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Background: Mozart's "Sonata for two pianos" (Köchel listing 448) has proven effective as music therapy for patients with epilepsy, but little is understood about the mechanism of which feature in it impacted therapeutic effect. This study explored whether tempo in that piece is important for its therapeutic effect., Methods: We measured the effects of tempo in Mozart's sonata on clinical and electroencephalographic parameters of 147 patients with epilepsy who listened to the music at slow, original, or accelerated speed. As a control, patients listened to Haydn's Symphony no. 94 at original speed., Results: Listening to Mozart's piece at original speed significantly reduced the number of interictal epileptic discharges. It decreased beta power in the frontal, parietal, and occipital regions, suggesting increased auditory attention and reduced visual attention. It also decreased functional connectivity among frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital brain regions, also suggesting increased auditory attention and reduced visual attention. No such effects were observed after patients listened to the slow or fast version of Mozart's piece, or to Haydn's symphony at normal speed., Conclusions: These results suggest that Mozart's "Sonata for two pianos" may exert therapeutic effects by regulating attention when played at its original tempo, but not slower or faster. These findings may help guide the design and optimization of music therapy against epilepsy., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: We tested the effect of music on idiographic cognitive inferences about stressful events., Method: In Study 1 (n = 336), adult participants from the United States were randomly assigned to non-familiar songs that differed by lyrical content and tempo. In Studies 2 (n = 302) and 3 (n = 323), adult participants from the United States were randomly assigned to either a positive, neutral or no-song condition., Results: The results of Study 1 failed to support any of the study hypotheses. Given the null results, we decided to conduct a second study focused on increasing external validity and power (i.e., including fewer experimental conditions). The results of Study 2 showed that adults randomly assigned to a familiar upbeat song condition experienced an increase in positive affect and a decrease in event-specific negative cognitions. A third study was then conducted to replicate the results and rule out a potential confound. Results of Study 3 corroborated the results of Study 2., Conclusion: Taken together (Studies 2 and 3), results indicate it may be useful for future research to test the extent to which familiar upbeat music can be helpful during cognitive restructuring activities in psychotherapy to nudge people to generate more adaptive cognitions., (© 2023 British Psychological Society.)

Past research has shown that listening to slow- or fast-tempo music can affect adults' executive attention (EA) performance. This study examined the immediate impact of brief exposure to slow- or fast-tempo music on EA performance in 4- to 6-year-old children. A within-subject design was used, where each child completed three blocks of the EA task after listening to fast-tempo music (fast-tempo block), slow-tempo music (slow-tempo block), and ocean waves (control block), with block-order counterbalanced. In each block, children were also asked to report their pre-task subjective emotional status (experienced arousal and valence) before listening to music and their post-task emotional status after the EA task. Three major results emerged. First, reaction time (RT) was significantly faster in the slow-tempo block than in the fast-tempo, suggesting that listening to slow-tempo music preserves processing efficiency, relative to fast-tempo music. Second, children's accuracy rate in the EA task did not differ across blocks. Third, children's subjective emotional status did not differ across blocks and did not change across the pre- and post-task phases in any block, suggesting the faster RT observed in the slow-tempo block cannot be explained by changes in arousal or mood., (© 2022. The Psychonomic Society, Inc.)

Background: Empirical support for the notion that music listening is beneficial for stress recovery is inconclusive, potentially due to the methodological diversity with which the effects of music on stress recovery have been investigated. Little is presently known about which recovery activities are chosen by individuals for the purpose of stress recovery, and whether audio feature commonalities exist between different songs that are selected by individuals for the purpose of stress recovery. The current pre-registered study investigated whether audio feature commonalities can be extracted from self-selected songs for the purpose of stress recovery. Furthermore, the present study exploratorily examined the relationship between audio features and participants' desired recovery-related emotions while listening and after listening to self-selected music., Methods: Participants (N = 470) completed an online survey in which they described what music they would listen to unwind from a hypothetical stressful event. Data analysis was conducted using a split-sample procedure. A k-medoid cluster analysis was conducted to identify audio feature commonalities between self-selected songs. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between audio features and desired recovery emotions., Results: Participants valued music listening as a recovery activity to a similar extent as watching TV, sleeping, or talking to a significant other. Cluster analyses revealed that self-selected songs for the purpose of stress recovery can be grouped into two distinct categories. The two categories of songs shared similarities in key, loudness, speechiness, acousticness, instrumentalness, liveness, musical valence, tempo, duration, and time signature, and were distinguished by danceability, energy, and mode. No audio features were significantly associated with participants' desired recovery emotions., Conclusions: Although a comprehensive portrait of the relationship between audio features and stress recovery still warrants further research, the present study provides a starting point for future enquiries into the nuanced effects of musical audio features on stress recovery., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Neural activity in the auditory system synchronizes to sound rhythms, and brain-environment synchronization is thought to be fundamental to successful auditory perception. Sound rhythms are often operationalized in terms of the sound's amplitude envelope. We hypothesized that - especially for music - the envelope might not best capture the complex spectro-temporal fluctuations that give rise to beat perception and synchronized neural activity. This study investigated (1) neural synchronization to different musical features, (2) tempo-dependence of neural synchronization, and (3) dependence of synchronization on familiarity, enjoyment, and ease of beat perception. In this electroencephalography study, 37 human participants listened to tempo-modulated music (1-4 Hz). Independent of whether the analysis approach was based on temporal response functions (TRFs) or reliable components analysis (RCA), the spectral flux of music - as opposed to the amplitude envelope - evoked strongest neural synchronization. Moreover, music with slower beat rates, high familiarity, and easy-to-perceive beats elicited the strongest neural response. Our results demonstrate the importance of spectro-temporal fluctuations in music for driving neural synchronization, and highlight its sensitivity to musical tempo, familiarity, and beat salience., Competing Interests: KW, OW, MH No competing interests declared, (© 2022, Weineck et al.)

