2p12, 3p The authors acknowledged the preliminary nature of their findings, highlighting their use of uncorrected multiple comparisons. Replication of the findings is clearly warranted, including the use of objective measures of music creativity in future research. In addition to examining participation in singing activities in 11th grade twins, Coon and Carey used the music-related questionnaire data from Loehlin and Nichols to investigate other aspects of self-reported music ability, including interest in a music career, participation in music activities, out-of-school music performance experience, and receiving music prizes.
Their results showed that while there were genetic influences, the effects of a shared environment were almost always larger across all the variables, with the exception of singing participation described above and out-of-school music performances in male twins. The researchers concluded that music ability is generally more influenced by shared environment than by shared genes in this young adult sample.
Interestingly, contrasting results were obtained in a more recent Netherlands twin study involving twin pairs aged 12—24 years.
Using a self-report questionnaire, this study examined the heritability of domain-specific aptitude defined as ability within the normal range and exceptional talent. In particular, the participants were asked to rate their level of competence in various domains such as music, arts, language and sports Vinkhuyzen et al.
The authors concluded that genetic influences possibly account for the variation in aptitude and exceptional talent across domains, including intellect, creativity, and sporting ability to a large extent. Similar to the music creativity research, both of the above twin studies lacked objective measures of music ability, raising concerns about the reliability of the findings.
As reviewed in this paper, a number of studies have begun to yield insights into the genetic basis of music ability. To date, some promising and converging findings have begun to emerge. Several loci on chromosome 8q have been implicated in more than one music trait. For instance, loci 8q21 and 8q24 have been implicated in AP ability and music perception Pulli et al.
Similarly, loci 4p14 and 4q22 on chromosome 4 have been implicated in music perception, particularly pitch discrimination Pulli et al. A number of genes have featured quite prominently in music genetics research to date. The associations of these two genes with various music functions raises the intriguing possibility of an overlap in the neurobiological basis of music functions and social behavior.
Replication of the results of existing studies is necessary to confirm the findings, especially in those studies with small sample sizes e. For instance, a recent large genome-wide linkage and association study Oikkonen et al. In many of the candidate gene association studies, the polymorphisms of genes such as AVPR1A and SLC6A4 were chosen as candidates based on suggestive results from other music studies.
However, the multi-faceted nature of music ability may render a candidate gene associated with one musical function a weak candidate for another musical function.
This is illustrated by the study of Morley et al. It may thus be more prudent for researchers to select candidate genes based on supporting evidence from linkage analysis or GWAS of related music abilities. It is also important to note that candidate gene studies have a poor record of replication, with negative findings likely under-reported due to publication bias for positive findings Ott, ; Lewis and Knight, In replicating the findings of current studies, it will be important for future studies to use alternate populations and larger samples.
Extending the findings from these families to other ethnic populations would serve to validate the reported associations. More generally, conducting GWAS in populations of different ancestries has been identified as a key area for future medical genetics research, as the different linkage disequilibrium LD structure of different populations may help to refine a gene locus of interest Stranger et al. Increased research efforts toward replication will also add to the number of independent molecular genetic studies available for meta-analysis, which in turn, will increase the sample size and statistical power of meta-analyses to detect associations with modest effects Stranger et al.
As molecular genetics research in music is still in its infancy, many of the molecular studies reviewed in this paper utilized earlier molecular genetic methods such as linkage mapping or the candidate gene approach. Technological advances now make it possible for commercial arrays to include a combination of SNPs and structural genetic variants such as CNVs McCarroll, Music genetics researchers can consider integrating these approaches, with findings yielded from CNV analysis able to complement those from SNP analysis Stranger et al.
Other recent methods include exome sequencing, which provides a more cost-effective and efficient alternative to whole genome sequencing, as well as methylation studies , which can be used to investigate the potential contribution of epigenetic influences and the underlying molecular and biological mechanisms of a trait Rowe and Tenesa, Future studies of the genetic basis of music would therefore likely benefit from a shift toward more current molecular genetic methods to investigate complex traits, especially while new approaches for integrating and analyzing diverse data types are being developed Battle et al.
