(Dis-)Harmony in movement: effects of musical dissonance on movement timing and form

Abstract

While the origins of consonance and dissonance in terms of acoustics, psychoacoustics and physiology have been debated for centuries, their plausible effects on movement synchronization have largely been ignored. The present study aimed to address this by investigating whether, and if so how, consonant/dissonant pitch intervals affect the spatiotemporal properties of regular reciprocal aiming movements. We compared movements synchronized either to consonant or to dissonant sounds and showed that they were differentially influenced by the degree of consonance of the sound presented. Interestingly, the difference was present after the sound stimulus was removed. In this case, the performance measured after consonant sound exposure was found to be more stable and accurate, with a higher percentage of information/movement coupling (tau coupling) and a higher degree of movement circularity when compared to performance measured after the exposure to dissonant sounds. We infer that the neural resonance representing consonant tones leads to finer perception/action coupling which in turn may help explain the prevailing preference for these types of tones.

Musical Expectancy in Squat Sonification for People Who Struggle with Physical Activity

“…Moreover, it can be seen how listening to different kinds of music during exercise can have an effect on both affective states and motor performance in physical activity [14,15]. People have shown an implicit ability to synchronise their movements with music [29] and that certain music can even motivate more exercise/limit the effects of exertion [14,15]. From this work, it can be seen how powerful a tool musical sound can be in promoting physical activity.…”

“…This musical expectancy has been demonstrated to impact people's movement. The work by Komeilipoor et.al [29] showed how musical dissonance impacts people ability to synchronise their movement with an external musical stimulus. It was found that participants were able to better synchronise with a consonant sound (one that fits expectation) than a dissonant sound (one which defies such expectations).…”

“…how we expect a piece of music to end. We aim to understand the effect of people's embodied perception of the expectancy of when a music is supposed to end on their movement [27,16,29].…”

Consonance Processing in the Absence of Relevant Experience: Evidence from Nonhuman Animals

“…As we have suggested before, exposure to harmonic music might be at the base of processing advantages for consonance (Komeilipoor et al, 2015;Schellenberg & Trehub, 1994, 1996. Preference for acoustic stimuli defined by simple frequency ratios between their composing tones could be a prerequisite to benefit from differences between consonance and dissonance as has been observed in human participants (Crespo-Bojorque & Toro, 2016).…”

“…In contrast, rats showed no differences across experiments. Their differences between consonant and dissonant chords have also been identified in both human adults (Komeilipoor, Rodger, Craig, & Cesari, 2015;Schellenberg & Trehub, 1994) and infants (Schellenberg & Trehub, 1996). Consonant chords and melodies seem to be better processed than dissonant ones.…”