Syncopation affects free body-movement in musical groove

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex Coordinates Contextual Mental Imagery for Single-Beat Manipulation during Rhythmic Sensorimotor Synchronization

Flexible pulse-by-pulse regulation of sensorimotor synchronization is crucial for voluntarily showing rhythmic behaviors synchronously with external cueing; however, the underpinning neurophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. We hypothesized that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) plays a key role by coordinating both proactive and reactive motor outcomes based on contextual mental imagery. To test our hypothesis, a missing-oddball task in finger-tapping paradigms was conducted in 33 healthy young volunteers. The dynamic properties of the dACC were evaluated by event-related deep-brain activity (ER-DBA), supported by event-related potential (ERP) analysis and behavioral evaluation based on signal detection theory. We found that ER-DBA activation/deactivation reflected a strategic choice of motor control modality in accordance with mental imagery. Reverse ERP traces, as omission responses, confirmed that the imagery was contextual. We found that mental imagery was updated only by environmental changes via perceptual evidence and response-based abductive reasoning. Moreover, stable on-pulse tapping was achievable by maintaining proactive control while creating an imagery of syncopated rhythms from simple beat trains, whereas accuracy was degraded with frequent erroneous tapping for missing pulses. We conclude that the dACC voluntarily regulates rhythmic sensorimotor synchronization by utilizing contextual mental imagery based on experience and by creating novel rhythms.

Head movements induced by voluntary neck flexion stabilize sensorimotor synchronization of the finger to syncopated auditory rhythms

Head movements that are synchronized with musical rhythms often emerge during musical activities, such as hip hop dance. Although such movements are known to affect the meter and pulse perception of complex auditory rhythms, no studies have investigated their contribution to the performance of sensorimotor synchronization (SMS). In the present study, participants listened to syncopated auditory rhythms and flexed their dominant hand index finger in time with the perceived pulses (4/4 meters). In the first experiment (Exp. 1), the participants moved their heads via voluntary neck flexion to the pulses in parallel with finger SMS (Nodding condition, ND). This performance was compared with finger SMS without nodding (Without Nodding condition, WN). In the second experiment (Exp. 2), we investigated the specificity of the effect of head SMS on finger SMS confirmed in Exp. 1 by asking participants to flex their bilateral index fingers to the pulses (Bimanual condition, BM). We compared the performance of dominant hand finger SMS between the BM and ND conditions. In Exp. 1, we found that dominant hand finger SMS was significantly more stable (smaller standard deviation of asynchrony) in the ND versus WN condition (p < 0.001). In Exp. 2, dominant hand finger SMS was significantly more accurate (smaller absolute value of asynchrony) in the ND versus BM condition (p = 0.037). In addition, the stability of dominant hand finger SMS was significantly correlated with the index of phase locking between the pulses and head SMS across participants in the ND condition (r = -0.85, p < 0.001). In contrast, the stability of dominant hand finger SMS was not significantly correlated with the index of phase locking between pulses and non-dominant hand finger SMS in the BM condition (r = -0.25, p = 0.86 after multiple comparison correction). These findings suggest that SMS modulation depends on the motor effectors simultaneously involved in synchronization: simultaneous head SMS stabilizes the timing of dominant hand finger SMS, while simultaneous non-dominant hand finger SMS deteriorates the timing accuracy of dominant hand finger SMS. The present study emphasizes the unique and crucial role of head movements in rhythmic behavior.

The perceived catchiness of music affects the experience of groove

Catchiness and groove are common phenomena when listening to popular music. Catchiness may be a potential factor for experiencing groove but quantitative evidence for such a relationship is missing. To examine whether and how catchiness influences a key component of groove-the pleasurable urge to move to music (PLUMM)-we conducted a listening experiment with 450 participants and 240 short popular music clips of drum patterns, bass lines or keys/guitar parts. We found four main results: (1) catchiness as measured in a recognition task was only weakly associated with participants' perceived catchiness of music. We showed that perceived catchiness is multi-dimensional, subjective, and strongly associated with pleasure. (2) We found a sizeable positive relationship between PLUMM and perceived catchiness. (3) However, the relationship is complex, as further analysis showed that pleasure suppresses perceived catchiness' effect on the urge to move. (4) We compared common factors that promote perceived catchiness and PLUMM and found that listener-related variables contributed similarly, while the effects of musical content diverged. Overall, our data suggests music perceived as catchy is likely to foster groove experiences.

