Fast Tempo Research Articles

Isolated CD39 Expression on CD4+ T Cells Denotes both Regulatory and Memory Populations

Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs) express both ectoenzymes CD39 and CD73, which in tandem hydrolyze pericellular ATP into adenosine, an immunoinhibitory molecule that contributes to Treg suppressive function. Using Foxp3GFP knockin mice, we noted that the mouse CD4(+)CD39(+) T-cell pool contains two roughly equal size Foxp3(+) and Foxp3(-) populations. While Foxp3(+)CD39(+) cells are CD73(bright) and are the bone fide Tregs, Foxp3(-)CD39(+) cells do not have suppressive activity and are CD44(+)CD62L(-)CD25(-)CD73(dim/-), exhibiting memory cell phenotype. Functionally, CD39 expression on memory and Treg cells confers protection against ATP-induced apoptosis. Compared with Foxp3(-)CD39(-) naïve T cells, Foxp3(-)CD39(+) cells freshly isolated from non-immunized mice express at rest significantly higher levels of mRNA for T-helper lineage-specific cytokines IFN-gamma (Th1), IL-4/IL-10 (Th2), IL-17A/F (Th17), as well as pro-inflammatory cytokines, and rapidly secrete these cytokines upon stimulation. Moreover, the presence of Foxp3(-)CD39(+) cells inhibits TGF-beta induction of Foxp3 in Foxp3(-)CD39(-) cells. Furthermore, when transferred in vivo, Foxp3(-)CD39(+) cells rejected MHC-mismatched skin allografts in a much faster tempo than Foxp3(-)CD39(-) cells. Thus, besides Tregs, CD39 is also expressed on pre-existing memory T cells of Th1-, Th2- and Th17-types with heightened alloreactivity.

The Role of Light and Music in Gambling Behaviour: An Empirical Pilot Study

Empirical research examining the situational characteristics of gambling and their effect on gambling behaviour is limited but growing. This experimental pilot investigation reports the first ever empirical study into the combined effects of both music and light on gambling behaviour. While playing an online version of roulette, 56 participants took part in one of four experimental conditions (14 participants in each condition); (1) gambling with fast tempo music under normal (white) light, (2) gambling with fast tempo music under red light, (3) gambling with slow tempo music under normal (white) light, and (4) gambling with slow tempo music under red light. Risk (dollars spent) per spin and speed of bets were measured as indicators of gambling behaviour. Significant main effects were found for speed of bets in relation to musical tempo, but not light. No significant effects were found for risk per spin for either of the two independent variables. A significant interaction between light and music for speed of bets was shown. Planned comparisons revealed that fast tempo music under red light resulted in faster gambling. These findings are discussed along with the methodological limitations, and potential implications for various stakeholders including the gambling industry and practitioners.

Rhythmic patterns during conversational repairs in speakers with aphasia

Background: Investigations of prosodic tempos during conversations between non‐disordered persons have revealed changes in tempo during conversational repairs. The present study investigates fluctuations in prosodic parameters of speakers with aphasia during conversational repairs to study how changes in prosodic tempo are associated with the speakers' ability to make comprehensible corrections. Aims: Previous investigators have found that non‐disordered speakers will alter prosodic tempo based on the type of repair: faster for self‐initiated repairs and slower for other‐initiated repairs (Couper‐Kuhlen, 1993). Others have shown that speech rate can influence the comprehension of verbal information by persons with aphasia during structured interactions such as in story telling or map directions (Laskey, Weidner, & Johnson, 1976; Salvatore & Davis, 1979). This study examines changes in prosodic patterns made by speakers with aphasia during repair episodes in informal conversations with non‐disordered partners. The influence of partner familiarity and perceived comprehensibility of the repair are also examined. Methods & Procedures: Conversations between speakers with aphasia and familiar and unfamiliar non‐disordered partners were recorded and acoustically analysed. Prosodic tempo is operationally defined as fluctuations in fundamental frequency (f0) and sound pressure levels (SPL), and is modelled with sine waves overlaid on graphic displays of f0 and SPL tracings during repair episodes. Listener judgements of repair success were then compared to the changes in prosodic tempo from pre‐ to post‐repair talk. Outcomes & Results: Analysis of the pre‐ to post‐repair prosodic tempo yielded results suggesting that speakers with aphasia respond differently during conversational repairs with familiar and unfamiliar partners, whereas non‐disordered speakers respond differently based on the type of repair (self‐initiated or other‐initiated). The successful resolution of the repairs was not found to be associated with a slower tempo. However, an analysis of the magnitude of change between pre‐ and post‐repair rhythm suggests that perceived success of repair is associated with the amount of change. Conclusions: The results of the acoustic analysis method used in the study were compatible with results obtained by previous studies using perceptual analyses (Couper‐Kuhlen, 1993). There was a significant difference in prosodic tempo between self‐ and other‐initiated repairs for the non‐disordered speakers who slowed down during other‐initiated repairs and sped up during self‐initiated repairs. In contrast, speakers with aphasia changed prosodic tempo based on partner familiarity. They used faster tempo with unfamiliar partners and slower tempo with familiar partners during repairs. Although slower tempo did not aid in the successful resolution of the repair, magnitude of change was found to be significantly greater during successful repairs compared to unsuccessful repairs.

