If the dance floor is empty, cranking the bass can be a surefire way of filling it with bobbing heads or frenetic gyrations.
Researchers at McMaster University in Canada have found that deep frequencies can create a groove without even being audible. Even if you don’t hear the low frequencies, your body will still appreciate them.
Music and all its components – beat, rhythm, and melody – connect with our brains on deeply emotional levels. Some aspects are Almost certainly, culturalOthers influence our behavior on cortical levels, stirring nostalgia As they conjure memoriesOf joy and heartbreak.
However, there may be a music part that transcends the normal channels and somehow worms its way into the brain.
Scientists and DJs both know the benefits of a deeper beat than higher-pitched rhythms. For example, lower frequencies communicate the timing of movement more effectively and trigger nerve responses better.
We don’t just hear deep frequencies with our ears, either – we feel them crawl beneath our skin, shake the marrow of our bones, and ripple through the very machinery that gives us our sense of balance. It’s an experience that stimulates movement at a very visceral level.
“Music is a biological curiosity – It doesn’t reproduce us, it doesn’t feed us, and it doesn’t shelter us, so why do humans like it and why do they like to move to it?” “Daniel Cameron, a McMaster University neuroscientist and avid drummer, was the study’s first author.
We are complex social animals, so it is possible that the simple tingle of a bass can bring us together and cause us to swing our legs on the dance floor.
Cameron and his colleagues wondered if there was more to the arousing sensations experienced within, something beyond our awareness.
The researchers used a live electronic music performance as a laboratory experiment to test their hypothesis. Theater specially designedPlugging in a pair of very-low frequency speakers (VLF), at a range close to human hearing (8 to 37 Hertz), and then turning them on/off during the gig. Motion-capture headbands were used to measure the attendees’ movements.
The team compared normalized measurements of head movement to those taken during VLF activation, followed by 2.5-minutes of inactivation. This was done over the course of the 55-minute-long event.
Although it was confirmed that the speaker sounds were not detectable by dancers’ ears, researchers found that on average participants moved almost 12 percent more when the VLF headphones were on.
The participants enjoyed the music’s bass, and a follow-up questionnaire confirmed that they felt it. However, the sensation was not different from what they are used to.
“The study was highly ecologically valid, since it was a genuine musical and dance experience for people at an actual live show.” “ Cameron.
Researchers were confident that the VLF did not stimulate dancers because most music events do not blast patrons with extremely low frequencies.
The participants were still able to feel the beat, even though they weren’t aware of it. It’s not clear how they did it, whether they stirred the fluids in their inner ears, or by touching their tactile nerves like a lover, but it’s unclear.
Cameron and his team are fascinated by how the subcortical actions of bass affect our behavior.
“Very low frequencies could also affect vestibular sensibility, increasing people’s sense of movement.” “ Cameron.
“Nailing down brain mechanisms will require looking at low frequencies on the vestibular and tactile pathways.”
This study was published in Current Biology.