Predictive coding in musical anhedonia: A study of groove

Groove, or the pleasurable urge to move to music, offers unique insight into the relationship between emotion and action. The predictive coding of music model posits that groove is linked to predictions of music formed over time, with stimuli of moderate complexity rated as most pleasurable and likely to engender movement. At the same time, listeners vary in the pleasure they derive from music listening: individuals with musical anhedonia report reduced pleasure during music listening despite no impairments in music perception and no general anhedonia. Little is known about musical anhedonics' subjective experience of groove. Here we examined the relationship between groove and music reward sensitivity. Participants (n = 287) heard drum-breaks that varied in perceived complexity, and rated each for pleasure and wanting to move. Musical anhedonics (n = 13) had significantly lower ratings compared to controls (n = 13) matched on music perception abilities and general anhedonia. However, both groups demonstrated the classic inverted-U relationship between ratings of pleasure & move and stimulus complexity, with ratings peaking for intermediately complex stimuli. Across our entire sample, pleasure ratings were most strongly related with music reward sensitivity for highly complex stimuli (i.e., there was an interaction between music reward sensitivity and stimulus complexity). Finally, the sensorimotor subscale of music reward was uniquely associated with move, but not pleasure, ratings above and beyond the five other dimensions of musical reward. Results highlight the multidimensional nature of reward sensitivity and suggest that pleasure and wanting to move are driven by overlapping but separable mechanisms.

A review of psychological and neuroscientific research on musical groove

When listening to music, we naturally move our bodies rhythmically to the beat, which can be pleasurable and difficult to resist. This pleasurable sensation of wanting to move the body to music has been called "groove." Following pioneering humanities research, psychological and neuroscientific studies have provided insights on associated musical features, behavioral responses, phenomenological aspects, and brain structural and functional correlates of the groove experience. Groove research has advanced the field of music science and more generally informed our understanding of bidirectional links between perception and action, and the role of the motor system in prediction. Activity in motor and reward-related brain networks during music listening is associated with the groove experience, and this neural activity is linked to temporal prediction and learning. This article reviews research on groove as a psychological phenomenon with neurophysiological correlates that link musical rhythm perception, sensorimotor prediction, and reward processing. Promising future research directions range from elucidating specific neural mechanisms to exploring clinical applications and socio-cultural implications of groove.

Meaning-making and creativity in musical entrainment

In this paper we suggest that basic forms of musical entrainment may be considered as intrinsically creative, enabling further creative behaviors which may flourish at different levels and timescales. Rooted in an agent's capacity to form meaningful couplings with their sonic, social, and cultural environment, musical entrainment favors processes of adaptation and exploration, where innovative and functional aspects are cultivated via active, bodily experience. We explore these insights through a theoretical lens that integrates findings from enactive cognitive science and creative cognition research. We center our examination on the realms of groove experience and the communicative and emotional dimensions of music, aiming to present a novel preliminary perspective on musical entrainment, rooted in the fundamental concepts of meaning-making and creativity. To do so, we draw from a suite of approaches that place particular emphasis on the role of situated experience and review a range of recent empirical work on entrainment (in musical and non-musical settings), emphasizing the latter's biological and cognitive foundations. We conclude that musical entrainment may be regarded as a building block for different musical creativities that shape one's musical development, offering a concrete example for how this theory could be empirically tested in the future.

