Key research achievements of project SloMo include the following:
(1) Music shapes time
• Music shapes subjective time differently, in accordance with how listeners perceive the meter.
• These processes, as we found out in follow-up experiments with hip-hop music, are mainly caused by the attentional focus.
• Our research into the multimodal perception of films has shown that slow-motion film scenes often depict particularly emotional situations, and film music facilitates judgments of time. While viewers of slow-motion film scenes had reduced levels of emotional arousal in peripheral physiology or pupil size, they also showed more varied eye movements compared to real-time motion.
• Disco music at original and slightly manipulated tempi resulted in longer duration reproductions for slower/longer versions, but not in longer duration estimations. These findings suggest a rather low level mechanism for small tempo differences, and a tempo change of at least 20 BPM is needed for effects on perceived duration differences.
(2) Circadian rhythms affect internal tempo
• Results of a large-scale international online experiment indicated that preferred motor tempo depends both on age and time of the day: older participants tap more slowly, and tapping in the morning is slower. These results may have consequences for preferred tempi and executive functions that are related to it.
• A subsequent experience-sampling study revealed that individual chronotypes and arousal had an impact on internal tempo, showing effects of circadian rhythms that had not been investigated in such a way before despite the magnitude of studies of this subject.
(3) Movement speed affects time perception
• Watching faster dance movements leads to longer duration estimations compared to seeing the same movements at slower tempi. However, this effect was reduced for watching one’s own movements, suggesting effects of agency.
• A bisection experiment showed that visual information of point-light dance movements provided more cues to tempo judgments than auditory beats at the same rate. Individuals differ in their responses by auditory, visual, or audiovisual preference types.
(4) Slow movements can be challenging for the motor system
• Musicians, potentially due to their bilateral training, are more consistent in performing repetitive circular movements compared to nonmusicians. For both groups, keeping the performance velocity consistent proofed to be more difficult at faster tempi. These findings indicate that performing slowly may require a different attentional focus.
• Focus of attention, that is concentrating on the arm movements (internal), the sound outcome (external) or the string resistance (somatic focus) affects muscle activity and performance in a violin task. For the somatic focus, the spectral centroid was higher in playing compared to the other foci. In another task, violinists showed lower EMG activity in the triceps with a somatic focus, and experienced players had fewer bow slips.
(5) Nearly everyone practices their instrument slowly
• Musicians of classical genres (99.45%) and non-classical genres (89.12%) all employ slow practice, which is the most common single strategy in instrumental practice even for highly experienced musicians. Our survey showed that expressive and technical goals are pursued, and both are related to self-regulated learning for classical musicians.
• In a further paper, qualitative insights show that musicians use slow practice in order to manage information load, build a foundation for motor learning, solve problems in a creative way, and regulate emotional, mental and perceptual states. This is achieved by reducing cognitive load. At the same time, there are biomechanical differences between slow and fast practice, and slow practice can also be seen to be cognitively challenging.
(6) Physiology and emotional responses in imagined and real musical stimuli
• Our further research suggests that internal time keeping as well as temporal prediction is reflected in the dilations of the pupil; and that participants differ in their ability to imagine and anticipate musical beats according to different tempi.
• There are effects on expressiveness and time when perceiving a professional percussionist at different speeds, and on emotions when watching original and tempo-manipulated dance patterns.
