Hi, author here. Thanks for the link. You're right I have no expertise in the hypotheses you mention, for the post I intended them as light hearted framing. I'

Hi, author here. Thanks for the link. You're right I have no expertise in the hypotheses you mention, for the post I intended them as light hearted framing. I'd be interested to know how the MRI results you link would compare for any bird species which use songs as a mating call/indicator of fitness. That would be another piece of the puzzle I guess. IIRC there has also been work by musicians attempting to link our notions of beauty to processes of pattern matching/learning, though again more in the realm of speculation than neuroscience. And for the record I like to think my own interest in music is at least slightly more profound than the quote above implies ;-)