Detecting Wrong Notes in Advance: Neuronal Correlates of Error Monitoring in Pianists

Music performance is an extremely rapid process with low incidence of errors even at the fast rates of production required. This is possible only due to the fast functioning of the self-monitoring system. Surprisingly, no specific data about error monitoring have been published in the music domain. Consequently, the present study investigated the electrophysiological correlates of executive control mechanisms, in particular error detection, during piano performance. Our target was to extend the previous research efforts on understanding of the human action-monitoring system by selecting a highly skilled multimodal task. Pianists had to retrieve memorized music pieces at a fast tempo in the presence or absence of auditory feedback. Our main interest was to study the interplay between auditory and sensorimotor information in the processes triggered by an erroneous action, considering only wrong pitches as errors. We found that around 70 ms prior to errors a negative component is elicited in the event-related potentials and is generated by the anterior cingulate cortex. Interestingly, this component was independent of the auditory feedback. However, the auditory information did modulate the processing of the errors after their execution, as reflected in a larger error positivity (Pe). Our data are interpreted within the context of feedforward models and the auditory-motor coupling.

Effects of Singing and Counting During Successive Interval Productions

Participants were asked to produce 30 successive intervals of 6, 12, 18, and 24 s with periodic finger taps aided by different mediators. During the presentation of the target and the production phase, they had to count or sing. The mean deviations from target were smaller in the counting condition than in the singing condition; training did not greatly improve performance; and the coefficients of variation (CV) increased with target durations. Large (r≈+.31) autocorrelations in the productions were caused by drifts toward faster tempi. Drift was a first-order (exponential) transition from tempi during presentation to asymptotic tempi during production. Our results show that a long series of productions may drift substantially and that, in this context, song mediated timing may drift more than count-mediated timing.

Mode and Tempo in Western Classical Music of the Common- Practice Era: My Grandmother Was Largely Right – but No One Knows Why

The work of Post and Huron (2009) is an example of how the received wisdom in musicology can be fruitfully challenged by simple empirical procedures - in this case demonstrating a counterintuitive, yet strong, relationship between the minor mode and fast tempi in the Romantic era. The fact that the authors' explanation in terms of the emotional similarities of the minor mode with the Sturm und Drang attributes (other than sadness) is not wholly convincing in music-historical terms does not diminish the importance of the finding. However, there is still no resolution of the central psychological conundrum of why the minor mode is generally associated with sadness. And it is unclear why the authors drew on speech prosody rather than human emotion-driven and emotion-expressing movement for their tempo observations. There are other aspects of the data that require further exploration. One is the differential distribution of the associations of various tempo markings with mode across the periods of the common-practice era. Another is the 3 : 1 preponderance of allegro over adagio in the authors' search of 50,000 tracks in the ClassicsOnline.com database and the possibility that this ratio is a partial consequence of the psychological implications of the sonata form that were intuitively understood and used by composers.

Age and sex differences in various stepping movements of the elderly

This study aimed to examine sex and age differences of various stepping movements in the elderly and to clarify useful stepping movements for evaluation of their dynamic balance. Two hundred and eighty-six healthy elderly subjects who could walk independently (male mean age = 71.2 +/- 7.1 years; female mean age = 71.5 +/- 6.0) performed the following stepping tests: back and forth; up and down with a 5 cm tall step; and in-place stepping matching three tempos (44, 66 and 132 b.p.m.). Step number, single and double support times in the former two stepping tests, and time difference between metronome sound and grounding time in the latter tempo stepping tests were selected as evaluation parameters. An insignificant sex difference was found in all parameters. Hence, the data of men and women was pooled to examine age differences. Significant age differences were found in the step number and double support time of back and forth and up and down stepping tests and in the time difference of three tempo stepping tests. The step number in younger age groups and the support times in older age groups tended to be larger. No sex difference was found in evaluation parameters of all stepping tests, and all parameters tended to be superior in the younger elderly. The elderly experienced more difficulty matching slow tempos than fast tempos in the in-place stepping test. The back and forth, up and down and in-place matching tempo stepping tests may be useful for evaluating dynamic balance ability of the elderly.

