NPR has released a story regarding a recent study in the journal-Psychology of Music. The research examines how exercise influences the way people experience music.
The researchers discovered that participants found music more enjoyable while listening to it and running on a treadmill for 12 minutes (regardless of the type of music). Past studies confirmed that listening to music while working out increases the productivity of exercise. The research raises an interesting question, does exercise affect music listening?
“I became interested in how exercise changes the experience of music listening because of what would happen to me after playing hockey-music would sound amazing to me after a hockey game, after I’d arrive home, I’d often sit in my car and listen to the end of the song,” expressed Hover, an associate professor at Fitchburg State University. “I couldn’t turn it off. As a psychologist who studies music, I knew the extensive literature on how music listening can improve exercise performance, but there was almost no research looking at it in the opposite direction (how exercise affects music listening).”
Many research studies conclude that physical activity has therapeutic effects.
The study, “Physical exercise increases perceived musical pleasure: Modulatory roles of arousal, mood, or dopamine?”, was authored by Michael J. Hove, Steven A. Martinez, and Samantha R. Shorrock.