Neither sounds nor styles: what rhythm causes the need to dance in humans, according to science

Go to dance it is an attractive plan for human beings. Meeting new people, getting along with our friends and relaxing for a while from obligations are generally the reasons that invite us to do so. And the music. Always the music with its melodies that penetrate the ears to motivate the movement. Since nothing is by chance, this special relationship we have with our rhythms favorites has a very deep explanation from science. Recent research from McMaster University in Canada found that people can dance up to 12% more when low frequencies predominate or the volume is turned up. bass.

During the work, which was published in the specialized journal Current Biology, the experts intermittently turned on and off the speakers that emitted the sounds of the bass, an instrument that is considered the pulse of music. In this way, they were able to reveal how the participants reacted to those alterations. To arrive at these results, the scientists summoned 60 people who attended an electronic music concert. Once there, they placed tapes on their heads in order to monitor their dance movements.

“People did not detect when the changes in the bass occurred, but they were driving their movements while that happened,” neuroscientist David Cameron, one of the authors, explained in dialogue with the AGP. “I was impressed with the effect. They are usually the low-frequency instruments, the ones that give the pulse to the music and thus humans move,” he added. Second, Cameron suggested that even when not perceived, bass stimulates the body’s sensory systems—especially the skin—and the vestibular system, or inner ear.

To understand the phenomenon in depth, Infobae observed the results of this study together with Marisol Matalia (MN 667), a graduate in Music Therapy from the UBA. “Within vibroacoustic music therapy, it has been studied that low frequencies are those that induce greater relaxation. By allowing us to predict what is going to come, it will not generate tension or shocks. This is related to the training, which is the ability of our body to synchronize with external rhythmic stimuli”.

According to Matalia, “there are no specific sounds that incite us to move, because what makes us move is the rhythm of the music, which is the succession of notes or sounds arranged in time. The rhythm is present in all our lives: the pulse, the breath, when we walk. This all happens at a rhythm,” she said. Secondly, the professional added: “The brain manages to encode temporal information that is present in the music and plans and executes movements that are sequential in a precise and organized way. This happens because the rhythm is usually repetitive and predictable.”

Another professional consulted by Infobae was Patricia Lallana Urrutia, clinical music therapist. “What we feel with the bass has to do with the heartbeat, which is what we hear during the months of gestation. The first thing that babies perceive are the deepest sounds: it is what gives us the most pleasure when it comes to perceiving, ”she said.

In addition, Lallana Urrutia specified that the rhythm “acts at the level of the autonomic nervous system”, in a dynamic under which “music penetrates the body, the psychic system and the emotions generating an impact”.

Just as the songs -and especially the basses- make us dance, they can also save us from the worst abysses. “To some people who have experienced trauma generates a connection to get out of stress; because the rhythm begins to restore the calmer functioning of the sympathetic nervous system”, explained Lallana Urrutia. And she added: “Music generates an impact on a physiological level. It activates areas of the brain and, for example, can promote the release of neurochemicals such as dopamine, which acts on emotional well-being”.

When is more dopamine released? “When the music you listen to is the one you like”, because otherwise “dopamine is not released but cortisol, which is the stress hormone”. Under these precepts, music therapy works individually with each patient to find out their preferences and define approach strategies. “It’s always very subjective. There are people who only listen to music with a pulse and rhythm that invites them to move. Others are more emotional and prioritize instrumental timbres, voice, melodies and harmonies”, said the expert.

Matalia, for her part, stated: “Whatever produces calm and well-being in us will always be related to culture and our sound and musical history. There are songs or sounds that can transmit joy to one person and others sadness or discomfort. It all depends on the emotional meaning it has for each one.”

In that sense, music therapy is based “on the innate ability of our brain to synchronize to external stimuli.” Thus, even this discipline is applied “for the stimulation and recovery of motor skills in people with some difficulty of this nature.” How? “Providing structures and guidelines to facilitate, for example, walking, balance, or that a patient can get up from a chair,” according to Matalia’s explanation.

To conclude, the professional indicated: “The various music therapy techniques modify the amplitude of movement, strength, planning and motor execution. And to all this is added the motivation generated by the musical stimulus. Ideally, it should be relevant to the person, with the aim that the rehabilitation process be rewarding and there may be more adherence to treatment”.

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