Do we sway to music even when we don’t enjoy it? Study discovers surprising details

The urge to move our bodies to music may be more hardwired than previously thought. Know all about it here.

When we hear a music, our bodies involuntarily groove to it. Often, we find ourselves tapping our feet or swaying our bodies when we hear a faint sound of music. According to a new study led by Isaac Romkey, Concordia University, the body’s way of grooving to music might be involuntary, and the response might be more hardwired than we thought.

The study observed that people, who may not particularly enjoy music, also have the urge of moving their bodies to the rhythm.(Pexels)

Findings of the study:

The study, published in PLOS One, observed that people, who may not particularly enjoy music, also have the urge of moving their bodies to the rhythm. Musical anhedonia is a condition where people do not have the same response of pleasure to music. However, the study observed that even people with musical anhedonia also have the same urge of moving their bodies or swaying to music.

The study challenges the previously thought notions of how the brain perceives music, demonstrating that the body’s movement to rhythm might be more central to musical enjoyment.

The urge to sway to music often comes naturally to us.(Pexels)

What separates most people from the ones with musical anhedonia is the difference between how musical sounds are perceived. People with musical anhedonia may not get the emotional pleasure of listening to music, while others derive pleasure out of it.

The study was conducted on 148 control participants and 17 people with musical anhedonia. They were asked to listen to several notes of musical tones, and then rate themselves on the basis of pleasure and urge to sway their bodies on a 5-point scale.

It was observed that people of the control group as well as the ones with musical anhedonia, both had the urge to move their bodies, whether they derived pleasure out of the musical tones or not. Lead author Isaac Romkey from Concordia University, in a statement, said, “Normally, we would expect to see an inverted U-shaped response to rhythmic complexity, meaning that we want to move to music that is of medium complex rhythms as opposed to music that is very simple or very complex.”

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.