Introduction: Music tempo has strong clinical maneuverability and positive emotional effect in music therapy, which can directly evoke multiple emotions and dynamic neural changes in the whole brain. However, the precise relationship between music tempo and its emotional effects remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the dynamic network connectivity (dFNC) associated with emotions elicited by music at different tempi. Materials and Methods: We obtained emotion ratings of fast-tempo (155-170 beats per minute [bpm]), middle-tempo (90 bpm), and slow-tempo (50-60 bpm) piano music from 40 participants both during and after functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Group independent component analysis (ICA), sliding time window correlations, and k -means clustering were used to assess the dFNC of fMRI data. Paired t -tests were conducted to compare the difference of neural networks. Results: (1) Fast music was associated with higher ratings of emotional valence and arousal, which were accompanied with increasing dFNC between somatomotor (SM) and cingulo-opercular (CO) networks and decreasing dFNC between frontoparietal and SM networks. (2) Even with stronger activation in auditory (AUD) networks, slow music was associated with weaker emotion than fast music, with decreasing functional network connectivity across the brain and the participation of default mode (DM). (3) Middle-tempo music elicited moderate emotional activation with the most stable dFNC in the whole brain. Conclusion: Faster music increases neural activity in the SM and CO regions, increasing the intensity of the emotional experience. In contrast, slower music was associated with decreasing engagement of AUD and stable engagement of DM, resulting in a weak emotional experience. These findings suggested that the time-varying aspects of functional connectivity can help to uncover the dynamic neural substrates of tempo-evoked emotion while listening to music.

Humans recognize a melody independently of whether it is played on a piano or a violin, faster or slower, or at higher or lower frequencies. Much of the way in which we engage with music relies in our ability to normalize across these surface changes. Despite the uniqueness of our music faculty, there is the possibility that key aspects in music processing emerge from general sensitivities already present in other species. Here we explore whether other animals react to surface changes in a tune. We familiarized the animals (Long-Evans rats) with the "Happy Birthday" tune on a piano. We then presented novel test items that included changes in pitch (higher and lower octave transpositions), tempo (double and half the speed) and timbre (violin and piccolo). While the rats responded differently to the familiar and the novel version of the tune when it was played on novel instruments, they did not respond differently to the original song and its novel versions that included octave transpositions and changes in tempo., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Studies have reported the benefits of music-listening in stress-reduction using musical pieces of specific scale or 'Raaga'. But the influence of lower-level musical properties (like tempo, octave, timbre, etc.) lack research backing. Carnatic music concerts use incremental modulations in tempo and octave (e.g.: 'Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi') to elevate the mood of audiences. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the anxiolytic effect of this musical property. A randomised controlled cross-over study with 21 male undergraduate medical students was followed. 11 participants listened to 'Varying music' (VM: instrumental music with incremental variations in tempo and octave) and 10 listened to 'Stable music' (SM: instrumental music without such variations), thrice daily for 6 days, both clips recorded in Raaga-Kaapi and silence being the control intervention. Electroencephalography (EEG) and Electrocardiography (for heart rate variability or HRV) were done on all 6 days. Beck's Anxiety inventory and State-trait anxiety scale were administered on Day-1 and Day-6. A significant anxiety score reduction was seen only in VM. VM showed marked decrease in lower frequency EEG power in bilateral temporo-parieto-occipital regions compared to silence, whereas SM showed increase in higher frequencies. Relatively, VM showed more midline power reduction (i.e., lower default mode network or DMN activity) and SM showed greater left-dominant alpha/beta asymmetry (i.e., greater right brain activation). During both music interventions HRV remained stable, unlike silence intervention. We speculate that, gradual transition between lower-slower and higher-faster music portions of VM induces a 'controlled-mind wandering' state involving balanced switching between heightened mind wandering ('attention to self') and reduced mind wandering ('attention to music') states, respectively. Therefore, music-selection has remarkable influence on stress-management and warrants further research., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Accurate perception and production of emotional states is important for successful social interactions across the lifespan. Previous research has shown that when identifying emotion in faces, preschool children are more likely to confuse emotions that share valence, but differ in arousal (e.g. sadness and anger) than emotions that share arousal, but differ on valence (e.g. anger and joy). Here, we examined the influence of valence and arousal on children's production of emotion in music. Three-, 5- and 7-year-old children recruited from the greater Hamilton area (N = 74) 'performed' music to produce emotions using a self-pacing paradigm, in which participants controlled the onset and offset of each chord in a musical sequence by repeatedly pressing and lifting the same key on a MIDI piano. Key press velocity controlled the loudness of each chord. Results showed that (a) differentiation of emotions by 5-year-old children was mainly driven by arousal of the target emotion, with differentiation based on both valence and arousal at 7 years and (b) tempo and loudness were used to differentiate emotions earlier in development than articulation. The results indicate that the developmental trajectory of emotion understanding in music may differ from the developmental trajectory in other domains., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Recent research has shown that eating behaviour is not only influenced by factors associated with the individual alone (e.g. psychological/physiological states) but also by the external factors determining the surrounding environment in which one eats (e.g. lighting, colour, temperature, or music). The present research examines the extent to which specific musical properties, namely tempo and articulation, influence eating duration. Two experiments were conducted in which participants tasted and evaluated pieces of chocolate under the influence of different sound conditions. The participants were not aware that they were being timed while eating. For Experiment 1, two versions of the same composition were created with contrasting tempo and articulation. The results showed that eating time was significantly longer in the slow + legato music condition, compared to the fast + staccato music condition. In Experiment 2, we extended the scope of the research question to investigate the relative influence of tempo and articulation, and thus included three additional sound conditions: silence, slow + staccato, and fast + legato music. Overall results revealed a significant main effect of tempo on eating duration as well as an interaction effect between music tempo and articulation. Eating duration was longer with slower tempo, and legato articulation further increased eating time but only when the music had slower tempo. In addition, the presence of music, regardless of style, significantly increased participants' eating duration compared to eating in silence. Combined, the results from these experiments confirm that music could be employed as a contextual cue to modulate eating speed contributing to healthier eating behaviours such as eating more slowly and consuming less food., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The influence of music heard at different tempos is analyzed during the execution of a dart-throwing task. The sample consisted of 56 female university students (Mean age = 23.38, SD = 6.773). The participants were randomly assigned to GC (group control without music; n = 18), GS (group with slow-paced music at a tempo of 60 BPM; n = 19) and GF (group with fast-paced music at a tempo of 105 BPM; n = 19). All participants performed a dart-throwing task in two phases. Analysis of the scores obtained during Phase 1 and Phase 2 of dart throwing (examining both between-group differences and within-group differences, i.e., changes in scores from Phase 1 to Phase 2 using a mixed factorial ANOVA) revealed no differences in dart-throwing scores. There were, however, differences in execution time, where the participants in GS needed more time to complete the task than those in GF ( F (2 , = 0.143), although neither of these groups differed from GC. The results are discussed in terms of the role of music in precision tasks and the synchronization of the task with the pace of the music 55) = 4.426, p = 0.017) with a large effect size ( ŋ 2 p = 0.143), although neither of these groups differed from GC. The results are discussed in terms of the role of music in precision tasks and the synchronization of the task with the pace of the music ., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