The effect of rhythmic auditory stimulation on the gait parameters of patients with incomplete spinal cord injury: an exploratory pilot study

This exploratory pilot study examined the immediate entrainment effects of rhythmic auditory stimulation on the gait parameters of cadence, velocity, and stride length in patients with incomplete spinal cord injury. Seventeen patients with incomplete spinal cord injury, mean age of 41 years and on average 5.88 years postinjury, participated in a within-subjects repeated measures design with counterbalanced conditions. Participants completed four, 10-meter walks: walk 1, participants walked at their normal pace without rhythm; walk 2, participants walked to a rhythm set to the tempo of their uncued normal walk; walk 3, participants walked as fast as safely possible, without auditory rhythm; and walk 4, participants walked to an auditory rhythm set 5% higher than their uncued fast walk. Mean scores for cadence and velocity decreased with rhythmic cueing at the normal tempo, whereas average stride length increased. On average, all parameters decreased at the fast tempo. No changes were statistically significant and no interaction emerged between cueing and tempo for any gait parameter. Despite the lack of effects, many participants were able to entrain with rhythm at the normal tempo, as evidenced by small improvements in cadence and velocity. Patient response to rhythmic cueing may differ according to age and level of injury. Younger participants were more likely to increase velocity and stride length at the fast tempo (P=0.025). At the normal tempo, patients with cervical injuries tended to increase cadence, whereas patients with thoracic injuries showed improvements in stride length and velocity.

Performance Enhancement with Music in Rowing Sprint

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of fast- and slow-tempo music on 500-m rowing sprint performances. Twenty-two rowers performed 500-m sprints 3 times: rowing without music, rowing to slow music, and rowing to fast tempo music. Strokes per minute (SPM), time to completion, (TTC), and rated perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded. Although RPE did not differ between the rowing conditions, TTC was shortest in the fast music condition. Further, shorter TTC was observed in the slow music condition in contrast to the control condition, indicating that slow music also enhanced performance. The strongest treatment effects emerged, however, in the examination of the SPM that were significantly higher during rowing to fast music in comparison with rowing to slow music or no music. These results suggest that fast music acts as an external psyching-up stimulus in brief and strenuous muscle work.

Selecting One of Two Regular Sound Sequences: Perceptual and Motor Effects of Tempo

This study assessed the influence of tempo on selecting a sound sequence. In Exp. 1, synchronization with one of the two regular subsequences in a complex sequence was measured. 30 participants indicated a preference for the fastest subsequence when subsequences were in a slow tempo range (> or = 500 msec. IOI), and with the slower subsequence when they were in the fast tempo range (< or = 300 msec. IOI). These results were replicated using a perceptual task (Exp. 2 and 3) in which the 30 listeners had to detect a temporal irregularity in one of the two subsequences. Detection was better when the temporal irregularity was in the fastest subsequence than in the slowest one when the complex sequence was in a slow tempo range (> or = 500 msec. IOI) and the reverse was obtained when the complex sequence was in a fast tempo range (< or = 180 msec. IOI). These results have implications for design of auditory alarms.

Role of tempo entrainment in psychophysiological differentiation of happy and sad music?

Respiration rate allows to differentiate between happy and sad excerpts which may be attributable to entrainment of respiration to the rhythm or the tempo rather than to emotions [Etzel, J.A., Johnsen, E.L., Dickerson, J., Tranel, D., Adolphs, R., 2006. Cardiovascular and respiratory responses during musical mood induction. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 61(1), 57–69]. In order to test for this hypothesis, this study intended to verify whether fast and slow rhythm, and/or tempo alone are sufficient to induce differential physiological effects. Psychophysiological responses (electrodermal responses, facial muscles activity, blood pressure, heart and respiration rate) were then measured in fifty young adults listening to fast/happy and slow/sad music, and to two control versions of these excerpts created by removing pitch variations (rhythmic version) and both pitch and temporal variations (beat-alone). The results indicate that happy and sad music are significantly differentiated (happy > sad) by diastolic blood pressure, electrodermal activity, and zygomatic activity, while the fast and slow rhythmic and tempo control versions did not elicit such differentiations. In contrast, respiration rate was faster with stimuli presented at fast tempi relative to slow stimuli in the beat-alone condition. It was thus demonstrated that the psychophysiological happy/sad distinction requires the tonal variations and cannot be explained solely by entrainment to tempo and rhythm. The tempo entrainment exists in the tempo alone condition but our results suggest this effect may disappear when embedded in music or with rhythm.

