Rhythmic behaviour is ubiquitous in both human and non-human animals, but it is unclear whether the cognitive mechanisms underlying the specific rhythmic behaviours observed in different species are related. Laboratory experiments combined with highly controlled stimuli and tasks can be very effective in probing the cognitive architecture underlying rhythmic abilities. Rhythmic abilities have been examined in the laboratory with explicit and implicit perception tasks, and with production tasks, such as sensorimotor synchronization, with stimuli ranging from isochronous sequences of artificial sounds to human music. Here, we provide an overview of experimental findings on rhythmic abilities in human and non-human animals, while critically considering the wide variety of paradigms used. We identify several gaps in what is known about rhythmic abilities. Many bird species have been tested on rhythm perception, but research on rhythm production abilities in the same birds is lacking. By contrast, research in mammals has primarily focused on rhythm production rather than perception. Many experiments also do not differentiate between possible components of rhythmic abilities, such as processing of single temporal intervals, rhythmic patterns, a regular beat or hierarchical metrical structures. For future research, we suggest a careful choice of paradigm to aid cross-species comparisons, and a critical consideration of the multifaceted abilities that underlie rhythmic behaviour.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology’.

节律行为在人类和非人类动物中普遍存在，但尚不清楚在不同物种中观察到的特定节律行为背后的认知机制是否相关。实验室实验与高度受控的刺激和任务相结合，可以非常有效地探索节奏能力背后的认知结构。节奏能力已经在实验室中通过显式和隐式感知任务以及生产任务（例如感觉运动同步）进行了检查，刺激范围从人造声音的同步序列到人类音乐。在这里，我们概述了人类和非人类动物节律能力的实验结果，同时批判性地考虑了所使用的各种范式。我们在已知的节奏能力方面发现了几个差距。许多鸟类已经在节奏感知方面进行了测试，但缺乏对同一鸟类节奏产生能力的研究。相比之下，哺乳动物的研究主要集中在节奏的产生而不是感知上。许多实验也没有区分节奏能力的可能组成部分，例如处理单个时间间隔、节奏模式、规则节拍或分层韵律结构。对于未来的研究，我们建议仔细选择范式以帮助进行跨物种比较，并对构成节奏行为的多方面能力进行批判性考虑。哺乳动物的研究主要集中在节奏产生而不是感知上。许多实验也没有区分节奏能力的可能组成部分，例如处理单个时间间隔、节奏模式、规则节拍或分层韵律结构。对于未来的研究，我们建议仔细选择范式以帮助进行跨物种比较，并对构成节奏行为的多方面能力进行批判性考虑。哺乳动物的研究主要集中在节奏产生而不是感知上。许多实验也没有区分节奏能力的可能组成部分，例如处理单个时间间隔、节奏模式、规则节拍或分层韵律结构。对于未来的研究，我们建议仔细选择范式以帮助进行跨物种比较，并对构成节奏行为的多方面能力进行批判性考虑。

这篇文章是主题问题“同步和节奏交互：从大脑到行为生态学”的一部分。