Résumé
Listening to pleasurable music influences spatial-temporal performance through mood and arousal regulation (Husain et al., 2002). Listening to pleasurable music also engages reward regions of the brain (Gold et al., 2019); these regions are implicated in reward-based motor learning (Abe et al., 2011). Thus, this study examined the effect of pleasurable music listening on motor learning. We hypothesized that participants who practice a motor skill while listening to pleasurable music will show better skill acquisition and retention performance than control groups.
Healthy participants (n=32 of 53) were randomly assigned to one of four listening conditions: Pleasurable music, Control music, Audiobook, or Silent. Participants completed mood and arousal questionnaires before and after completing a Sequential Visual Isometric Pinch Task (SVIPT). On Day 1, participants practiced the SVIPT (6 blocks of 30 trials) under one of the four listening conditions. On Day 2, a retention test (1 block of 30 trials) was completed in silence. Skill performance was calculated using error rate and movement time data.
During skill acquisition, preliminary results show no statistically significant effects of time (p=0.233) or condition (p=0.343). Similarly, skill retention results show no statistically significant effects of time (p=0.666) or condition (p=0.554). However, the pleasurable music group showed trends for better skill acquisition and retention compared to other groups. During retention, participants in the pleasurable music, control music, and audiobook groups maintained their skill performance, while the silent group showed a decline. These findings will inform future studies on the use of music within clinical rehabilitation settings.