Psychological Effects of Music Tempi during Exercise

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of music tempi on music preference, intrinsic motivation, and flow during long-duration exercise (approximately 26 min). Subjects (n = 29) selected the music of a single artist then walked at 70 % of maximum heart rate reserve (maxHRR) on a treadmill under three experimental conditions (medium tempi, fast tempi, and mixed tempi) and a no-music control. A music preference item, the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, and Flow State Scale-2 were completed after each trial. Data were analyzed using a mixed-model (Gender x Condition) ANOVA and MANOVA. The Gender x Condition interaction was nonsignificant in both analyses (p > 0.05). Contrary to expectations, higher preference scores were recorded for medium tempi than for mixed tempi (means: 7.8 +/- 1.3 vs. 7.1 +/- 1.1). The medium tempi music also yielded the highest levels of intrinsic motivation (p < 0.001). Pairwise comparisons showed that interest-enjoyment was higher for medium tempi when compared to mixed tempi, 95% CI = 1.80-8.48, p = 0.001, and that each of the music preference experimental conditions yielded higher scores than the no-music control. Also, pressure-tension was lower for medium tempi compared to fast tempi, 95% CI = -3.44-0.19, p = 0.022, and for both medium and mixed tempi compared to control (95% CI = -5.33-2.89, p = 0.000; 95% CI = -4.24 - 0.64, p = 0.004). A main effect was found for global flow (p = 0.000) with the highest mean score evident in the medium tempi condition (14.6 +/- 1.5). Follow-up comparisons indicated that the medium tempi condition yielded higher flow scores than the control, 95% CI = 1.25-3.60, p = 0.000, as did fast tempi, 95% CI = 0.89-3.14, p = 0.000, and mixed tempi, 95% CI = 1.36-3.76, p = 0.000. It was concluded that a medium tempi music program was the most appropriate for an exercise intensity of 70% maxHRR.

Comment on: Gale EAM (2007) To boldly go—or to go too boldly? The accelerator hypothesis revisited. Diabetologia 50:1571–1575—a reply to the editor

To the Editor: The Editor’s erudite commentary [1] on the accelerator hypothesis and its impact on the classification of diabetes [2] points to where the hypothesis may be vulnerable, offers the opportunity for adjustment and sets an intellectual standard by which the hypothesis will stand or fall. The hypothesis is based on the construct of tempo [3], and envisages a hierarchy of genotypes that respond to insulin resistance with corresponding rates of beta cell loss. Accordingly, a rise in insulin resistance across a population would predict a leftward shift, resulting in younger age at onset and an increase in incidence, both fundamental tenets of the hypothesis because they spell acceleration. Constitution predisposes to accelerated apoptosis Gale’s expectation from the accelerator hypothesis is that ‘both forms of diabetes share a common genetic susceptibility to beta cell loss’. But this is to misconstrue the hypothesis (‘Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are the same disorder of insulin resistance set against different genetic backgrounds’). The hypothesis does not propose a common genetic soil, but rather a common environmental risk—insulin resistance—to which different genotypes respond in a hierarchical fashion. I have responded to this point elsewhere [4], but an analogy may help to clarify it. If the fish in a lake were ‘accelerator’ genes encoding susceptibility according to their size, only the widest of meshes (the least insulin resistance) would be needed to net the largest of them, i.e. those (HLA) genes associated with fast tempo diabetes (type 1). Smaller fish would not be selected by the trawl, and would not find themselves partitioned one side of a net designed to catch type 1 fish. These smaller fish would be trapped only with a narrower mesh, i.e. the genes associated with type 2 diabetes would be expressed only when insulin resistance was greater. I would therefore expect to find type 1 genes overexpressed in type 2 diabetes, but not type 2 genes, such as TCF7L2, in type 1 diabetes, as Field et al. observed [5]. FTO is not an accelerator gene, but a determinant of body mass that is over-represented in type 2 diabetes, where BMI surfeits are large, but not in type 1 [6] because, although corresponding surfeits are consistently reported [2], they are smaller. Insulin resistance is the principal cause of non-immune diabetes I recognise that insulin resistance and beta cell performance are inter-dependent functions in a non-linear loop, but the question at issue is whether the same insulin resistance that most would accept underpins type 2 diabetes also underpins type 1. The two examples in the literature which I cited to suggest that it might, both adjusted their measure of insulin resistance for beta cell reserve, as Gale requires. Both reported that those who went on to type 1 diabetes were more insulin resistant relative to, in the first instance, their identical twin who did not [7] and, in the second, those in the same randomised cohort who did not [8]. I think both satisfy Gale’s concern for ‘relative to what?’ Everybody is, by degrees, insulin deficient, and the hypothesis argues that the tempo of progression from health to diabetes moves along a continuum, not from one arbitrary category to another. Insulin sensitivity only becomes an important influence upon progression to hyperglycaemia once critical levels of Diabetologia (2007) 50:2604–2606 DOI 10.1007/s00125-007-0829-3

