The effect of music tempo on movement flow

Jian Zhang; Yanqun Huang; Yifan Dong; Jutao Li; Liming Zhu; Mingxuan Zhao

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1292516

The effect of music tempo on movement flow

Front Psychol. 2024 Jan 29:15:1292516. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1292516. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Jian Zhang^{1

2}, Yanqun Huang^{1

3}, Yifan Dong¹, Jutao Li¹, Liming Zhu¹, Mingxuan Zhao⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Mechanism Theory and Equipment Design of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
² School of Art and Design, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou, China.
³ Tianjin Ren'ai College, Tianjin, China.
⁴ Newton's Grove School, Mississauga, ON, Canada.

Abstract

There has been much controversy over the effects of music tempo on movement flow. In this study, a single-factor repeated-measurement design was used to explore the effect of music tempo (fast, slow, and no music control) on movement flow by measuring both subjective experiences and objective electroencephalographic (EEG) characteristics during brisk walking. In the experiment, 20 college students walked briskly on a treadmill using EEG equipment. Each participant walked for 10 min on three different days. Their brain waves were recorded during brisk walking on a treadmill. After each walk, the participants completed a form of short flow state scale-2 (S FSS-2), which covered nine major aspects of flow. The results showed that music tempo had a significant effect on subjective experiences and objective physiological characteristics; that is, a higher subjective flow level for fast-tempo music in brisk walking and a significant enhancement of mean power values in the subconscious brain waves of the delta, theta, alpha, and beta bands for fast tempo music were observed. A fast tempo facilitated the movement flow. The findings of this study can be instructive for the use of music in exercises to improve sports training outcomes.

Keywords: brisk walking; electroencephalogram; flow experience; movement flow; music tempo.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the (National Natural Science Foundation of China) under grant (No. 51875399).