If you dance more when the bass hits, it could be due to your vestibular system.
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If you dance more when the bass hits, it could be due to your vestibular system.
Flashpop / Getty Images
Sometimes, it’s really all about that bass.
A recent study in the journal Current biology found that people jump 12% more when playing very low frequency bass.
Research conducted by scientists at LIVElab at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, they wanted to see what musical composition makes us want to dance.
“We look at things like what kind of rhythms draw people the most to the steady rhythms we follow, and what kinds of exciting, upsetting, complex rhythms get us really hooked and want to move more,” said Daniel Cameron, an expert. neuroscientist and lead author of the study.
Now, the lab for this experiment isn’t the classic fluorescent light, white coat, and goggles setup. Instead, the LIVElab space was converted into an electronic dance concert, and the EDM duo Orphx performed live for volunteers adorned with motion-captured headbands.
Orphx performing at LIVELab.
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Orphx performing at LIVELab.
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The laboratory is equipped with special special speakers that can deliver very low frequency bass, undetectable to the human ear. The show lasted about an hour, and the researchers introduced very low bass every 2.5 minutes and found that concertgoers moved more when the speakers were on – even though they couldn’t hear them. see that sound.
Cameron says our vestibular system could help explain why.
“It is the structure of the inner ear that gives us a sense of the position of our head in space,” he said. “That system is sensitive to low-frequency excitation, especially if it’s loud.”
“We also know that our tactile system, which is our touch… is also sensitive to low-frequency stimuli, low-frequency sounds.”
So the feeling you get at a concert when you’re next to a speaker and you can feel it vibrating in your chest is the tactile stimulation of sound when it’s loud.
“And that’s channeling into the motor system in our brain, the movement control system in our brain,” Cameron said. “So it adds a little bit of benefit. It gives a little extra energy… from that stimulation through those systems.”
Some people listen to music and can’t help but sway or dance along, whether low, silent bass frequencies or not. So why do humans dance? Cameron says it’s hard to test this, but there’s been some research into why we might have evolved this way.
“We know that moving in sync when we make music together and dance together leads to social cohesion. We feel better about the people we’re with. I feel more connected to them,” he said. “So you can imagine this has potential advantages for groups throughout our species’ long history.”
We also see the use of music and movement for things like emotional regulation, especially when caring for babies, Cameron said.
“We try to calm them down. We sing to them and sway along. So the idea of moving, singing, and modulating stimulation is also a thing to do,” he says.
Evolution aside, Cameron finds it valuable to know that his research has uncovered one of the ingredients that makes us want to dance a little more.
