a real biological advantage that increased their chances of survival. The uncanny ability to entrain one’s own body to a beat translates into the equally uncanny ability to sync one’s movement with the movement of others. The study suggests that a cross-cultural or “universal” purpose of music was to synchronize group actions, because a bonded, cooperative group—on the hunt or on the move, learning to fight and gather and build in tandem—was more likely to outcompete a discombobulated one.
