The effect of exercise-induced arousal on chosen tempi for familiar melodies

Jakubowski, Kelly; Halpern, Andrea; Grierson, Mick and Stewart, Lauren. 2015. The effect of exercise-induced arousal on chosen tempi for familiar melodies. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 22(2), pp. 559-565. ISSN 1069-9384 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

Many previous studies have shown that arousal affects time perception, suggesting a direct influence of arousal on the speed of the pacemaker of the internal clock. However, it is unknown whether arousal influences the mental representation of tempo (speed) for highly familiar and complex stimuli, such as well-known melodies, that have long-term representations in memory. Previous research suggests that mental representations of the tempo of familiar melodies are stable over time; the aim of the present study was to investigate whether these representations can be systematically altered via an increase in physiological arousal. Participants adjusted the tempo of 14 familiar melodies in real time until they found a tempo that matched their internal representation of the appropriate tempo for that piece. The task was carried out before and after a physiologically arousing (exercise) or nonarousing (anagrams) manipulation. Participants completed this task both while hearing the melodies aloud and while imagining them. Chosen tempi increased significantly following exercise-induced arousal, regardless of whether a melody was heard aloud or imagined. These findings suggest that a change in internal clock speed affects temporal judgments even for highly familiar and complex stimuli such as music.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0687-1

Additional Information:

AH was partially supported during her sabbatical at
Goldsmiths by a Leverhulme Visiting Professorship. This study was
funded by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust, reference RPG-297,
awarded to author L.S.

Keywords:

Musical tempo, Time perception, Musical imagery

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Psychology

Dates:

DateEvent
24 July 2014Published Online
1 April 2015Published

Item ID:

10577

Date Deposited:

21 Aug 2014 12:24

Last Modified:

17 Nov 2020 10:58

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/10577

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