Groove Rhythm Enhances Exercise Impact on Prefrontal Cortex Function in Groove Enjoyers

A positive affective response modulates the effects of aerobic exercise on prefrontal executive function (EF). Groove rhythm (GR), eliciting the feeling of wanting to move to music, is useful for inducing positive affective response during exercise. Three minutes of listening to GR activated the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (l-DLPFC) and enhanced EF in participants who had higher psychological responses to GR. This finding prompted us to test the hypothesis that the combination of GR and exercise (GREX) induces positive psychological responses that enhance PFC function through entrainment of body movements and musical beats. 41 participants were administered two experimental conditions: three min of very light-intensity (30% V̇ O2peak) exercise combined with GR and combined with a white-noise metronome (WMEX). Before and after exercise, participants performed a Stroop task and were monitored for l-DLPFC activity with functional near-infrared spectroscopy. GREX enhanced EF and l-DLPFC activity in participants who experienced greater subjective feelings of audiomotor entrainment and increased excitement with GREX. These psychological responses were predictive of the impact of GREX on l-DLPFC activity and EF. These findings, together with previous results, support the hypothesis that GR allows us to boost the cognitive benefits of exercise via l-DLPFC activity only in those who enjoy groove, and suggest that subjective audiomotor entrainment is a key mechanism of this boosting effect.

Studying rhythm processing in speech through the lens of auditory-motor synchronization

Continuous speech is organized into a hierarchy of rhythms. Accurate processing of this rhythmic hierarchy through the interactions of auditory and motor systems is fundamental to speech perception and production. In this mini-review, we aim to evaluate the implementation of behavioral auditory-motor synchronization paradigms when studying rhythm processing in speech. First, we present an overview of the classic finger-tapping paradigm and its application in revealing differences in auditory-motor synchronization between the typical and clinical populations. Next, we highlight key findings on rhythm hierarchy processing in speech and non-speech stimuli from finger-tapping studies. Following this, we discuss the potential caveats of the finger-tapping paradigm and propose the speech-speech synchronization (SSS) task as a promising tool for future studies. Overall, we seek to raise interest in developing new methods to shed light on the neural mechanisms of speech processing.

Elements of musical and dance sophistication predict musical groove perception

Listening to groovy music is an enjoyable experience and a common human behavior in some cultures. Specifically, many listeners agree that songs they find to be more familiar and pleasurable are more likely to induce the experience of musical groove. While the pleasurable and dance-inducing effects of musical groove are omnipresent, we know less about how subjective feelings toward music, individual musical or dance experiences, or more objective musical perception abilities are correlated with the way we experience groove. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate how musical and dance sophistication relates to musical groove perception. One-hundred 24 participants completed an online study during which they rated 20 songs, considered high- or low-groove, and completed the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index, the Goldsmiths Dance Sophistication Index, the Beat and Meter Sensitivity Task, and a modified short version of the Profile for Music Perception Skills. Our results reveal that measures of perceptual abilities, musical training, and social dancing predicted the difference in groove rating between high- and low-groove music. Overall, these findings support the notion that listeners' individual experiences and predispositions may shape their perception of musical groove, although other causal directions are also possible. This research helps elucidate the correlates and possible causes of musical groove perception in a wide range of listeners.

Pupil drift rate indexes groove ratings

Groove, understood as an enjoyable compulsion to move to musical rhythms, typically varies along an inverted U-curve with increasing rhythmic complexity (e.g., syncopation, pickups). Predictive coding accounts posit that moderate complexity drives us to move to reduce sensory prediction errors and model the temporal structure. While musicologists generally distinguish the effects of pickups (anacruses) and syncopations, their difference remains unexplored in groove. We used pupillometry as an index to noradrenergic arousal while subjects listened to and rated drumbeats varying in rhythmic complexity. We replicated the inverted U-shaped relationship between rhythmic complexity and groove and showed this is modulated by musical ability, based on a psychoacoustic beat perception test. The pupil drift rates suggest that groovier rhythms hold attention longer than ones rated less groovy. Moreover, we found complementary effects of syncopations and pickups on groove ratings and pupil size, respectively, discovering a distinct predictive process related to pickups. We suggest that the brain deploys attention to pickups to sharpen subsequent strong beats, augmenting the predictive scaffolding's focus on beats that reduce syncopations' prediction errors. This interpretation is in accordance with groove envisioned as an embodied resolution of precision-weighted prediction error.

