Syncopation levels, but not movement, are associated with pleasantness while listening to rhythmic music

The effect of moving along to music on induced affect was investigated by asking two groups of participants ( N = 76) to listen to rhythmic patterns while either foot tapping along to the beat or staying still, respectively. Stimuli consisted of drum-breaks with three levels of syncopation (low, intermediate, high). Participants reported levels of induced pleasantness, relaxation, and wakefulness. It was hypothesized that participants who tapped along would experience greater pleasantness, less relaxation, and more wakefulness than those who remained still. In addition, it was predicted that stimuli with intermediate syncopation would be associated with greater pleasantness, following an inverted U-shaped function, and that increasing levels of syncopation would be associated with decreased relaxation and increased wakefulness. Results showed no differences in affective state between participants who tapped along and participants who stayed still. While the predicted associations between syncopation, pleasantness, and relaxation were only partially supported by the data, we did find an inverted U-shaped relationship between syncopation and difficulty to tap along, or stay still. The findings suggest that moving along to music does not automatically lead to more intense affective responses, potentially because any positive change associated with movement is outweighed by the difficulty of the synchronization task.