Turning Heads on the Dance Floor: Synchrony and Social Interaction Using a Silent Disco Paradigm
Music and dance appear to have a social bonding effect, which some have theorized is part of their ultimate evolutionary function. Prior research has also found a social bonding effect of synchronized movement, and it is possible that interpersonal synchrony could be considered the “active ingredient” in the social bonding consequences of music or dance activity. The present study aimed to separate the effects of synchrony from other factors associated with joint experience of dancing by using a “silent disco” manipulation, in which the timing of a musical stimulus was varied within a dyad in a freestyle dance setting. Three conditions were included: synchrony, tempo-shifted (in which the …
International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology (SysMus15).
The 8th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology (SysMus15) took place from the 17th to 19th of September, 2015, in Leipzig, Germany, a city with a strong academic and musical heritage. Leipzig was home to famous musicians such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert and Clara Schumann, and Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn. It was where Wilhelm Wundt opened the first laboratory for experimental psychology in 1879 (Rieber & Robinson, 2001, p. 206), and where Hugo Riemann founded one of the first institutes for Musicology in 1914 (Gollin & Rehding, 2011, p. 140). Against this background was held a conference highlighting the interdisciplinarity of modern Musicology.Musicology itself …
Trait Empathy associated with Agreeableness and rhythmic entrainment in a spontaneous movement to music task: Preliminary exploratory investigations
The simulation theory of empathy suggests that we use motor processing to empathise, through modelling the actions of others. Similarly, research into embodied music cognition posits that music, particularly musical rhythm, is perceived as a motor stimulus. In both cases, the human Mirror Neuron System (MNS) is put forward as a potential underlying mechanism. If this is the case, some overlap may exist between the ability to empathise with others, and the ability to perceive rhythm in music. The present study investigated this relationship indirectly, through the study of individual differences in Trait Empathy and rhythmic entrainment. Undergraduate students ( N = 237) completed a questio…