Have you ever noticed your body moving along to a song's rhythm unconsciously? Do you ever find yourself nodding your head to music without even realizing it?
Let's take a look at actual movement data to understand this rhythm you feel.
Meet Bob (NM0004S4).
In 2015, researchers at the University of Oslo tasked participants, including Bob, with standing completely still while listening to different sound stimuli. The objective was to examine the effects of music stimuli on movement, mainly how the stimuli would induce involuntary motion even when participants tried to remain perfectly still. Their motion data were recorded using a high-precision camera system with millimeter resolution.
Let's see how Bob performed!
During a minute of complete silence, Bob's average displacement was 3.772 mm/s, indicating that maintaining absolute stillness is difficult even without sound.
Let's see how Bob did with no sound. Click the mini-heads to change your view of our participant!
When exposed to music, such as EDM, Bob's average displacement rose to 7.458 mm/s, reflecting a stronger, rhythmically induced motion.
Here's how Bob moved during EDM:
Notice the difference? This discrepancy is present in all participants' performances. Now, let's explore how others did!