Some basic observations on how people move on music and how they relate music to movement.
Frederik Styns, Leo Van Noorden, Marc Leman · Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) · 2006
In this study we explore the relationship between music and body movements.The focus is on repetitive body movements made on music with a rather strong rhythmic character.An experiment was performed in which we asked people to move a joystick while listening to music.First some basic observations are being reported, secondly we analyze more in detail the movement data by making use of synchronization images and calculating the mean movement velocities.It turns out that people naturally synchronize the speed chunks of their movements with the pulse of the music.In a previous experiment people estimated the motional and emotional content of 160 musical excerpts.In the second part of this paper we link these estimations to the tempo of the music.The results do not conflict with the idea that the locomotion system is an intermediary between the music and the perceived emotion.