Turning Eight Family Homes Into Interactive, Pervasive Playgrounds During the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

This paper presents an evaluation study of how eighth families adopted, played and experienced a movement-based game system of analog and digital technologies in their homes during a pandemic lockdown. The COVID-19 pandemic locked down many countries and grounded people in their homes with social and physical implications. A game system consisting of simple, tangible technologies with modular components was designed to meet these needs. The game system was developed for the players to set up in their homes easily and, therefore, should not depend on screens or extensive physical installations. The game system comprises simple, tangible technologies such as light and music cubes, a simple mobile robot, card game challenges, and a suite of mini-games combining the elements in a variety of playful experiences. Using the technology probes methodology, the game system was packed into a suitcase and evaluated by eight families that played the game in their homes, video-recorded their sessions, wrote a final report and were (informally) interviewed afterwards. The data set presents how the families turned their ordinary everyday spaces into interactive, pervasive playgrounds encouraging social and bodily exploration and play. Furthermore, the study shows how bodily movement and social play can be promoted through different technologies that stimulate various bodily senses and incorporate them through the different game and play structures into their everyday living environments. The findings resulted in four design implications to aid designers and researchers in future work on movement-based game systems and interactive, pervasive playground design. These design implications accommodate social and bodily activities in ordinary places otherwise not pre-allocated for play or game activities.

Coordination of voice, hands and feet in rhythm and beat performance

Interlimb coordination is critical to the successful performance of simple activities in everyday life and it depends on precisely timed perception–action coupling. This is particularly true in music-making, where performers often use body-movements to keep the beat while playing more complex rhythmic patterns. In the current study, we used a musical rhythmic paradigm of simultaneous rhythm/beat performance to examine how interlimb coordination between voice, hands and feet is influenced by the inherent figure-ground relationship between rhythm and beat. Sixty right-handed participants—professional musicians, amateur musicians and non-musicians—performed three short rhythmic patterns while keeping the underlying beat, using 12 different combinations of voice, hands and feet. Results revealed a bodily hierarchy with five levels (1) left foot, (2) right foot, (3) left hand, (4) right hand, (5) voice, i.e., more precise task execution was observed when the rhythm was performed with an effector occupying a higher level in the hierarchy than the effector keeping the beat. The notion of a bodily hierarchy implies that the role assigned to the different effectors is key to successful interlimb coordination: the performance level of a specific effector combination differs considerably, depending on which effector holds the supporting role of the beat and which effector holds the conducting role of the rhythm. Although performance generally increased with expertise, the evidence of the hierarchy was consistent in all three expertise groups. The effects of expertise further highlight how perception influences action. We discuss the possibility that musicians’ more robust metrical prediction models make it easier for musicians to attenuate prediction errors than non-musicians. Overall, the study suggests a comprehensive bodily hierarchy, showing how interlimb coordination is influenced by hierarchical principles in both perception and action.

Groove rhythm stimulates prefrontal cortex function in groove enjoyers

Hearing a groove rhythm (GR), which creates the sensation of wanting to move to the music, can also create feelings of pleasure and arousal in people, and it may enhance cognitive performance, as does exercise, by stimulating the prefrontal cortex. Here, we examined the hypothesis that GR enhances executive function (EF) by acting on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (l-DLPFC) while also considering individual differences in psychological responses. Fifty-one participants underwent two conditions: 3 min of listening to GR or a white-noise metronome. Before and after listening, participants performed the Stroop task and were monitored for l-DLPFC activity with functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Our results show that GR enhanced EF and l-DLPFC activity in participants who felt a greater groove sensation and a more feeling clear-headed after listening to GR. Further, these psychological responses predict the impact of GR on l-DLPFC activity and EF, suggesting that GR enhances EF via l-DLPFC activity when the psychological response to GR is enhanced.

