6533b7dbfe1ef96bd126fc00

RESEARCH PRODUCT

The reciprocal link between music and movement studied through music-induced movements

subject

description

Music and movement are inseparable. The movements that are spontaneously procuded when listening to music are thought to be related to the close relationship between the perceptual and motor system in listeners. This particular link is the main topic of this thesis. A first approach was focused on the impact of music-induced movements on music cognition. In two studies, we show that moving along to music neither enhances the retention of new musical pieces (Study 1) nor the retention of the contextual information related to their encoding (Study 2). These results suggest a shallow processing inherent to the expression of musical affordances required for the production of music-induced movements in the motor task. Moreover, they suggest that music is automatically processed in a motoric fashion independantly of the task. Our results also brought forward the importance of the musical groove. A second approach focused on the influence of the perception of musical rhythms on the production of rythmic movements. Our third study tested the hypothesis that different limbs would be differentially influenced depending on the musical tempo. Results show that the tapping taks was the most influenced by the perception of musical rhythms. We argued that this would come from the similar nature of the musical pulse and the timing mecanisms involved in the tapping task and motor resonance phenomena. We also observed different strategies put in place to cope with the task. All these results are discussed in light of the link between perception and action, embodied musical cognition and musical affordances.