William Kanengiser—Classical Guitar and Beyond, and: LAGQ Live! (review)

William Kanengiser-Classical Guitar and Beyond. DVD. Directed by Bill Bay. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publications, 2006. 21487DVD. $24.95. LAGQ Live! DVD. Directed by Doug Witherspoon. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publications, 2005. 21047DVD. $29.95. William Kanengiser's remarkable mastery of the classical guitar extends far beyond the world of the concert soloist. His talents are just as extraordinary when applied to the roles of ensemble performer, composer, and arranger. This comes through loud and clear in two recently released DVDs from Mel Bay Publications. William Kanengiser-Classical Guitar and Beyond is primarily a performance DVD but it also reveals fascinating information about the performer as well as the compositions he presents. Kanengiser takes time to introduce the viewer to the most important elements of each of the fifteen compositions before he performs them during this 151-minute DVD. These verbal program notes can considerably enhance the viewer's understanding and appreciation of each work. The first half of the DVD presents Kanengiser's performances of works from the standard classical guitar repertory. Pieces by Sor, Aguado, and Giuliani are played with clarity, authority, and tasteful expression. In the second half of the performance we are treated to pieces written by composers influenced by the Spanish culture, world music and jazz. Great works by Rodrigo, de Falla, Hand, and Domeniconi are lavished upon the viewer with all the power, sensitivity, and poignancy that those great compositions deserve and require. Kanengiser does not hold back; he lets us have it all. But his great tone quality and accuracy never suffer regardless of the fast tempos and his passionate involvement. A delightful and enlightening feature of this superb DVD is an interview with Kanengiser. The viewer learns about his years of being mentored by classical guitar master, Pepe Romero, at the University of Southern California (USC). Kanengiser, who is now a member of the guitar faculty at USC, also shares some extremely useful advice concerning learning new pieces, conserving motion in playing, and making effective use of practice time. The piece de resistance, however, of this DVD is a segment in which Kanengiser makes a humorous presentation at a recent convention of the Guitar Foundation of America. He proves himself to be a superb impersonator as he presents his impression of famous classical guitarists and how they might discuss the future of their art. Whether or not one is familiar with the artists being parodied, this segment will provide the viewer with a howling good time of continuous belly laughs! …

Rhythmic Ability in Children and the Effects of Age, Sex, and Tempo

The aim of the study was to investigate the differentiation, if any, of young children's rhythmic ability that movement frequency (tempo), sex, and age produce. Rhythmic ability was analyzed into its two components, namely, rhythmic accuracy and rhythmic maintenance. The study compared the effect of two tempos, sex, and age on rhythmic accuracy and rhythmic maintenance and examined the association between them. The sample was 170 children (85 boys and 85 girls) between 6 to 9 years old (M= 7.9, SD= 0.9), who were attending the first three grades of public elementary schools in Athens, Greece, and had no extracurricular sports experience. There were no significant differences in performance on rhythmic accuracy and rhythmic maintenance between boys and girls for fast and slow tempos, while age was a significant differentiating factor at the slow tempo but not at the fast tempo. Rhythmic and rhythmic maintenance performances were better at the fast tempo than at the slow one. Rhythmic accuracy performance was better than rhythmic maintenance performance at both tempos. These findings lead to the conclusion that further examination of rhythmic ability performance is required, focusing on aspects of rhythmic maintenance under different tempos and across all children's ages, with varying motor experience.

