Joshua S. Bamford

University of Jyväskylä | JYU · Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body & Brain

It has often been observed that people like each other more after synchronising actions. This is referred to as the synchrony-bonding effect and it has been observed in a wide variety of settings – from dance to rowing. It has been suggested that music may have evolved alongside human rhythmic abilities in order to support synchronised action to pr...

Music and dance appear to have a social bonding effect, which some have theorized is part of their ultimate evolutionary function. Prior research has also found a social bonding effect of synchronized movement, and it is possible that interper-sonal synchrony could be considered the "active ingredient" in the social bonding consequences of music or...

The synchrony-bonding effect has often been observed, but the mechanisms behind it remain poorly understood. Numerous possible mechanisms have been proposed, however simple perceptual processing explanations have been largely ignored. The present study tested a theory based on processing fluency across two controlled experiments. In the first study...

In this theoretical review, we examine how the roles of music in mate choice and social bonding are expressed in romantic relationships. Darwin's Descent of Man originally proposed the idea that musicality might have evolved as a sexually selected trait. This proposition, coupled with the portrayal of popular musicians as sex symbols and the preval...

Applying an ethological framework to the study of human musicality as a means of structuring further research into the origins of music.

Background Music is known to be a powerful tool for social bonding, but its role in romantic relationships remains poorly understood. The present study investigated the relevance of music to three core aspects of love (intimacy, passion and commitment) across relationship stages: attraction, building, and maintenance. Methods Using a mixed-methods...

Visuospatial Neglect (VSN) affects spatial awareness, leading to functional and motor challenges. This study explores virtual reality (VR) as a potential complementary tool for VSN rehabilitation, offering a novel environment that intends to support therapy outcomes. Specifically, we aim to explore the initial experiences of patients and physiother...

This study uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate the learning outcomes, student experiences, and concentrated-behaviour patterns of two classes of elementary school music students (N = 42). The study examines the academic performance resulting from students using established music technology, the iPad, in comparison to using an experimental...

Cryptocurrency technologies have grown into a network of millions of users. A noteworthy characteristic of crypto spaces is their powerful communities of supporters, who typically gather on interactive online platforms such as Discord, using shared social codes as an expression of their strong sense of collective identity with a particular crypto c...

The primary focus of the present systematic review is to examine the cognitive control processes while listening to music during exercise. These processes can be, for instance, measurable changes in cognitive control task performance associated with music listening during exercise routines. Our primary research question is: 1. What cognitive cont...

Background: Understanding collective behaviour in both biological and social contexts, such as human interactions on dance floors, is a growing field of interest. Spatiotemporal dynamics of collective behaviour have previously been modelled, for instance, with swarmalators (O'Keeffe et al. 2017), which are dynamical units that exhibit both swarming...

The evolution of music, language, and cooperation have been debated since before Darwin. The social bonding hypothesis proposes that these phenomena may be interlinked: musicality may have facilitated the evolution of group cooperation beyond the possibilities of spoken language. Although dozens of experimental studies have shown that synchronised...

People appear to like synchrony. It is used in a range of social contexts but is epitomised in music and dance. Much has been written about the social bonding effects of synchronised action, which may underlie the social benefits of joint music making. However, real music rarely features total synchrony between all parts. Furthermore, it remains un...

Musical ensembles continuously anticipate and adapt to each other’s movements for optimal joint performance. Players must divide their attentional resources between their own actions and those of the ensemble (Keller, 2001). In improvisational contexts, this dynamic interplay becomes even more critical. However, neural mechanisms for joint action r...

This study uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate the learning outcomes, student experiences, and concentration-related behaviour patterns of two classes of elementary school music students (N = 42). It compares the academic performance of students using an established music technology, the iPad, with those using an experimental technology, a...

Humans exhibit what appears to be a unique vocal property: octave equivalence, whereby adult male voices are, on average, an octave lower in pitch than those of adult females and children. The evolutionary significance of this seems largely to have escaped notice. While sexual selection might explain why male voices are generally lower, it cannot e...

This study uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate the learning outcomes, student experiences, and concentrated-behavior patterns of two classes of elementary school music students (N = 42). The study examines the academic performance resulting from students using established music technology, the iPad, in comparison to using an experimental t...

Describing distinct differences in children's use of the iPad and a novel Music Glove across three domains: (1) Learning (2) Ease of use (3) Concentrated-related behaviour.

Supplementary material for 'Love songs and serenades: a theoretical review of music and romantic relationships'.

Throughout human evolution, music has not only been a form of entertainment but an intricate dance of “play” central to our social fabric. Drawing on Darwin’s insights, musicality can be seen as a tool for both social and romantic attraction – promoting social bonding and in sexual selection. In our talk, we’ll present a model that attempts to brin...

Embodied music cognition predicts that our understanding of human-made sounds relates to our experience of making the same or similar movements and sounds, which involves imitation of the source of visual and auditory information. This embodiment of sound may lead to numerous kinetic cross-modal correspondences (CMCs). This article investigates mus...

Moving in time to others, as is often observed in dance, music, sports and much of children’s play cross-culturally, is thought to make people feel and act more prosocially towards each other. In a recent paper, Atwood et al. (2022) argued that the inferential validity of this link found between synchronous behaviour and prosociality might be mainl...

