Elements of musical and dance sophistication predict musical groove perception

Abstract

Listening to groovy music is an enjoyable experience and a common human behavior in some cultures. Specifically, many listeners agree that songs they find to be more familiar and pleasurable are more likely to induce the experience of musical groove. While the pleasurable and dance-inducing effects of musical groove are omnipresent, we know less about how subjective feelings toward music, individual musical or dance experiences, or more objective musical perception abilities are correlated with the way we experience groove. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate how musical and dance sophistication relates to musical groove perception. One-hundred 24 participants completed an online study during which they rated 20 songs, considered high- or low-groove, and completed the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index, the Goldsmiths Dance Sophistication Index, the Beat and Meter Sensitivity Task, and a modified short version of the Profile for Music Perception Skills. Our results reveal that measures of perceptual abilities, musical training, and social dancing predicted the difference in groove rating between high- and low-groove music. Overall, these findings support the notion that listeners’ individual experiences and predispositions may shape their perception of musical groove, although other causal directions are also possible. This research helps elucidate the correlates and possible causes of musical groove perception in a wide range of listeners.

A review of psychological and neuroscientific research on musical groove

“…Sensitivity to groove (how well one can distinguish high-groove music from low-groove music) is also reported to be related to musical and dance sophistication, as assessed by the scores of Musical Training and Perceptual Abilities of the Goldsmith Music Sophistication Index and Social Dancing of the Goldsmith Dance Sophistication Index (O'Connell et al, 2022). Another study revealed that while dancers and non-dancers did not significantly differ in their ratings of groove and the optimal level of syncopation for groove, the inverted-U shaped relationship was stronger in dancers (Cameron, et al, 2022a).…”