Analyzing multidimensional movement interaction with generalized cross-wavelet transform

Humans are able to synchronize with musical events whilst coordinating their movements with others. Interpersonal entrainment phenomena, such as dance, involve multiple body parts and movement directions. Along with being multidimensional, dance movement interaction is plurifrequential, since it can occur at different frequencies simultaneously. Moreover, it is prone to nonstationarity, due to, for instance, displacements around the dance floor. Various methodological approaches have been adopted for the study of human entrainment, but only spectrogram-based techniques allow for an integral analysis thereof. This article proposes an alternative approach based upon the cross-wavelet transform, a state-of-the-art technique for nonstationary and plurifrequential analysis of univariate interaction. The presented approach generalizes the cross-wavelet transform to multidimensional signals. It allows to identify, for different frequencies of movement, estimates of interaction and leader-follower dynamics across body parts and movement directions. Further, the generalized cross-wavelet transform can be used to quantify the frequency-wise contribution of individual body parts and movement directions to overall movement synchrony. Since both in- and anti-phase relationships are dominant modes of coordination, the proposed implementation ignores whether movements are identical or opposite in phase. The article provides a thorough mathematical description of the method and includes proofs of its invariance under translation, rotation, and reflection. Finally, its properties and performance are illustrated via four examples using simulated data and behavioral data collected through a mirror game task and a free dance movement task.

Rhythmic abilities in humans and non-human animals: a review and recommendations from a methodological perspective

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'.

Collective music listening: Movement energy is enhanced by groove and visual social cues

The regularity of musical beat makes it a powerful stimulus promoting movement synchrony among people. Synchrony can increase interpersonal trust, affiliation, and cooperation. Musical pieces can be classified according to the quality of groove; the higher the groove, the more it induces the desire to move. We investigated questions related to collective music-listening among 33 participants in an experiment conducted in a naturalistic yet acoustically controlled setting of a research concert hall with motion tracking. First, does higher groove music induce (1) movement with more energy and (2) higher interpersonal movement coordination? Second, does visual social information manipulated by having eyes open or eyes closed also affect energy and coordination? Participants listened to pieces from four categories formed by crossing groove (high, low) with tempo (higher, lower). Their upper body movement was recorded via head markers. Self-reported ratings of grooviness, emotional valence, emotional intensity, and familiarity were collected after each song. A biomechanically motivated measure of movement energy increased with high-groove songs and was positively correlated with grooviness ratings, confirming the theoretically implied but less tested motor response to groove. Participants' ratings of emotional valence and emotional intensity correlated positively with movement energy, suggesting that movement energy relates to emotional engagement with music. Movement energy was higher in eyes-open trials, suggesting that seeing each other enhanced participants' responses, consistent with social facilitation or contagion. Furthermore, interpersonal coordination was higher both for the high-groove and eyes-open conditions, indicating that the social situation of collective music listening affects how music is experienced.

Rhythm and groove as cognitive mechanisms of dance intervention in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with a loss of internal cueing systems, affecting rhythmic motor tasks such as walking and speech production. Music and dance encourage spontaneous rhythmic coupling between sensory and motor systems; this has inspired the development of dance programs for PD. Here we assessed the therapeutic outcome and some underlying cognitive mechanisms of dance classes for PD, as measured by neuropsychological assessments of disease severity as well as quantitative assessments of rhythmic ability and sensorimotor experience. We assessed prior music and dance experience, beat perception (Beat Alignment Test), sensorimotor coupling (tapping to high- and low-groove songs), and disease severity (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale in PD individuals) before and after four months of weekly dance classes. PD individuals performed better on UPDRS after four months of weekly dance classes, suggesting efficacy of dance intervention. Greater post-intervention improvements in UPDRS were associated with the presence of prior dance experience and with more accurate sensorimotor coupling. Prior dance experience was additionally associated with enhanced sensorimotor coupling during tapping to both high-groove and low-groove songs. These results show that dance classes for PD improve both qualitative and quantitative assessments of disease symptoms. The association between these improvements and dance experience suggests that rhythmic motor training, a mechanism underlying dance training, impacts improvements in parkinsonian symptoms following a dance intervention.

