Abstract
Experiences of time vary intra- and interindividually, depending on factors such as attentional resource allocation and arousal. Music as a temporal art that is structured by multiple temporal layers is ideal for investigating human time experiences. The current study used examples of hip-hop music that varied in arousal but were constant in tempo. Participants judged the passage of time to be quicker when cognitive load was high in a dual-task condition, and perceived duration to be shorter when performing a concurrent motor task (tapping along with the music). Perceived musical arousal did not affect subjective time. Attending to a higher metrical level by tapping with half notes resulted in shorter duration estimates and a quicker passage of time, compared to tapping with eighth notes of the same music. Results were not influenced by spontaneous motor tempo, musical expertise, preference or familiarity with the music. Taken together, these findings indicate consistent effects of cognitive load and attention to meter on time experiences.
Highlights
There has been a remarkable slowing-down in musical tempo in recent years
Listening only should involve lowest cognitive load, while focusing on the two metrical levels in the tapping condition, or carrying out mental calculations would result in a higher load
While previous research on duration judgements investigated the impact of cognitive load or perceived arousal separately, no study so far has attempted to disentangle both with real musical examples
Summary
There has been a remarkable slowing-down in musical tempo in recent years. The beat-per-minute (bpm) rates for the most popular music on Spotify was slower by 23 bpm, resulting in a new average tempo of 90.5 bpm in the years 2012–2017. It has been speculated that this may reflect a change in mood and attitude to time, or represents the dominance of hip-hop over other musical genres (Leight, 2017). The widespread popularity of hip-hop comes with slower tempi. It is less known whether listening to different music at the same tempi affects time experiences. The aim of the current study was to investigate how time is perceived in relatively slow hip-hop music by experimentally varying musical arousal and cognitive load. Listeners were asked to only listen to music, to focus their attention on two different metrical levels in a sensorimotor synchronization
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