What makes us groove?

Hakemuksen tiivistelmä

If you would visit a museum that is showcasing early human cultures (The British Museum in London, for example), there would almost certainly be a few sections relating to our ancestors’ musical activities around the globe. It is known that ancient humans danced and made music, for instance, during dry seasons to beg for rain, or during agriculture and hunting to have enough food to survive. In fact, to observe the relatedness of dance and music and their significance in our lives, one does not need to travel in time. If we look at babies, we see that they are sensitive to movement patterns to music as early as 7 months of age (Phillips-Silver & Trainor, 2005). This could be because music is so rewarding. It captures our attention easily, gives us pleasure, makes us dance, and makes us feel connected to other people. In the field of musicology, this combination of musical experiences relates to the concept of groove. Previous groove literature demonstrated its applications in interpersonal synchronisation and social interaction, prosocial behaviour, clinical groups with perception, and both motor- and mood-related problems. The primary motivation of my dissertation is to explore granularity of groove from various angles by using multiple naturalistic methodical approaches. The goal is to help us better understand the variables that influence people’s groove experiences. In developing previous literature, in my dissertation first, I proposed an updated comprehensive and contemporary working definition of groove. Second, the findings suggested that the concept of groove is closely linked to functions of music listening such as “regulation of mood and arousal” and “expression of social relatedness”. Third, with additional studies I contributed to development of a musicological model of groove. Finally, I investigated an under-researched aspect related to groove, namely how naturalistic groove-related music is processed in the brain.