Name:Lucas Monter and Zachary Gokarn

School/Affiliation:McMaster University, Canada

Co-Authors:Laurel Trainor, Daniel Bosnyak, Dobromir Dotov, Maria Witek, Daniel Cameron

Virtual or In-person:In-person

Abstract:

Dancing to music together in groups is a nearly universal human behaviour. But we do not fully understand how group movement dynamics unfold on the dancefloor. Prior research suggests that musical factors (e.g. complex rhythms and loud bass) and social factors (e.g., the movements of nearby individuals) can influence our movements. These musical and social factors could compete or combine in terms of driving dancers’ movements, but they have not been studied together.  Here, participants (n = 65) were audience members at an electronic dance music concert at McMaster’s LIVELab. During the concert we measured each participant’s head position over time using motion capture and then calculated movement speed from those data. The musicians systematically manipulated the rhythm (no rhythm, basic pulse, or complex rhythm) and bass (high or low intensity). Simultaneously, confederate audience members manipulated the social environment by moving with either high or low movement energy at prescribed times. Preliminary results indicate that, as expected, movement speed was affected by rhythm (complex > pulse > no rhythm), bass (high > low intensity), and social movement energy (high > low). Interestingly, these factors also interacted, suggesting that the effect of rhythm depends on bass intensity, and that social movement energy can overcome the movement-slowing effect of low bass intensity. Overall, these data will help uncover how musical and social factors can combine in real-world group dance to motivate group movement.