Audience members at a concert by Oregon’s Eugene Symphony.
In Saturday’s (8/24) PsyPost, Eric W. Dolan writes, “Picture yourself at a classical music concert … As you listen, you may not realize that your heart rate and breathing are subtly syncing with those of the people around you. A new study has shown that the shared experience of live music creates a remarkable physiological bond among audience members, revealing the profound impact of music on the human body. The research has been published in Scientific Reports. Previous research has shown that when people interact, their movements, speech patterns, and even physiological responses can become aligned…. Much less is known about how this synchrony might occur in settings where interaction is minimal, such as during a classical music concert. The researchers hypothesized that even in these passive settings, where listeners are not consciously interacting with one another, the shared experience of the music could lead to a kind of physiological entrainment among audience members…. Participants in the study were members of the concert audience who agreed to wear sensors … Researchers found that heart rate, heart rate variability (a measure of the time variation between heartbeats), skin conductance, and breathing rate were all significantly synchronized across the audience.” Researcher Wolfgang Tschacher said, “Music reaches not just the minds.”