Background In the Descent of Man, Darwin (1871) first articulates the hypothesis that musicality may have been selected for sexually. In addition, popular musicians are frequently portrayed as sex icons, seemingly supporting the notion that musicality may be attractive (Marin & Rathgeber, 2022), and love songs feature in most human cultures (Mehr...

Prior research has found that interpersonal synchrony increases social closeness and cooperation: this is often referred to as the synchrony-bonding effect. Most explanations for this synchrony-bonding effect rely upon higher-order social cognition (e.g. shared goals or self-other merging). Relatively little attention has been given to the perceptu...

Synchronised experience has been a vital component of human social interaction throughout the evolutionary history of our species. The performing arts (particularly music and dance) rely upon time-sensitive behavioural coordination, bringing participants and audiences into temporal synchrony. Being in-synch then enables social bonding. This is part...

Humans exhibit what appears to be a unique vocal property: octave equivalence whereby adult male voices are, on average, an octave lower in pitch than those of adult females and children. The evolutionary significance of this seems largely to have escaped notice. While sexual selection might explain why male voices are generally lower, it cannot ex...

Synchrony is an important aspect of social behaviour. Prior research has observed a synchrony-bonding effect, suggesting that synchronised action may be an efficient way of creating and maintaining social affiliation. However, most of the theories attempting to explain this synchrony-bonding effect rely upon higher-order social cognition. Relativel...

The C-tactile (CLTM) peripheral nervous system is involved in social bonding in primates and humans through its capacity to trigger the brain’s endorphin system. Since the mammalian cochlea has an unusually high density of similar neurons (type-II spiral ganglion neurons, SGNs), we hypothesise that their function may have been exploited for social...

The meaning of music may rely upon perceived motion (Zuckerkandl, 1971). Recently, the framework of embodied music cognition, which draws on the discovery of mirror neurons and the theory of embodied simulation (Gallese, 2007), makes the claim that our understanding of human-made sounds draws upon our experience of making the same or similar moveme...

When a sweeping COVID-19 pandemic forced cultural venues, schools, and social hangouts into hibernation in early 2020, music life relocated to the digital world. On social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, sofas and balconies took center stage for musical performances presented as live-streamed concerts and recorded video...

Research both in the field and in the lab has observed a social bonding effect arising from synchronised action. It has been suggested that synchronised movement may engage the same reward systems associated with social grooming in other primates, allowing humans to utilise synchrony as a more efficient behaviour for bonding. The precise mechanism...

When a sweeping COVID-19 pandemic forced cultural venues, schools, and social hangouts into hibernation in early 2020, music life relocated to the digital world. On social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, sofas and balconies took center stage for musical performances presented as live-streamed concerts and recorded video...

The simulation theory of empathy suggests that we use motor processing to empathise, through modelling the actions of others. Similarly, research into embodied music cognition posits that music, particularly musical rhythm, is perceived as a motor stimulus. In both cases, the human Mirror Neuron System (MNS) is put forward as a potential underlying...

Understanding random events is an ability which eludes humanity. People often assume that a random distribution should be more evenly distributed than it really is, while a highly complex pattern may be erroneously perceived as random. This has been demonstrated across many domains but never when perceiving stimuli through sound. The present study...

Background: When listening to music, humans often spontaneously move their bodies accordingly (Burger et al., 2012; Toiviainen, et al., 2010). Such music-induced movement (i.e., dance) promote affiliation and social bonding via behavioural synchrony (spontaneously coordinating movements in time) (Behrends et al., 2012; Hove & Risen, 2009; Tarr et a...

Dance is a fundamentally social activity. Studies have begun to examine the role of movement in music for conveying emotional states, potentially revealing a useful mechanism for the communication of emotions, while other studies have found that joint synchrony increases interpersonal affiliation. However, music and movement studies have focused on...

As theories about the origins of music are discussed, the importance of rhythm and movement is beginning to be recognised. One function that music seems to provide is that of social bonding, although whether shared timing of musical or dance activity is important, and the mechanisms involved, are not well understood. This presentation will explore...

At the 8th international Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology (SysMus15), in the tradition-rich city of Leipzig, Germany, early-stage researchers representing numerous subdivisions of Systematic Musicology found a platform from which to share, discuss, and forward interdisciplinary research. Additionally, Eric Clarke (Oxford University),...

SysMus, or the International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology, is a series of conferences for students by students. SysMus promotes systematic musicology as an interdisciplinary field by giving students who study music from computational, psychological, sociological and other non-traditional perspectives the opportunity to interact w...

Previous studies have begun to examine the role of movement in music for conveying emotions, while some finger tapping studies have found that synchronisation increases interpersonal affiliation. However, music and movement studies have focused on individuals and comparatively few studies have involved participants in a joint setting. The aim of th...

Dance is a fundamentally social activity. Studies have begun to examine the role of movement in music for conveying emotions, while some finger tapping studies have found that synchronisation increases interpersonal affiliation. However, music and movement studies have focused on individuals and comparatively few studies have involved participants...

Music is an embodied experience. It has been suggested that a Mirror Neuron System exists in the Motor Cortex, and is activated when imitating others as well as when listening to music. This Mirror Neuron System may also serve as the underlying physiological mechanism behind empathy. The present study aimed to investigate this relationship through...