Headphones or Speakers? An Exploratory Study of Their Effects on Spontaneous Body Movement to Rhythmic Music

Previous studies have shown that music may lead to spontaneous body movement, even when people try to stand still. But are spontaneous movement responses to music similar if the stimuli are presented using headphones or speakers? This article presents results from an exploratory study in which 35 participants listened to rhythmic stimuli while standing in a neutral position. The six different stimuli were 45 s each and ranged from a simple pulse to excerpts from electronic dance music (EDM). Each participant listened to all the stimuli using both headphones and speakers. An optical motion capture system was used to calculate their quantity of motion, and a set of questionnaires collected data about music preferences, listening habits, and the experimental sessions. The results show that the participants on average moved more when listening through headphones. The headphones condition was also reported as being more tiresome by the participants. Correlations between participants' demographics, listening habits, and self-reported body motion were observed in both listening conditions. We conclude that the playback method impacts the level of body motion observed when people are listening to music. This should be taken into account when designing embodied music cognition studies.

Effects of auditory rhythm on movement accuracy in dance performance

The present study addresses the impact of the rhythmic complexity of music on the accuracy of dance performance. This study examined the effects of different levels of auditory syncopation on the execution of a dance sequence by trained dancers and exercisers (i.e., nondancers). It was hypothesized that nondancers would make more errors in synchronizing movements with moderately and highly syncopated rhythms while no performance degradation would manifest among trained dancers. Participants performed a dance sequence synchronized with three different rhythm tracks that were regular, moderately syncopated, and highly syncopated. We found significant performance degradation when comparing conditions of no syncopation vs. high syncopation for both trained dancers (p = .002) and nondancers (p = .001). Dancers and nondancers did not differ in how they managed to execute the task with increasing levels of syncopation (p = .384). The pattern of difference between trained dancers and nondancers was similar across the No Syncop and Highly Syncop conditions. The present findings may have marked implications for practitioners given that the tasks employed were analogous to those frequently observed in real-life dance settings.

Music and Metronomes Differentially Impact Motor Timing in People with and without Parkinson's Disease: Effects of Slow, Medium, and Fast Tempi on Entrainment and Synchronization Performances in Finger Tapping, Toe Tapping, and Stepping on the Spot Tasks

Introduction

Rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) has successfully helped regulate gait for people with Parkinson's disease. However, the way in which different auditory cues and types of movements affect entrainment, synchronization, and pacing stability has not been directly compared in different aged people with and without Parkinson's. Therefore, this study compared music and metronomes (cue types) in finger tapping, toe tapping, and stepping on the spot tasks to explore the potential of RAS training for general use.

Methods

Participants (aged 18–78 years) included people with Parkinson's (n = 30, Hoehn and Yahr mean = 1.78), older (n = 26), and younger adult controls (n = 36), as age may effect motor timing. Timed motor production was assessed using an extended synchronization-continuation task in cue type and movement conditions for slow, medium, and fast tempi (81, 116, and 140 mean beats per minute, respectively).

Results

Analyses revealed main effects of cue and movement type but no between-group interactions, suggesting no differences in motor timing between people with Parkinson's and controls. Music supported entrainment better than metronomes in medium and fast tempi, and stepping on the spot enabled better entrainment and less asynchrony, as well as more stable pacing compared to tapping in medium and fast tempi. Age was not confirmed as a factor, and no differences were observed in slow tempo.

Conclusion

This is the first study to directly compare how different external auditory cues and movement types affect motor timing. The music and the stepping enabled participants to maintain entrainment once the external pacing cue ceased, suggesting endogenous mechanisms continued to regulate the movements. The superior performance of stepping on the spot suggests embodied entrainment can occur during continuous movement, and this may be related to emergent timing in tempi above 600 ms. These findings can be applied therapeutically to manage and improve adaptive behaviours for people with Parkinson's.

