Interactive Effects of Music Tempi and Intensities on Grip Strength and Subjective Affect.

Abstract

Pretask musicis widelyused by athletes albeit there isscantempirical evidence to support its use. The present study extendeda lineof work into pretask music byexaminingthe interactiveeffects of music tempo and intensity (volume) on the performance of a simple motor skill and subjective affect. A 2 x2 within-subjects factorial design was employed with an additional no-music control, the scores from which were used as a covariate. A sample of 52 male athletes (Mage= 26.1 +4.8years)wasexposed to five conditions: fast/loud(126 bpm/80 dBA), fast/quiet(126 bpm/70 dBA), slow/loud (87 bpm/80 dBA), slow/quiet(87 bpm/70 dBA) music, and a no-music control. Dependent variables were grip strength,measured witha handgrip dynamometer,and subjective affect,assessed by use oftheAffect Grid. The tempo and intensity components of music had interactive effects for grip strength butonly main effects for subjective affect. Fast-tempo music played at ahigh intensity yielded the highest grip strength, while fast-tempo musicplayed at a low intensity resulted in much lower grip strength (Mdiff. = -1.11Force kg). For affective valence,there were main effects oftempo and intensity,with fast and loud music yielding the highest scores. For affective arousal,there was nodifference between tempi although there was between intensities,with the high-intensity condition yieldinghigher scores.The present findings indicate the utility of fast/loud pretask musicin enhancingaffective valenceand arousal in preparation for asimple or gross motor task.