In the present study, we extended the issue of how people access emotion through nonverbal information by testing the effects of simple (tempo) and complex (timbre) acoustic features of music on felt emotion. Three- to six-year-old young children (n = 100; 48% female) and university students (n = 64; 37.5% female) took part in three experiments in which acoustic features of music were manipulated to determine whether there are links between perceived emotion and felt emotion in processing musical segments. After exposure to segments of music, participants completed a felt emotion judgment task. The chi-square test showed significant tempo effects, ps < .001 (Exp. 1), and strong combined effects of mode and tempo on felt emotion. In addition, strength of these effects changed across age. However, these combined effects were significantly stronger under the tempo-and-mode consistent condition, ps < .001 (Exp. 2) than inconsistent condition (Exp. 3). In other words, simple versus complex acoustic features had stronger effects on felt emotion, and that sensitivity to these features, especially complex features, changed across age. These findings suggest that felt emotion evoked by acoustic features of a given piece of music might be affected by both innate abilities and by the strength of mappings between acoustic features and emotion.

Background: Work attention in employees with schizophrenia is a significant issue in vocational rehabilitation. Background music is very popular in workplaces, and according to some investigations, can help increase attention at work if utilized appropriately., Objective: This study investigates the influence of background music tempo on attention performance in employees with chronic schizophrenia., Methods: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) study was performed to test the attention of 240 participants with chronic schizophrenia under four conditions, namely no music, fast tempo, slow tempo and white noise., Results: Employees with schizophrenia achieved higher attention scores under background music than in a no-music environment. Additionally, slow-tempo music produced higher attention scores than fast-tempo music., Conclusions: Observational results indicate that slow-tempo background music is more desirable than fast-tempo background music in a work environment involving schizophrenic individuals.

Music perceptual abilities are subjective and exhibit high inter-individual variability. Twenty-nine participants with varying degrees of musical training were tested for musical perception ability with the Profile of Music Perception Skills (PROMS) and brain structural measures obtained via diffusion tensor imaging. Controlling for the period of training, TBSS results showed that individuals with better musical perception abilities showed increased deviations from linear anisotropy in the corpus callosum. Specifically, mode of anisotropy in the genu and body of the corpus callosum was negatively correlated with music perception score suggesting the presence of crossing fibers. A multi-compartment model of crossing fibers revealed a significant positive relation for partial volumes of secondary fiber populations with timing aspects of music perception. Our results suggest that inter-hemispheric connectivity differences in the anterior parts of the corpus callosum may reflect innate differences in the processing of the rhythmic aspects of music.

This study aimed to determine whether pitch, tempo, and volume levels of music stimuli affect sensory perception and acceptance of foods. A traditional music piece was arranged into versions at two pitches, two tempos, and two volumes. For each session, chocolate and bell peppers were presented for consumption under three sound conditions: 1) upper or 2) lower level with respect to each of the three music elements, and 3) silence. Over three sessions, participants evaluated flavor intensity, pleasantness of flavor, texture impression, and overall impression of food samples, in addition to the pleasantness and stimulation evoked by the music stimuli. Results showed that lower-pitched and louder music stimuli increased hedonic impressions of foods compared to their respective counterparts and/or the silent condition. While the effects of music element levels on hedonic impressions differed with the type of food consumed, the participants liked the foods more when music stimuli were perceived as more pleasant and stimulating. Flavor was perceived as more intense when participants were more stimulated by the music samples. Although a specific element of music stimuli was manipulated, perceptions of other elements also varied, leading to large variations in the music-evoked pleasantness and stimulation. In conclusion, the findings provide empirical evidence that hedonic impressions of foods may be influenced by emotions evoked by music selections varying in music element levels, but it should be also noted that the influences were food-dependent and not pronounced.

Comparisons between involuntarily and voluntarily retrieved autobiographical memories have revealed similarities in encoding and maintenance, with differences in terms of specificity and emotional responses. Our study extended this research area into the domain of musical memory, which afforded a unique opportunity to compare the same memory as accessed both involuntarily and voluntarily. Specifically, we compared instances of involuntary musical imagery (INMI, or "earworms")-the spontaneous mental recall and repetition of a tune-to deliberate recall of the same tune as voluntary musical imagery (VMI) in terms of recall accuracy and emotional responses. Twenty participants completed two 3-day tasks. In an INMI task, participants recorded information about INMI episodes as they occurred; in a VMI task, participants were prompted via text message to deliberately imagine each tune they had previously experienced as INMI. In both tasks, tempi of the imagined tunes were recorded by tapping to the musical beat while wearing an accelerometer and additional information (e.g., tune name, emotion ratings) was logged in a diary. Overall, INMI and VMI tempo measurements for the same tune were strongly correlated. Tempo recall for tunes that have definitive, recorded versions was relatively accurate, and tunes that were retrieved deliberately (VMI) were not recalled more accurately in terms of tempo than spontaneous and involuntary instances of imagined music (INMI). Some evidence that INMI elicited stronger emotional responses than VMI was also revealed. These results demonstrate several parallels to previous literature on involuntary memories and add new insights on the phenomenology of INMI.

Objective: Assess the influence of background music tempo on driving performance., Background: Music with a fast tempo is known to increase the level of arousal, whereas the reverse is observed for slow music. The relationship between driving performance and level of arousal was expected to take the form of an inverted U-curve., Method: Three experiments were undertaken to manipulate the musical background during driving. In Experiment 1, the driver's preferred music track played at its original and modified (plus or minus 30%) tempo were used together with the simple ticking of a metronome. In Experiment 2, music tracks of different tempos were played during driving. In Experiment 3, music tracks were categorized as arousing or relaxing based on the associated perceived level of arousal., Results: Listening to music tended to influence drivers' performances in a car-following task by improving coherence and gain adjustments relative to the followed vehicle but simultaneously shortened the intervehicular time. Although the tempo of the music per se did not directly affect driving behavior, arousing music tracks improved drivers' adjustments to the followed vehicle (Experiment 3)., Conclusion: The tempo of the music listened to behind the wheel was not found to influence driving behaviors. However, arousing music improved drivers' responsiveness to changes in the speed of the followed vehicle. However, this benefit was canceled out by a reduction in the drivers' intervehicle safety margin., Application: Listening to arousing music while driving cannot be considered to improve road safety, at least in a car-following task without attentional impairments.

