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Liked Music Increases Spatial Rotation Performance Regardless of Tempo

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Abstract

Performance on spatial rotation tasks has been shown to improve following listening to music that one likes with the explanation that the fast tempo, and the major mode associated with it, increases arousal and mood. However, given that research also shows that people sometimes like slow-tempo music as much as fast-tempo music it seems remiss that this preference effect has not been explored for slow-tempo music. We extend previous findings by using a more ecologically-valid method and explore whether the tempo effect was independent of the preference for the music, especially when the music is of a slow tempo. Participants listened to both liked and disliked music, in either a fast or slow tempo, prior to completing a series of spatial rotation tasks. In both tempos, liked music was associated with significantly better spatial rotation performance than disliked music. Interestingly, disliked, fast-tempo music was no better than liked, slow-tempo music. Results are discussed with respect to the arousal and mood literature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Psychology, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, CF5 2YB, UK

    Nick Perham & Tom Withey

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  1. Nick Perham
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  2. Tom Withey
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Correspondence to Nick Perham.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 1

Table 2

Table 2 Slow tempo music as chosen by participants
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Perham, N., Withey, T. Liked Music Increases Spatial Rotation Performance Regardless of Tempo. Curr Psychol 31, 168–181 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-012-9141-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-012-9141-6

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