The influence of visual cues on temporal anticipation and movement synchronization with musical sequences

Music presents a complex case of movement timing, as one to several dozen musicians coordinate their actions at short time-scales. This process is often directed by a conductor who provides a visual beat and guides the ensemble through tempo changes. The current experiment tested the ways in which audio-motor coordination is influenced by visual cues from a conductor's gestures, and how this influence might manifest in two ways: movements used to produce sound related to the music, and movements of the upper-body that do not directly affect sound output. We designed a virtual conductor that was derived from morphed motion capture recordings of human conductors. Two groups of participants (29 musicians and 28 nonmusicians, to test the generalizability of visuo-motor synchronization to non-experts) were shown the virtual conductor, a simple visual metronome, or a stationary circle while completing a drumming task that required synchronization with tempo-changing musical sequences. We measured asynchronies and temporal anticipation in the drumming task, as well as participants' upper-body movement using motion capture. Drumming results suggest the conductor generally improves synchronization by facilitating anticipation of tempo changes in the music. Motion capture results showed that the conductor visual cue elicited more structured head movements than the other two visual cues for nonmusicians only. Multiple regression analysis showed that the nonmusicians with less rigid movement and high anticipation had lower asynchronies. Thus, the visual cues provided by a conductor might serve to facilitate temporal anticipation and more synchronous movement in the general population, but might also cause rigid ancillary movements in some non-experts.

Groove in drum patterns as a function of both rhythmic properties and listeners' attitudes

Music psychology defines groove as humans’ pleasureable urge to move their body in synchrony with music. Past research has found that rhythmic syncopation, event density, beat salience, and rhythmic variability are positively associated with groove. This exploratory study investigates the groove effect of 248 reconstructed drum patterns from different popular music styles (pop, rock, funk, heavy metal, rock’n’roll, hip hop, soul, R&B). It aims at identifying factors that might be relevant for groove and worth investigating in a controlled setting in the future. Drum patterns of eight bars duration, chosen from 248 popular music tracks, have been transcribed and audio reconstructions have been created on the basis of sound samples. During an online listening experiment, 665 participants rated the reconstructions a total of 8,329 times using a groove questionnaire. Results show that, among 15 tested variables, syncopation (R² = 0.010) and event density (R² = 0.011) were positively associated with the groove ratings. These effects were stronger in participants who were music professionals, compared to amateur musicians or mere listeners. A categorisation of the stimuli according to structural aspects was also associated with groove (R² = 0.018). Beat salience, residual microtiming and rhythmic variability showed no effect on the groove ratings. Participants’ familiarity with a drum pattern had a positive influence on the groove ratings (η² = 0.051). The largest isolated effect was measured for participants’ style bias (R² = 0.123): groove ratings tended to be high if participants had the impression that the drum pattern belonged to a style they liked. Combined, the effects of style bias and familiarity (R² = 0.152) exceeded the other effects as predictors for groove by a wide margin. We conclude that listeners’ taste, musical biographies and expertise have a strong effect on their groove experience. This motivates groove research not to focus on the music alone, but to take the listeners into account as well.

Now you hear it: a predictive coding model for understanding rhythmic incongruity

Rhythmic incongruity in the form of syncopation is a prominent feature of many contemporary musical styles. Syncopations afford incongruity between rhythmic patterns and the meter, giving rise to mental models of differently accented isochronous beats. Syncopations occur either in isolation or as part of rhythmic patterns, so-called grooves. On the basis of the predictive coding framework, we discuss how brain processing of rhythm can be seen as a special case of predictive coding. We present a simple, yet powerful model for how the brain processes rhythmic incongruity: the model for predictive coding of rhythmic incongruity. Our model proposes that a given rhythm's syncopation and its metrical uncertainty (precision) is at the heart of how the brain models rhythm and meter based on priors, predictions, and prediction error. Our minimal model can explain prominent features of brain processing of syncopation: why isolated syncopations lead to stronger prediction error in the brains of musicians, as evidenced by larger event-related potentials to rhythmic incongruity, and why we all experience a stronger urge to move to grooves with a medium level of syncopation compared with low and high levels of syncopation.