Effect of the manner of spike execution on spike performance in volleyball

The purpose of this study was to find out the common tendencies of peak performance spikes and study the effect that the manner of execution (type of spike, zone and direction) has on spike performance. A total of 4968 spikes from 33 men’s matches and 2450 spikes from 23 women’s matches of the 2000 Olympic Games were analyzed. The variables studied were spike performance, type of spike, zone of the court from which spike was done, spike direction, rally phase, gender and team level. The results show that the use of fast tempo spikes and the use of the line spike both increase spike performance, and the ball contacting the block reduces spike performance. The zone most used by males and females was zone four (left side of the net) both in side-out and in counter-attack. Player’s participation is different depending on gender.

Singing proficiency in the general population

Most believe that the ability to carry a tune is unevenly distributed in the general population. To test this claim, we asked occasional singers (n=62) to sing a well-known song in both the laboratory and in a natural setting (experiment 1). Sung performances were judged by peers for proficiency, analyzed for pitch and time accuracy with an acoustic-based method, and compared to professional singing. The peer ratings for the proficiency of occasional singers were normally distributed. Only a minority of the occasional singers made numerous pitch errors. The variance in singing proficiency was largely due to tempo differences. Occasional singers tended to sing at a faster tempo and with more pitch and time errors relative to professional singers. In experiment 2 15 nonmusicians from experiment 1 sang the same song at a slow tempo. In this condition, most of the occasional singers sang as accurately as the professional singers. Thus, singing appears to be a universal human trait. However, two of the occasional singers maintained a high rate of pitch errors at the slower tempo. This poor performance was not due to impaired pitch perception, thus suggesting the existence of a purely vocal form of tone deafness.

Are Americans shorter (partly) because they are fatter? A comparison of US and Dutch children's height and BMI values

Objective: The study compared the height and BMI values of US children and youth by gender in the most recent NHANES surveys (1999–2004) to those of their Dutch counterparts in 1997 in order to gain insights into the different growth patterns.Results: US children and youth are both shorter and heavier than their Dutch counterparts. US adolescent girls tend to experience an earlier growth spurt than do the Dutch and the velocity of growth of US boys slows down faster after the adolescent growth spurt than does that of their Dutch counterparts. The latter end up being approximately 5.6 cm taller and their median BMI values are 1.9–2.0 less than that of US youth between the ages of 10 and 19. This implies that US boys of the same height at age 19 are 8.8 kg heavier than their Dutch counterparts, and girls of age 13 are 7.2 kg heavier.Discussion: Some studies link high BMI values in childhood to an earlier onset of adolescence, which in turn has been linked to less growth thereafter.Conclusion: The fast tempo of growth of the US children may be associated with high energy balance, which leads to higher BMI values and which in turn may be associated with less growth during adolescence.

An attempt to construct a quantitative scale of musical brightness for short melodies implementing timbral brightness

It is known that a major tune is brighter than a minor one, and that music played in a faster tempo and a higher register is brighter than a slower and lower one. However, it has not been clarified how these factors quantitatively determine the musical brightness. On the other hand, it has been clarified that the timbral brightness of a tone corresponds well to the spectral centroid. In the present study, major and minor scales and two short melodies were played with pure tones, and listeners evaluated their musical brightness. For each performance, the spectral centroid was calculated for the overall-term spectrum during the performance on the transformed frequency scale of the ERB rate. The results showed that the musical brightness of the ascending scale increases proportionally as the spectral centroid shown in the ERB rate increases. Using this, a quantitative scale of musical brightness, BM, was constructed. The results also showed that the difference in the musical brightness between major and minor scales corresponded to the transposition of approximately 5 ERB rate, and doubling the speed corresponded to the upper shift of the centroid in approximately 2.5 ERB rate.

Nonhuman primates prefer slow tempos but dislike music overall

Human adults generally find fast tempos more arousing than slow tempos, with tempo frequently manipulated in music to alter tension and emotion. We used a previously published method [McDermott, J., & Hauser, M. (2004). Are consonant intervals music to their ears? Spontaneous acoustic preferences in a nonhuman primate. Cognition, 94(2), B11–B21] to test cotton-top tamarins and common marmosets, two new-World primates, for their spontaneous responses to stimuli that varied systematically with respect to tempo. Across several experiments, we found that both tamarins and marmosets preferred slow tempos to fast. It is possible that the observed preferences were due to arousal, and that this effect is homologous to the human response to tempo. In other respects, however, these two monkey species showed striking differences compared to humans. Specifically, when presented with a choice between slow tempo musical stimuli, including lullabies, and silence, tamarins and marmosets preferred silence whereas humans, when similarly tested, preferred music. Thus despite the possibility of homologous mechanisms for tempo perception in human and nonhuman primates, there appear to be motivational ties to music that are uniquely human.