Music preference and discrimination in three Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii)

"This investigation assessed musical preference and discriminative ability in three Sumatran orangutans. In Study 1, preferences for music vs. silence were examined in three phases. In Phase I, subjects made choices via touchscreen to replay a previously sounded music exemplar or listen to silence instead. In Phase II, subjects could ""shuffle"" between music exemplars and/or silence exemplars through touchscreen contact. In Phase III, subjects could produce musical notes by touching the keys on a virtual piano. In Study 2, subjects' ability to discriminate 'music' from 'scrambled music' was tested using a touchscreen-delivered delayed matching-to-sample task. Results indicate subjects preferred silence to music (or were indifferent) and that they could not discriminate 'music' from 'scrambled music', suggesting orangutans do not find musk reinforcing and/or do not perceive music the way humans do. Consequently, the use of music as environmental enrichment in captive primate facilities appears unfounded and may be aversive rather than enriching."