The urge to move to music is universal among humans. Unlike visual art, which is manifest across space, music is manifest across time. When listeners get carried away by the music, either through movement (such as dancing) or through reverie (such as trance), it is usually the temporal qualities of the music-its pulse, tempo, and rhythmic patterns-that put them in this state. In this article, we review studies addressing rhythm, meter, movement, synchronization, entrainment, the perception of groove, and other temporal factors that constitute a first step to understanding how and why music literally moves us. The experiments we review span a range of methodological techniques, including neuroimaging, psychophysics, and traditional behavioral experiments, and we also summarize the current studies of animal synchronization, engaging an evolutionary perspective on human rhythmic perception and cognition.

Musical sounds, along with speech, are the most prominent sounds in our daily lives. They are highly dynamic, yet well structured in the temporal domain in a hierarchical manner. The temporal structures enhance the predictability of musical sounds. Western music provides an excellent example: while time intervals between musical notes are highly variable, underlying beats can be realized. The beat-level temporal structure provides a sense of regular pulses. Beats can be further organized into units, giving the percept of alternating strong and weak beats (i.e. metrical structure or meter). Examining neural processing at the meter level offers a unique opportunity to understand how the human brain extracts temporal patterns, predicts future stimuli and optimizes neural resources for processing. The present study addresses two important questions regarding meter processing, using the mismatch negativity (MMN) obtained with electroencephalography (EEG): 1) how tempo (fast vs. slow) and type of metrical structure (duple: two beats per unit vs. triple: three beats per unit) affect the neural processing of metrical structure in non-musically trained individuals, and 2) how early music training modulates the neural processing of metrical structure. Metrical structures were established by patterns of consecutive strong and weak tones (Standard) with occasional violations that disrupted and reset the structure (Deviant). Twenty non-musicians listened passively to these tones while their neural activities were recorded. MMN indexed the neural sensitivity to the meter violations. Results suggested that MMNs were larger for fast tempo and for triple meter conditions. Further, 20 musically trained individuals were tested using the same methods and the results were compared to the non-musicians. While tempo and meter type similarly influenced MMNs in both groups, musicians overall exhibited significantly reduced MMNs, compared to their non-musician counterparts. Further analyses indicated that the reduction was driven by responses to sounds that defined the structure (Standard), not by responses to Deviants. We argue that musicians maintain a more accurate and efficient mental model for metrical structures, which incorporates occasional disruptions using significantly fewer neural resources., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Numerous studies have examined the multifarious effects of music applied during exercise but few have assessed the efficacy of music as an aid to recovery. Music might facilitate physiological recovery via the entrainment of respiratory rhythms with music tempo. High-intensity exercise training is not typically associated with positive affective responses, and thus ways of assuaging negative affect warrant further exploration. This study assessed the psychophysiological effects of music on acute recovery and prevalence of entrainment in between bouts of high-intensity exercise. Thirteen male runners (M age =20.2±1.9years; BMI=21.7±1.7; V̇O 2 max=61.6±6.1mL·kg·min -1 ) completed three exercise sessions comprising 5×5-min bouts of high-intensity intervals interspersed with 3-min periods of passive recovery. During recovery, participants were administered positively-valenced music of a slow-tempo (55-65bpm), fast-tempo (125-135bpm), or a no-music control. A range of measures including affective responses, RPE, cardiorespiratory indices (gas exchange and pulmonary ventilation), and music tempo-respiratory entrainment were recorded during exercise and recovery. Fast-tempo, positively-valenced music resulted in higher Feeling Scale scores throughout recovery periods (p<0.01, η p 2 =0.16), but no other music-moderated differences in cardiorespiratory responses. In conclusion, fast-tempo, positively-valenced music applied during recovery periods engenders a more pleasant experience. However, there is limited evidence that music expedites cardiorespiratory recovery in between bouts of high-intensity exercise. These findings have implications for athletic training strategies and individuals seeking to make high-intensity exercise sessions more pleasant.p 2 =0.16), but no other music-moderated differences in cardiorespiratory responses. In conclusion, fast-tempo, positively-valenced music applied during recovery periods engenders a more pleasant experience. However, there is limited evidence that music expedites cardiorespiratory recovery in between bouts of high-intensity exercise. These findings have implications for athletic training strategies and individuals seeking to make high-intensity exercise sessions more pleasant., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Previous research has highlighted the varied effects of auditory enrichment on different captive animals. This study investigated how manipulating musical components can influence the behavior of a group of captive western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at Bristol Zoo. The gorillas were observed during exposure to classical music, rock-and-roll music, and rainforest sounds. The two music conditions were modified to create five further conditions: unmanipulated, decreased pitch, increased pitch, decreased tempo, and increased tempo. We compared the prevalence of activity, anxiety, and social behaviors between the standard conditions. We also compared the prevalence of each of these behaviors across the manipulated conditions of each type of music independently and collectively. Control observations with no sound exposure were regularly scheduled between the observations of the 12 auditory conditions. The results suggest that naturalistic rainforest sounds had no influence on the anxiety of captive gorillas, contrary to past research. The tempo of music appears to be significantly associated with activity levels among this group, and social behavior may be affected by pitch. Low tempo music also may be effective at reducing anxiety behavior in captive gorillas. Regulated auditory enrichment may provide effective means of calming gorillas, or for facilitating active behavior. Zoo Biol. 35:398-408, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Musical tempo is most strongly associated with the rate of the beat or "tactus," which may be defined as the most prominent rhythmic periodicity present in the music, typically in a range of 1.67-2 Hz. However, other factors such as rhythmic density, mean rhythmic inter-onset interval, metrical (accentual) structure, and rhythmic complexity can affect perceived tempo (Drake, Gros, & Penel, 1999; London, 2011 Drake, Gros, & Penel, 1999; London, 2011). Visual information can also give rise to a perceived beat/tempo (Iversen, et al., 2015), and auditory and visual temporal cues can interact and mutually influence each other (Soto-Faraco & Kingstone, 2004; Spence, 2015). A five-part experiment was performed to assess the integration of auditory and visual information in judgments of musical tempo. Participants rated the speed of six classic R&B songs on a seven point scale while observing an animated figure dancing to them. Participants were presented with original and time-stretched (±5%) versions of each song in audio-only, audio+video (A+V), and video-only conditions. In some videos the animations were of spontaneous movements to the different time-stretched versions of each song, and in other videos the animations were of "vigorous" versus "relaxed" interpretations of the same auditory stimulus. Two main results were observed. First, in all conditions with audio, even though participants were able to correctly rank the original vs. time-stretched versions of each song, a song-specific tempo-anchoring effect was observed, such that sped-up versions of slower songs were judged to be faster than slowed-down versions of faster songs, even when their objective beat rates were the same. Second, when viewing a vigorous dancing figure in the A+V condition, participants gave faster tempo ratings than from the audio alone or when viewing the same audio with a relaxed dancing figure. The implications of this illusory tempo percept for cross-modal sensory integration and working memory are discussed, and an "energistic" account of tempo perception is proposed., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The study of spontaneous and everyday cognitions is an area of rapidly growing interest. One of the most ubiquitous forms of spontaneous cognition is involuntary musical imagery (INMI), the involuntarily retrieved and repetitive mental replay of music. The present study introduced a novel method for capturing temporal features of INMI within a naturalistic setting. This method allowed for the investigation of two questions of interest to INMI researchers in a more objective way than previously possible, concerning (1) the precision of memory representations within INMI and (2) the interactions between INMI and concurrent affective state. Over the course of 4 days, INMI tempo was measured by asking participants to tap to the beat of their INMI with a wrist-worn accelerometer. Participants documented additional details regarding their INMI in a diary. Overall, the tempo of music within INMI was recalled from long-term memory in a highly veridical form, although with a regression to the mean for recalled tempo that parallels previous findings on voluntary musical imagery. A significant positive relationship was found between INMI tempo and subjective arousal, suggesting that INMI interacts with concurrent mood in a similar manner to perceived music. The results suggest several parallels between INMI and voluntary imagery, music perceptual processes, and other types of involuntary memories.

