Welcome to the Rhythm & Pitch (R & P) group at Leiden University, the Netherlands. We explore how musicality and language evolved by comparing different species. Our work focuses on cognitive abilities such as rhythm perception, pattern recognition and relative pitch across species in zebra finches, parrots, non-human primates and humans.
Perception
We conduct lab studies with zebra finches, budgerigars and marmosets, to study perceptual acoustic abilities, such as cognitive biases, sound localization and pattern recogntion.
Production & Citizen Science
With our citizen science project, the Bird Singalong Project, we study study whether parrots have musical abilities such as relative pitch perception. By building drums with sound recorders, we study rhythmicity in the behaviour of captive chimpanzees at Beekse Bergen, Hilvarenbeek.
Communication
Rose-ringed parakeets have established invasive populations in many countries in recent years. However, knowledge about their communication is largely lacking. We study whether rose-ringed parakeets have dialects across cities in the Netherlands.
Recent Publications
Dam, N. C. P., Honing, H., Spierings, M. J. (2025). What imitating an iconic robot reveals on allospecific vocal imitation in parrots and starlings. Scientific Reports, 15, 36816 doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-23444-7
Burchardt, L. S., Varkevisser, J. M., & Spierings, M. J. (2025). Zebra finch tutees not only share the melody but also the rhythm of their tutor’s song. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 35573. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-22811-8
Grabner, J. V., Kempf, A. E., Nederlof, A., Varkevisser, J. M., & Spierings, M. J. (2025). Rhythmic Roots: The Adaptive Functions of Vocal Isochrony and Its Role in Human Music and Language Evolution. Psihologijske teme, 34(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.31820/pt.34.1.1
Bayram, B., Meijer, D., Barumerli, R., Spierings, M., Baumgartner, R., & Pomper, U. (2025). Bayesian prior uncertainty and surprisal elicit distinct neural patterns during sound localization in dynamic environments. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 7931. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-90269-9
Van der Vleuten, B. J. R., Hovenkamp, V. A., Varkevisser, J. M., & Spierings, M. J. (2024). Context-dependent rhythmicity in chimpanzee displays. Proceedings B, 291(2036), 20242200. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.2200
Recent Outreach
Internetfilmpjes van dansende kaketoes helpen wetenschappers begrijpen wat deze vogelsoort bezielt: https://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/internetfilmpjes-van-dansende-kaketoes-helpen-wetenschappers-begrijpen-wat-deze-vogelsoort-bezielt~b8ce1a915/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
Studenten ontdekken in de dierentuin dat chimpansees wel ritmische geluiden maken ook al hebben ze amper ritme gevoel: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/nieuws/2025/01/studenten-ontdekken-in-de-dierentuin-dat-chimpansees-wel-ritmische-geluiden-maken-ook-al-hebben-ze-amper-ritmegevoel