Listening to music with a groove beat improves cognitive abilities

THE ESSENTIAL

  • Executive functions correspond to all the mental processes that allow us to control our actions, our emotions and our thoughts.

“Listening to the groovy rhythm of music, which makes you feel like you want to move, can also generate a sense of pleasure and excitement in people,” said researchers from the University of Tsukuba in Japan. In a recent study published in the journal Scientific Reportsscientists have found that music with a groove beat can improve cognitive performance, such as physical activity or sports, by stimulating the prefrontal cortex.

A brain exam to analyze executive function before and after listening to music

“This rhythm elicits positive affective responses. However, it is unclear whether they influence executive function,” said Hideaki Soya, author of the work, in a statement. To find out, they recruited 51 adults. Initially, the participants had to listen for three minutes to music with a groove rhythm or a white noise metronome, namely an instrument used to mark time. Before and after listening, the volunteers performed functional near-infrared spectroscopy, a brain scan, to assess changes in executive function and measure individual psychological responses to this musical beat.

The groove rhythm stimulates the activity of the prefrontal cortex

According to the results, listening to music with a groove beat improves executive function and stimulates activity in the frontal cortex in participants who said the sound elicited a strong sense of wanting to move and a greater sense of lucidity. According to the authors, these psychological responses to listening to groove rhythm could predict changes in executive function and activity in the frontal cortex.

“Our results indicate that individual differences in psychological responses to music with groove rhythm modulate effects on executive function. As such, the effects of groove rhythm on cognitive performance may be mediated by familiarity or ability rhythm processing”, explained Hideaki Soya.

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