The identity of a melody is independent of surface features such as key (pitch level), tempo (speed), and timbre (musical instrument). We examined the duration of memory for melodies (tunes) and whether such memory is affected by changes in key, tempo, or timbre. After listening to previously unfamiliar melodies twice, participants provided recognition ratings for the same (old) melodies as well as for an equal number of new melodies. The delay between initial exposure and test was 10 min, 1 day, or 1 week. In Experiment 1, half of the old melodies were transposed by six semitones or shifted in tempo by 64 beats per minute. In Experiment 2, half of the old melodies were changed in timbre (piano to saxophone, or vice versa). In both experiments, listeners remembered the melodies, and there was no forgetting over the course of a week. Changing the key or tempo from exposure to test had a detrimental impact on recognition after 10 min and 1 day, but not after 1 week. Changing the timbre affected recognition negatively after all three delays. Mental representations of unfamiliar melodies appear to be consolidated after only two presentations. These representations include surface information unrelated to a melody's identity, although information about key and tempo fades at a faster rate than information about timbre.

Background: The presence of a rhythmic beat in the form of a metronome tone or beat-accentuated original music can modulate gait performance; however, it has yet to be determined whether gait modulation can be achieved using commercially available music., Objective: The current study investigated the effects of commercially available music on the walking of healthy young adults. Specific aims were (a) to determine whether commercially available music can be used to influence gait (i.e., gait velocity, stride length, cadence, stride time variability), (b) to establish the effect of music salience on gait (i.e., gait velocity, stride length, cadence, stride time variability), and (c) to examine whether music tempi differentially effected gait (i.e., gait velocity, stride length, cadence, stride time variability)., Methods: Twenty-five participants walked the length of an unobstructed walkway while listening to music. Music selections differed with respect to the salience or the tempo of the music. The genre of music and artists were self-selected by participants., Results: Listening to music while walking was an enjoyable activity that influenced gait. Specifically, salient music selections increased measures of cadence, velocity, and stride length; in contrast, gait was unaltered by the presence of non-salient music. Music tempo did not differentially affect gait performance (gait velocity, stride length, cadence, stride time variability) in these participants., Conclusions: Gait performance was differentially influenced by music salience. These results have implications for clinicians considering the use of commercially available music as an alternative to the traditional rhythmic auditory cues used in rehabilitation programs., (© the American Music Therapy Association 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Perceiving temporal regularity in an auditory stimulus is considered one of the basic features of musicality. Here we examine whether zebra finches can detect regularity in an isochronous stimulus. Using a go/no go paradigm we show that zebra finches are able to distinguish between an isochronous and an irregular stimulus. However, when the tempo of the isochronous stimulus is changed, it is no longer treated as similar to the training stimulus. Training with three isochronous and three irregular stimuli did not result in improvement of the generalization. In contrast, humans, exposed to the same stimuli, readily generalized across tempo changes. Our results suggest that zebra finches distinguish the different stimuli by learning specific local temporal features of each individual stimulus rather than attending to the global structure of the stimuli, i.e., to the temporal regularity., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The search for common characteristics between the musical abilities of humans and other animal species is still taking its first steps. One of the most promising aspects from a comparative point of view is the analysis of rhythmic components, which are crucial features of human communicative performance but also well-identifiable patterns in the vocal displays of other species. Therefore, the study of rhythm is becoming essential to understand the mechanisms of singing behavior and the evolution of human communication. Recent findings provided evidence that particular rhythmic structures occur in human music and some singing animal species, such as birds and rock hyraxes, but only 2 species of nonhuman primates have been investigated so far (Indri indri and Hylobates lar). Therefore, our study aims to consistently broaden the list of species studied regarding the presence of rhythmic categories. We investigated the temporal organization in the singing of 3 species of crested gibbons (Nomascus gabriellae, Nomascus leucogenys , and Nomascus siki) and found that the most prominent rhythmic category was isochrony. Moreover, we found slight variation in songs' tempo among species, with N. gabriellae and N. siki singing with a temporal pattern involving a gradually increasing tempo (a musical accelerando), and N. leucogenys with a more regular pattern. Here, we show how the prominence of a peak at the isochrony establishes itself as a shared characteristic in the small apes considered so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

British conductor Paul Mann is a regular guest with many major orchestras throughout Europe, the US, Australia, and the Far East. Orchestras with which he has worked include the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, St Petersburg Philharmonic, RAI Torino, Orchestra dell’Arena di Verona; the BBC Orchestras, City of Birmingham Symphony, Hallé, among many others. Mr Mann has guest-conducted extcollaborations with USA and is a regular guest with the New York City Ballet. Projects with the LSO included collaborations the legendary rock group Deep Purple in two widely acclaimed performances of Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, the live DVD and CD which remain international bestsellers. Paul Mann was chief conductor of the Odense Symphony Orchestra in Denmark until 2008 and has made numerous critically acclaimed recordings for labels such as Bridge, Warner Classics, Da Capo, EMI, and Toccata Classics.

