The Effect of Tempo Manipulation on the Urge to Move

The groove experience has been defined as a pleasant sense of wanting to move along with the music. Tempo, the pacing of musical events affects our perception of melody, rhythm, motion, and emotion and as such it is considered a fundamental musical dimension. This study investigates how varying the tempo of popular music drum & bass patterns influences the groove experience in listeners. The experimental stimuli were based on five, drum & bass patterns sourced from western popular music (original tempi between 89-130 bpm). The sample-based reconstructions allowed for tempo manipulation without side-effects in the audio. Each pattern was presented to participants in three tempo variations (84%, 100%, and 116% tempo) the resulting stimuli had a tempo range between 75 and 151 bpm. Participants (n=81) rated the intensity of their groove experience for each of the 15 stimuli using the Experience of Groove Questionnaire (EGQ). Tempo was found to be positively correlated with both scales of the EGQ. Listeners found faster stimuli to be more movement-inducing and pleasurable than slow ones. Additionally, higher event density induced a greater urge to move. This casts a spotlight on the relationship between tempo and event density and suggests an important area of interest for future research.