Music style affects walkers' pace
Even when different music has identical tempo and beat, other acoustic features influence walkers' stride and speed, researchers at Belgium's Ghent University have found.
Walkers in a study heard samples of 52 different types of music all with the same tempo and a four-beat meter.
However, their stride lengthened in response to some tunes and was shorter in response to others, and the variations caused an overall difference in the pace of their walk.
After the experiment, participants rated the music they had heard with adjectives like bad or good, aggressive or tender, familiar or unfamiliar.
Music that increased walking speed the most was frequently rated bad, aggressive, loud or fast, whereas emotions, familiarity or taste had little correlation to the music's effect on pace.
Pop-techno sounds tended to increase pace, compared to jazz-reggae, which decreased walking pace.
"Music tones up or tones down your walking stride depending on musical style, even when the tempo is the same," the university's Marc Leman said.
The findings, published in the open access journal PLOS ONE, could be applied to sports and physical rehabilitation, Mr Leman said.
Source: www.new.com.au