The temporal organization of sounds used in social contexts can provide information about signal function and evoke varying responses in listeners (receivers). For example, music is a universal and learned human behavior that is characterized by different rhythms and tempos that can evoke disparate responses in listeners. Similarly, birdsong is a social behavior in songbirds that is learned during critical periods in development and used to evoke physiological and behavioral responses in receivers. Recent investigations have begun to reveal the breadth of universal patterns in birdsong and their similarities to common patterns in speech and music, but relatively little is known about the degree to which biological predispositions and developmental experiences interact to shape the temporal patterning of birdsong. Here, we investigated how biological predispositions modulate the acquisition and production of an important temporal feature of birdsong, namely the duration of silent pauses ("gaps") between vocal elements ("syllables"). Through analyses of semi‐naturally raised and experimentally tutored zebra finches, we observed that juvenile zebra finches imitate the durations of the silent gaps in their tutor's song. Further, when juveniles were experimentally tutored with stimuli containing a wide range of gap durations, we observed biases in the prevalence and stereotypy of gap durations. Together, these studies demonstrate how biological predispositions and developmental experiences differently affect distinct temporal features of birdsong and highlight similarities in developmental plasticity across birdsong, speech, and music. Research Highlights: The temporal organization of learned acoustic patterns can be similar across human cultures and across species, suggesting biological predispositions in acquisition.We studied how biological predispositions and developmental experiences affect an important temporal feature of birdsong, namely the duration of silent intervals between vocal elements ("gaps").Semi‐naturally and experimentally tutored zebra finches imitated the durations of gaps in their tutor's song and displayed some biases in the learning and production of gap durations and in gap variability.These findings in the zebra finch provide parallels with the acquisition of temporal features of speech and music in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research suggests that exceptional speed is a salient feature in virtuoso performance. However, this claim has not yet been tested by empirical studies. This article sets out to investigate in what ways contemporary piano virtuosos play fast in their performances and how they manifest the concept of virtuosity through tempo. It achieves these goals by analyzing a set of recordings of Chopin's First Ballade and Liszt's Sonata with a view to examining the tendency of basic tempo in the performances of two pianists who are most often considered as virtuosos of our time by music critics of English-speaking countries – Kissin and Lisitsa. The results show that they do not always play faster than other selected pianists do. Rather, they tend to play with extreme tempo at the sectional level – playing exceptionally fast in fast sections and exceptionally slow in slow ones. Their performances create dramatic contrast in expression between fast and slow sections, manifesting the concept of virtuosity in both the broader sense – dazzling the audience through broadened expressive power – as well as the narrower sense – displaying of exceptional technical skills through speed, agility and accuracy. The findings provide new, albeit preliminary, insight into the performance practice of modern piano virtuosos and how performers may manifest the concept of virtuosity in their performances.

Music is an art in which people's feelings and thoughts are expressed with sounds. The acquaintance of the Turks with music dates back to B.C. During the Ottoman period, Turkish music and performers were loved, appreciated and supported by everyone from the sultan to the lowest levels of the state. On this occasion, many composers have been trained and music has become systematic. Tune and usul tempo to the system that gives identity to Turkish music. The use of a large number of authorities is an expression of all kinds of human feelings in different ways. Makam and usul references to the system that gives identity to Turkish music. The use of a large number of tune is an expression of all kinds of human feelings in different ways. Although music is one of the sources used by the poets of classical Turkish literature, it is noteworthy that most of the poets are masters of this art. In a poem written by Nevres-i Kadim, who lived in the 18th century, in kıtaikebire form, it was seen that the terms related to the tune and tempos, which he used extensively, were related to Mevlevi. The aim of this article is to examine the poem in question in the context of the Mevlevi rite based on the tune and tempos. For this purpose, Sufi terminology was used and the poems were explained in this direction. It is believed that this work contributed to the literature on the relationship between poetry and music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely assumed that Viennese orchestras, especially the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO), possess distinctive qualities in their performance of Viennese waltzes. This article sets out to provide empirical evidence of this hypothesis. Focusing on the parameter of timing, it analyzes the rhythm and tempo in 34 recordings of Johann Strauss II’s The Blue Danube, widely regarded as the best-known Viennese waltz. The results yield the following findings: (1) At the beat level, Viennese orchestras, particularly the VPO, widely employ an uneven 3-beat pattern of “short-long-medium,” whereas non-Viennese orchestras play the three beats with relatively even lengths; (2) at the phrase level, the VPO tends to demonstrate much more rubato, which goes hand in hand with “spiral tempo-dynamic shaping”; (3) at the sectional level, larger-scale and more structural tempo modifications, especially the “long-range accelerando,” are found in the VPO’s recordings. Some of these features seem to be associated less with the conductors than with the orchestra’s own performance practice. In addition, the choreographic factors and the gala circumstances of the Vienna New Year’s Concert may also play a role in the stylistic distinctiveness of Viennese orchestras.