Optimal Tempo for Groove: Its Relation to Directions of Body Movement and Japanese nori

The tendency for groove-based music to induce body movements has been linked to multiple acoustical factors. However, it is unclear how or whether tempo affects groove, although tempo significantly affects other aspects of music perception. To address this issue, the present study investigated effects of tempo, specific rhythmic organizations of patterns, and syncopation on groove and the induction of the sensation of wanting to move. We focused on the directions of body movement in particular by taking into account nori, which is an indigenous Japanese musical term used not only synonymously with groove, but also as a spatial metaphor indicating vertical or horizontal movement directions. Thus, the present study explored how groove was felt and defined, as well as how musical factors induced the sensation of wanting to move in cross-cultural context. A listening experiment was conducted using drum breaks as stimuli. Stimuli consisted of various rhythm patterns at six tempi from 60 to 200 BPM. The main findings are that: (1) an optimal tempo for groove existed for drum breaks at around 100–120 BPM, (2) an optimal tempo existed for the sensation of wanting to move the body in specific directions (i.e., back-and-forth and side-to-side), (3) groove and nori shared a similar concept of wanting to move but differed on several points (i.e., association with sense of pulse and fast tempo). Overall, the present study suggests that there is an optimal tempo for body movement related to groove. This finding has implications for the use of music or rhythmic stimuli to induce smooth motion in rehabilitation, therapy, or dance.

Enhancement of Pleasure during Spontaneous Dance

Dancing emphasizes the motor expression of emotional experiences. The bodily expression of emotions can modulate the subjective experience of emotions, as when adopting emotion-specific postures and faces. Thus, dancing potentially offers a ground for emotional coping through emotional enhancement and regulation. Here we investigated the emotional responses to music in individuals without any prior dance training while they either freely danced or refrained from movement. Participants were also tested while imitating their own dance movements but in the absence of music as a control condition. Emotional ratings and cardio-respiratory measures were collected following each condition. Dance movements were recorded using motion capture. We found that emotional valence was increased specifically during spontaneous dance of groovy excerpts, compared to both still listening and motor imitation. Furthermore, parasympathetic-related heart rate variability (HRV) increased during dance compared to motor imitation. Nevertheless, subjective and physiological arousal increased during movement production, regardless of whether participants were dancing or imitating. Significant correlations were found between inter-individual differences in the emotions experienced during dance and whole-body acceleration profiles. The combination of movement and music during dance results in a distinct state characterized by acutely heightened pleasure, which is of potential interest for the use of dance in therapeutic settings.

Rhythmic Density Affects Listeners' Emotional Response to Microtiming

Microtiming has been assumed to be vital for the experience of groove, but past research presented conflicting results: some studies found that microtiming is irrelevant for groove, others reported that microtiming has a detrimental effect on the groove experience, yet others described circumstances under which microtiming has no negative impact on groove. The three studies in this paper aim at explaining some of these discrepancies by clarifying to what extent listeners' emotional responses to microtiming depend on the distribution of microtiming deviations across instrumental parts (voicing) or other moderating factors like tempo or rhythmic density. The studies use data from two listening experiments involving expert bass and drums duo recordings in swing and funk style. - Study A investigates the effect of fixed time displacements within and between the parts played by different musicians. Listeners (n = 160) reacted negatively to irregularities within the drum track, but the mutual displacement of bass vs. drums did not have an effect.- Study B develops three metrics to calculate the average microtiming magnitude in a musical excerpt. The experiment showed that listeners' (n = 160) emotional responses to expert performance microtiming aligned with each other across styles, when microtiming magnitude was adjusted for rhythmic density. This indicates that rhythmic density is a unifying moderator for listeners' emotional response to microtiming in swing and funk.- Study C used the data from both experiments in order to compare the effect of fixed microtiming displacements (from Study A) with scaled versions of the originally performed microtiming patterns (from Study B). It showed that fixed snare drum displacements irritated expert listeners more than the more flexible deviations occurring in the original performances. This provides some evidence that listeners' emotional response to microtiming deviations not only depends on the magnitude of the deviations, but also on the kind and origin of the microtiming patterns (fixed lab displacements vs. flexible performance microtiming).