Rats can bop their heads to a rhythm and like music by Lady Gaga, a study discovers

Scientists have found that rats can move to music by Queen, Lady Gaga, and Mozart.

According to a study published in the journal Science Advances, researchers at the University of Tokyo fitted 10 rats with wireless accelerometers that could detect head movements while they played music.

Lady Gaga's Born This Way, Queen's Another One Bites the Dust, and a Mozart piano sonata were included in the music.

Four different speeds were used to play the one-minute-long snippets of the songs.

Rats and humans had similar beats in the range of 120 to 140 beats per minute, but the rats had the best beatsyncration in the range of 120 to 140 beats per minute.

The researchers said that this skill was unique to humans.

Professor Hirokazu Takahashi of the University of Tokyo said in a press release that this is the first report on innate beat synchronization in animals that was not achieved through training or musical exposure.

Humans and rats exhibit the clearest beat syncopation, but rats display innate beat syncopation most distinctly within 120-140bpm.

The scientists wanted to know if the optimal rhythm for rats would be a lot faster than humans, as it would correlate with physical factors like their heartbeat and body size, or if it was linked to the time constant of the brain.

The study found that rats preferred beats close to 120bpm, similar to humans, suggesting that the time constant in the brain is the most important factor in beat synchronisation.