In recent years, there has been significant growth in the number of chain stores; in this regard, the essential point is that managers should consider not only traditional marketing mix, but also other important factors that influence consumers' shopping behavior, such as atmospheric factors. Music is one of the important factors in this domain. This study was an attempt to explain and investigate the relationship between background music and consumers' shopping behavior in Ofogh Kourosh chain stores based on the mood-behavior model, alertness theory, and real-world chain store evidence. Genre, tempo, and volume are the elements of music that have been considered as the independent variables in this study, while consumers' spent time and spentmoney in the stores constituted the dependent variables in this study. Moreover, age and gender have been evaluated as moderators in this relationship. This study is quasi-experimental in terms of the data collection method. All Ofogh Kourosh shoppers around Tehran city constituted the statistical population of this study, and the research sample consisted of 785 shoppers who were selected in 12 branches of Ofogh Kourosh chain stores via systematic sampling method. The background music tracks were chosen through a poll. In addition, observation and interview constituted the tools used in the experimental section. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between music elements (genre, tempo, and volume) and spent time and money. It was also observed that gender had a considerable moderating role in the relationship between volume and spent time in stores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neural activity in the auditory system synchronizes to sound rhythms, and brain–environment synchronization is thought to be fundamental to successful auditory perception. Sound rhythms are often operationalized in terms of the sound’s amplitude envelope. We hypothesized that – especially for music – the envelope might not best capture the complex spectro-temporal fluctuations that give rise to beat perception and synchronized neural activity. This study investigated (1) neural synchronization to different musical features, (2) tempo-dependence of neural synchronization, and (3) dependence of synchronization on familiarity, enjoyment, and ease of beat perception. In this electroencephalography study, 37 human participants listened to tempo-modulated music (1–4 Hz). Independent of whether the analysis approach was based on temporal response functions (TRFs) or reliable components analysis (RCA), the spectral flux of music – as opposed to the amplitude envelope – evoked strongest neural synchronization. Moreover, music with slower beat rates, high familiarity, and easy-to-perceive beats elicited the strongest neural response. Our results demonstrate the importance of spectro-temporal fluctuations in music for driving neural synchronization, and highlight its sensitivity to musical tempo, familiarity, and beat salience.

The article presents the scientific basis for the topic relevant for the modern musical theater. Thetopic lies indetermining the main functions and tasks ofthe concertmaster working with acting opera artists and students ofspecialized, creative, educational institutions. It also describes in detail the fact that the program of professional training of pianists has a unique discipline “Concertmaster’s Art”, which is absent inthe system of European music education. In the course of the analysis of this program, it turned out that, having acquired practical skills of the concertmaster art and having mastered a small part of the opera repertoire, students do not have a clear idea of what an experienced concertmaster needs to know and be able to do in the framework of creative practice. The article provides a scientific analysis and description of the role of the pianist in the musical theater and his assistance to the singer in preparing for participation in the performance. There is also a description of the diversity of theatre practice in the process of creative cooperation of the teacher­tutor with opera artists and its features are listed­from competent learning of the musical text with the vocalist to helping him to create a convincing part and role on stage. The statement is formed that the concertmaster in the musical theater accompanies the soloist at all stages of mastering the musical part and preparing the role. The article provides several practical examples of rhythmic difficulties and ways to overcome them, demonstrating the need to think outside the box in the creative process, achieving certain tasks: search, practice, develop individual methods of working with vocalists.

Speech therapy can be part of the care pathway for patients recovering from comas and presenting a disorder of consciousness (DOC). Although there are no official recommendations for speech therapy follow-up, neuroscientific studies suggest that relevant stimuli may have beneficial effects on the behavioral assessment of patients with a DOC. In two case studies, we longitudinally measured (from 4 to 6 weeks) the behavior (observed in a speech therapy session or using items from the Coma Recovery Scale—Revised) of two patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS) when presenting music and/or autobiographical materials. The results highlight the importance of using relevant material during a speech therapy session and suggest that a musical context with a fast tempo could improve behavior evaluation compared to noise. This work supports the importance of adapted speech therapy for MCS patients and encourages larger studies to confirm these initial observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this experiment we explored the effect of music tempo on the perception of time. Musically trained and nontrained participants carried out a reproduction task with music clips of various durations and tempos. Results revealed that the reproduced durations were longer for fast-tempo music clips than for slow-tempo music clips of equal duration. In addition, short clips were more accurately reproduced compared to longer stimuli. Notably, the error in reproducing the duration of a stimulus was overall lower for musically trained than nontrained participants, but more so for short than long clips. Finally, the accuracy in estimating the duration of the music clips correlated positively with years of musical training, further suggesting that musical training is a critical variable for time estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to produce a product in the form of learning materials for pitch, tempo, and dynamics with eurhythmic-based mp3 format. The theory used is music learning and Dalcroze Eurhythmics. This research is a research and development with ADDIE (Analysis-Design-Develop-Implement-Evaluate) learning design model. The trial subjects were 40 students who were taking Diatonic Music Theory courses in the 2020/2021 school year. Collecting data in this study used a questionnaire which is used to measure the feasibility of the product by material experts and product users. The data analysis technique used is descriptive statistics to determine the extent to which the product is feasible for use in the wider community. The result of this research is to produce a product in the form of teaching material about pitch, tempo, and dynamics based on eurhythmics which is measurable its feasibility. Based on field trials, the product achieved an eligibility percentage of 93.3% with the category very feasible to use from the user's point of view, namely students as prospective teachers of cultural arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper tests the hypothesis that the musical properties of tempo and/or pitch and cognitive abilities of high school students are causally related. All five treatment groups completed the same 20-question spatial-temporal reasoning test in 10 minutes and listened to versions of the same piece: K448. The control group listened to K448 unmodified. One tempo group listened to a slower-tempo version of the piece, and the other listened to a faster-tempo version. One pitch group listened to a lower-pitch version of the piece, and the other listened to a higher-pitch version. Four 2-sample t-tests demonstrated that the slow tempo group and both pitch groups did not score significantly better than the control group, while the fast tempo group did score significantly better than the control group. The conclusion section discusses scientific and educational implications of these findings and delves into future research objectives.

Speech therapy can be part of the care pathway for patients recovering from comas and presenting a disorder of consciousness (DOC). Although there are no official recommendations for speech therapy follow-up, neuroscientific studies suggest that relevant stimuli may have beneficial effects on the behavioral assessment of patients with a DOC. In two case studies, we longitudinally measured (from 4 to 6 weeks) the behavior (observed in a speech therapy session or using items from the Coma Recovery Scale—Revised) of two patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS) when presenting music and/or autobiographical materials. The results highlight the importance of using relevant material during a speech therapy session and suggest that a musical context with a fast tempo could improve behavior evaluation compared to noise. This work supports the importance of adapted speech therapy for MCS patients and encourages larger studies to confirm these initial observations.

Este artigo propõe uma discussão sobre os usos de silêncios e durações estendidas na obra de compositores vinculados à editora alemã Edition Wandelweiser. Para isso, apresentamos análises de três peças publicadas pela editora entre 1994 e 2001: Klavierstück 2, de Jürg Frey; First Music for Marcia Hafif, de Antoine Beuger; e Space, de Michael Pisaro. Com as análises, buscamos revelar as diversas formas pelas quais os compositores estabelecem conexões entre esses dois conceitos, centrais nas peças selecionadas, através de formas de notação e estruturação altamente contrastantes. Buscamos também introduzir uma reflexão sobre a experiência do tempo e do silêncio na interação do ouvinte com as peças apresentadas. Assim, o trabalho visa uma contribuição ao campo da música experimental através da divulgação e discussão de uma produção musical que, ao longo dos últimos 26 anos, tem se debruçado extensivamente sobre a exploração artística de conceitos fundamentais para a área.

