Rats can groove too! Examine exhibits rodents transfer to Girl Gaga’s ‘Born this fashion’

Nodding along to catchy music isn’t just a human habit, according to Japanese scientists, who have found that rats also move to the beat of songs by stars like Lady Gaga.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo played Mozart, Queen and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way to rats wearing miniature sensors to detect even the slightest movement.

They found that the rodents had an innate ability to synchronize their movements to the beat, which was previously thought to be an ability reserved only for humans.

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“Rat brains are wired to respond well to music,” even though their bodies move very little, said Associate Professor Hirokazu Takahashi, part of the team that conducted the study.

“We all believe that music has magical powers, but we don’t know anything about their mechanisms,” he told AFP on Tuesday.

“So we wanted to find out what kind of sound connections appeal to the brain without the influence of emotions or memories.”

In rats, the “bopping” effect was most pronounced with music in the range of 120 to 140 beats per minute – just like in humans.

This led scientists to hypothesize that it might be a response that is consistent across different species.

“Music moves the body. It goes beyond the auditory system and affects the motor system… the power of sound is so great,” Takahashi said.

The research focused mainly on Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K.448, played in four different tempi.

But the scientists also tried Queen’s “Born This Way” and the driving rhythm of “Another One Bites the Dust,” tracks chosen by Takahashi’s students.

Unlike other pets like parrots, which are famous for their eerie imitation of music and other noises, this was the first time the rats in the study heard music.

The effect of music on rats may have been overlooked because previous research was mainly done with video footage rather than motion sensors, making the animals’ tiny movements more difficult to detect, Takahashi said.

The study was published last week in the journal Science Advances.

In the future, Takahashi said he wants to go beyond rhythm and explore the effects of melody and harmony on the brain.

“If music has an emotional impact, it would be really interesting if we could get to the point where we could see it in animals,” he said.