Another important, but as yet under-researched avenue of music genetics research involves exploration of the potential contributions of epistasis , gene-environment interactions, and epigenetic influences on music ability. These factors may explain why many of the genetic variants and loci implicated in complex traits could only account for a small percentage of the heritability estimated from family studies Stranger et al.
Music researchers need to move away from the dichotomous view of nature vs. For instance, there may be possible genetic influences on ostensibly environmental components such as training-induced neural plasticity Brans et al.
Conversely, environmental factors may alter gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms Fagiolini et al. While the results garnered to date are promising, a more comprehensive investigation of music ability is warranted, including more precise characterization of music phenotypes to identify their genetic basis. This means that other equally important perceptual skills, as well as music production abilities, creativity, sensitivity and expressivity have received minimal investigation.
The multifaceted nature of music ability calls for identification and then careful delineation of the range of music phenotypes, with greater research efforts directed toward phenotypes that have been scantly researched. Conceivably, proper characterization of music phenotypes will facilitate identification of relevant genes predisposing these phenotypes through rigorous genetic studies Levitin, Music deficits, such as tone deafness Peretz et al.
Currently, few genetic studies have focused on music deficits. In addition, a dearth of research effort has been directed toward investigating a possible overlap in the genetic bases of language and music abilities.
Our current knowledge is limited to the finding that FOXP2 may play a role in music rhythm processing as well as language and speech Alcock et al. Comparative genetic research between music and language abilities promises to advance our understanding of the shared and non-shared genetic and neurobiological mechanisms underpinning music and language, and may help elucidate important questions about the origins of music and language Peretz, In conclusion, although currently there is only a handful of research studies in this area, music genetics research has yielded promising preliminary results, highlighting the need for increased research effort in this emerging field.
Elucidating the genetic basis of music ability may be challenging due to its multifaceted nature, necessitating careful identification, characterization, and genetic investigation of its many different facets. Coupled with the propitious rate at which molecular genetics and statistical designs are advancing, an increasingly clearer picture of the genetic mechanisms underpinning the etiology of music traits will begin to emerge.
These mechanisms may then be linked to established neuroscientific findings of the neurobiological basis of specific music functions and behaviors. Ultimately, this will allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the way in which interactions between nature and nurture shape the development of human music ability over the lifespan.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments on this review article. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Front Psychol v. Front Psychol. Published online Jun Berkovic , 3 and Sarah J. Wilson 3, 4. Gary E. Samuel F. Sarah J. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer.
Reviewed by: Thomas F. This article was submitted to Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
Received Dec 24; Accepted Jun 8. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author s or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice.
No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. DOCX 52K. Abstract Music is an integral part of the cultural heritage of all known human societies, with the capacity for music perception and production present in most people.
Keywords: music, music ability, music perception, music production, genetic, genome, review. Introduction Music is ubiquitous in all known human cultures. Human genetic methods: overview The relationship between phenotypes and genes can be investigated through various genetic analytical approaches.
Behavioral genetic approaches Familial aggregation One of the first questions asked in human genetic analysis is whether a trait clusters in families above chance level. Twin studies Twin studies take a step further by disentangling the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors on trait variation Verweij et al. Segregation analysis After estimating the heritability of a trait of interest, the mode of inheritance of the trait can be elucidated through segregation analysis.
Molecular genetic approaches Linkage analysis Once the genetic basis of a trait has been established using some of the above-mentioned methods, the next step is to conduct linkage analysis to map the potential genetic loci predisposing the trait.
Association analysis Association analysis is a statistical method used to investigate the association between a genetic variant and a trait Carey, b. Exome sequencing With the advancement of high-throughput next-generation sequencing NGS technologies, exome sequencing has emerged as a rapid and cost-effective method for human genetic analysis Singleton, Table 1 The number of genetic studies investigating various music traits. Open in a separate window. When the message of the song is heartfelt, a spirited sing-along is always music to the ears!
Joanne Rutkowski, Ph. Research Probing Question: Can anyone be taught how to sing? July 20, By Amy Milgrub Marshall.
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