Background/Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of core stabilization exercise combined with music of various tempo and mode on the power of agility. Method/Statistical Analysis: 65 healthy adults who did not major in music were recruited and each participant were randomly divided five groups. All groups were performed core stabilization exercise for 3 weeks. To confirm the effect of core stabilization exercise combined with music of various tempo and mode, they were measured before and after the exercise. Findings: After applying the core stabilization exercise, the power of agility was improved in all groups, and the fast tempo groups improved the power of agility more than the slow tempo groups. However, there was no significant difference between the major mod and minor mode groups. Improvements/Applications: Tempo was affected on the power of agility. But mode was not affected on the power of agility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the context of an undergraduate registration queue, this study confirmed perceived wait duration to be a significant, positive function of the tempo of background music, and a significant, negative function of musical liking. In addition, it identified how the presence of music significantly reduced mean perceived duration estimates. Slow-tempo music produced significantly more positive affective responses than fast-tempo music in terms of satisfaction, relaxation, and positive disconfirmation of expectations of wait duration. The presence of music enhanced positive affective response with low crowd density, but diminished it with high crowd density. Musical liking significantly enhanced positive affective responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music has been shown to reduce rating of perceived exertion, increase exercise enjoyment and enhance exercise performance, mainly in low-moderate intensity exercises. However, the effects of music are less conclusive with high-intensity activities. The purpose of this with-participant design study was to compare the effects of high tempo music (130 bpm) to a no-music condition during repeated high intensity cycling bouts (80% of peak power output (PPO)) on the following measures: time to exercise end-point, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), heart rate (HR), breathing frequency, ventilatory kinetics and blood lactate (BL). Under the music condition, participants exercised 10.7% longer (p = 0.035; Effect size (ES) = 0.28) (increase of 1 min) and had higher HR (4%; p = 0.043; ES = 0.25), breathing frequency (11.6%; p < 0.001; ES = 0.57), and RER (7% at TTF; p = 0.021; ES = 1.1) during exercise, as measured at the exercise end-point. Trivial differences were observed between conditions in RPE and other ventilatory kinetics during exercise. Interestingly, 5 min post-exercise termination, HR recovery was 13.0% faster following the music condition (p < 0.05) despite that music was not played during this period. These results strengthen the notion that music can alter the association between central motor drive, central cardiovascular command and perceived exertion, and contribute to prolonged exercise durations at higher intensities along with a quicken HR recovery.

A large number of studies document cardiorespiratory changes occurring while listening to music. Less is known, however, about the interaction between cardiorespiratory and cerebral electrical rhythms during listening to music and how cognition and acoustic structural aspects of songs influence that interaction. We focused on tempo as a structural feature of songs, since tempo is a major determinant of physiological responses to music, and on familiarity and randomization of phase of local spectra of known and unknown songs for cognition. Our results indicated an overall increase in the degree of synchronization among cardiorespiratory variables (Heart rate (RR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), respiration) and between cardiorespiratory and cerebral (EEG) oscillations during all songs. We also observed a marked decrease in respiratory frequency bandwidth and increase in respiratory rate while listening to songs, and slow song produced the most periodic breathing. Compared with slow tempo, during fast song, DBP and cerebral oscillations became less synchronized with high frequency components of RR suggesting that the processes causing the previously known reduction in vagal activity with increase in tempo also may have caused the decrease in these synchronizations. Cognition of songs affected the SBP coherencies the most. DBP was synchronized with respiration more than all other measured variables in response to auditory stimuli. Results indicate an overall increase in the degree of synchronization among a variety of cerebral electrical and autonomically driven cardiovascular rhythms. It is possible that this significant increase in synchronizations underlies the widely reported pleasurable and palliative effects of listening to music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN A STUDY OF TEMPO PERCEPTION, LONDON, Burger, Thompson, and Toiviainen (2016) presented participants with digitally "tempo-shifted" R&B songs (i.e., sped up or slowed down without otherwise altering their pitch or timbre). They found that while participants' relative tempo judgments of original versus altered versions were correct, they no longer corresponded to the beat rate of each stimulus. Here we report on three experiments that further probe the relation(s) between beat rate, tempo-shifting, beat salience, melodic structure, and perceived tempo. Experiment 1 is a replication of London et al. (2016) using the original stimuli. Experiment 2 replaces the Motown stimuli with disco music, which has higher beat salience. Experiment 3 uses looped drum patterns, eliminating pitch and other cues from the stimuli and maximizing beat salience. The effect of London et al. (2016) was replicated in Experiment 1, present to a lesser degree in Experiment 2, and absent in Experiment 3. Experiments 2 and 3 also found that participants were able to make tempo judgments in accordance with BPM rates for stimuli that were not tempo-shifted. The roles of beat salience, melodic structure, and memory for tempo are discussed, and the TAE as an example of perceptual sharpening is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Music has been shown to reduce rating of perceived exertion, increase exercise enjoyment and enhance exercise performance, mainly in low-moderate intensity exercises. However, the effects of music are less conclusive with high-intensity activities. The purpose of this with-participant design study was to compare the effects of high tempo music (130 bpm) to a no-music condition during repeated high intensity cycling bouts (80% of peak power output (PPO)) on the following measures: time to exercise end-point, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), heart rate (HR), breathing frequency, ventilatory kinetics and blood lactate (BL). Under the music condition, participants exercised 10.7% longer (p = 0.035; Effect size (ES) = 0.28) (increase of 1 min) and had higher HR (4%; p = 0.043; ES = 0.25), breathing frequency (11.6%; p < 0.001; ES = 0.57), and RER (7% at TTF; p = 0.021; ES = 1.1) during exercise, as measured at the exercise end-point. Trivial differences were observed between conditions in RPE and other ventilatory kinetics during exercise. Interestingly, 5 min post-exercise termination, HR recovery was 13.0% faster following the music condition (p < 0.05) despite that music was not played during this period. These results strengthen the notion that music can alter the association between central motor drive, central cardiovascular command and perceived exertion, and contribute to prolonged exercise durations at higher intensities along with a quicken HR recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]