Ballroom dancers exhibit a dispositional need for arousal and elevated cerebral cortical activity during preferred melodic recall.

Bradley D. Hatfield,Yingzhi Lu,Xinhong Jin,Biye Wang,Xiaoyu Wang,Chenglin Zhou

doi:10.7717/peerj.10658

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough the association of human temperament and preference has been studied previously, few investigations have examined cerebral cortical activation to assess brain dynamics associated with the motivation to engage in performance. The present study adopted a personality and cognitive neuroscience approach to investigate if participation in ballroom dancing is associated with sensation-seeking temperament and elevated cerebral cortical arousal during freely chosen musical recall.MethodsPreferred tempo, indicated by tapping speed during melodic recall, and a measure of fundamental disposition or temperament were assessed in 70 ballroom dancers and 71 nondancers. All participants completed a trait personality inventory (i.e., the Chen Huichang 60 Temperaments Inventory) to determine four primary types: choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic. Participants separately recalled their favorite musical piece and tapped to it with their index finger for 40 beats using a computer keyboard. A subset of 59 participants (29 ballroom dancers and 30 nondancers) also repeated the same tapping task while electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded.ResultsThe results revealed that the dancers were more extraverted, indicative of a heightened need for arousal, exhibited a preference for faster musical tempo, and exhibited elevated EEG beta power during the musical recall task relative to nondancers. Paradoxically, dancers also showed elevated introversion (i.e., melancholic score) relative to nondancers, which can be resolved by consideration of interactional personality theory if one assumes reasonably that dance performance environment is perceived in a stimulating manner.ConclusionThe results are generally consistent with arousal theory, and suggest that ballroom dancers seek elevated stimulation and, thereby, choose to engage with active and energetic rhythmic auditory stimulation, thus providing the nervous system with the requisite stimulation for desired arousal. These results also suggest an underlying predisposition for engagement in ballroom dance and support the gravitational hypothesis, which propose that personality traits and perception lead to the motivation to engage in specific forms of human performance.

Highlights

Many explanations of human behavior and performance consider an individual’s temperament or personality, which implies that there are pre-existing differences that draw people into different activities
Preferred tempo Independent t-tests applied to the preferred tempo revealed that the tempo preferred by dancers (159 ± bpm) was significantly faster than that preferred by nondancers (132 ± bpm), t = −2.427, p = 0.016, Cohen’s d = 0.409, but there was no significant effect for standard deviation (SD), ps > 0.05
Temperament type The Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) applied to the four temperaments revealed that choleric and melancholic scores in dancers were higher than those in nondancers, F(1,141) =15.730, p < 0.0001, η2p = 0.102 and F(1,141) = 15.723, p < 0.0001, η2p = 0.102, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Many explanations of human behavior and performance consider an individual’s temperament or personality, which implies that there are pre-existing differences that draw people into different activities (the gravitational hypothesis, Morgan et al, 1988). Introverts are more aroused than extraverts when engaged in activities of the same intensity, regardless of whether the sensory stimulation was preferred by extraverts or by introverts (Geen, 1984) Such findings lead to the assumption that people with different personalities seek specific levels or types of stimulation to achieve a desired and comfortable level of neural activation during performance. Conclusion: The results are generally consistent with arousal theory, and suggest that ballroom dancers seek elevated stimulation and, thereby, choose to engage with active and energetic rhythmic auditory stimulation, providing the nervous system with the requisite stimulation for desired arousal. These results suggest an underlying predisposition for engagement in ballroom dance and support the

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