Conscientiousness and Extraversion relate to responsiveness to tempo in dance

A framework for joint music making: Behavioral findings, neural processes, and computational models

Across different epochs and societies, humans occasionally gather to jointly make music. This universal form of collective behavior is as fascinating as it is fragmentedly understood. As the interest in joint music making (JMM) rapidly grows, we review the state-of-the-art of this emerging science, blending behavioral, neural, and computational contributions. We present a conceptual framework synthesizing research on JMM within four components. The framework is centered upon interpersonal coordination, a crucial requirement for JMM. The other components imply the influence of individuals' (past) experience, (current) social factors, and (future) goals on real-time coordination. Our aim is to promote the development of JMM research by organizing existing work, inspiring new questions, and fostering accessibility for researchers belonging to other research communities.

Autonomic nervous system markers of music-elicited analgesia in people with fibromyalgia: A double-blind randomized pilot study

Purpose

To investigate the feasibility of using music listening by adults with fibromyalgia (FM) as a potential tool for reducing pain sensitivity.

Patients and methods

We report results from a double-blind two-arm parallel randomized pilot study (NCT04059042) in nine participants with FM. Pain tolerance and threshold were measured objectively using quantitative sensory tests; autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity was measured with an electrocardiogram. Participants were randomized to listen to instrumental Western Classical music or a nature sound control to test whether music listening elicits greater analgesic effects over simple auditory distraction. Participants also completed separate control testing with no sound that was counterbalanced between participants.

Results

Participants were randomized 1:1 to music or nature sounds (four Music and five Nature). Although the groups were not different on FM scores, the Music group had marginally worse temporal pain summation (p = 0.06), and the Nature group had higher anxiety scores (p < 0.05). Outcome measures showed a significant difference between groups in the magnitude of change in temporal summation between sessions (p < 0.05), revealing that the Nature group had greater pain reduction during audio compared to silence mode, while the Music group had no difference between the sessions. No significant effects were observed for either mechanical pain tolerance or ANS testing. Within the Music group, there was a trend of vagal response increase from baseline to music listening, but it did not reach statistical significance; this pattern was not observed in the Nature group.

Conclusion

Auditory listening significantly altered pain responses. There may be a greater vagal response to music vs. nature sounds; however, results could be due to group differences in pain and anxiety. This line of study will help in determining whether music could be prophylactic for people with FM when acute pain is expected.

Decoding Individual differences and musical preference via music-induced movement

Movement is a universal response to music, with dance often taking place in social settings. Although previous work has suggested that socially relevant information, such as personality and gender, are encoded in dance movement, the generalizability of previous work is limited. The current study aims to decode dancers’ gender, personality traits, and music preference from music-induced movements. We propose a method that predicts such individual difference from free dance movements, and demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method by using two data sets collected using different musical stimuli. In addition, we introduce a novel measure to explore the relative importance of different joints in predicting individual differences. Results demonstrated near perfect classification of gender, and notably high prediction of personality and music preferences. Furthermore, learned models demonstrated generalizability across datasets highlighting the importance of certain joints in intrinsic movement patterns specific to individual differences. Results further support theories of embodied music cognition and the role of bodily movement in musical experiences by demonstrating the influence of gender, personality, and music preferences on embodied responses to heard music.

Can Personality Factors and Body Esteem Predict Imagery Ability in Dancers?

Dancing is mainly regarded as a form of art, which has been linked to the expression of emotions. Imagery is a well-known technique for enhancing performance. Additionally, specific personality traits are likely to facilitate performance. In the dancer’s performance, regarding the body as a tool is crucial. The following study examines personality and perceived body esteem as predictors of imagery ability in professional dancers. We analyzed two experimental groups, namely ballet dancers and professional dancers of other styles, and a control group. A sample of 249 people took part in the study: 155 women and 94 men aged 18–56 years. Participants filled in The Imagination in Sport Questionnaire and Polish adaptations of the Big Five Inventory—Short and the Body Esteem Scale. Results indicated that while each experimental group differed significantly from the control group in terms of their imagery ability, there were no differences between the two experimental groups. Findings revealed that personality traits, mainly higher openness to experience, and body esteem, mainly related to physical condition, were significant predictors of higher imagery ability in all groups.

Synchronizing eye tracking and optical motion capture: How to bring them together

Both eye tracking and motion capture technologies are nowadays frequently used in human sciences, although both technologies are usually used separately. However, measuring both eye and body movements simultaneously would offer great potential for investigating crossmodal interaction in human (e.g. music and language-related) behavior. Here we combined an Ergoneers Dikablis head mounted eye tracker with a Qualisys Oqus optical motion capture system. In order to synchronize the recordings of both devices, we developed a generalizable solution that does not rely on any (cost-intensive) ready-made / company-provided synchronization solution. At the beginning of each recording, the participant nods quickly while fixing on a target while keeping the eyes open - a motion yielding a sharp vertical displacement in both mocap and eye data. This displacement can be reliably detected with a peak-picking algorithm and used for accurately aligning the mocap and eye data. This method produces accurate synchronization results in the case of clean data and therefore provides an attractive alternative to costly plug-ins, as well as a solution in case ready-made synchronization solutions are unavailable.

Dancing to "groovy" music enhances the experience of flow

We investigated whether dancing influences the emotional response to music, compared to when music is listened to in the absence of movement. Forty participants without previous dance training listened to "groovy" and "nongroovy" music excerpts while either dancing or refraining from movement. Participants were also tested while imitating their own dance movements, but in the absence of music as a control condition. Emotion ratings and ratings of flow were collected following each condition. Dance movements were recorded using motion capture. We found that the state of flow was increased specifically during spontaneous dance to groovy excerpts, compared with both still listening and motor imitation. Emotions in the realms of vitality (such as joy and power) and sublimity (such as wonder and nostalgia) were evoked by music in general, whether participants moved or not. Significant correlations were found between the emotional and flow responses to music and whole-body acceleration profiles. Thus, the results highlight a distinct state of flow when dancing, which may be of use to promote well-being and to address certain clinical conditions.