In this study, we investigate the influence of musical tempo on the heart rate. Previous studies showed ambiguous results. Two effects are considered: first, an adaption of the heart rate frequency to the tempo of a musical stimulus (‘entrainment’) and second, the phase synchronization between the stimulus-onset and the R-waves in the ECG (‘synchronization’). A regulatory feedback loop was programmed, which constantly measured the actual heart rate. A simple Djembé-beat was used as a musical stimulus and coupled to the actual heart rate in real-time. To test for ‘entrainment’ effects, we adapted the tempo of the stimulus in real-time to the actual heart rate by increasing the rate 25%, 40% or 55% over the baseline tempo. To test for ‘synchronization’ effects, we presented the stimulus in a constant tempo, tracking the actual heart rate of the test person. Based on circular statistics, results showed no evidence for ‘entrainment’ or ‘synchronization’ effects of the stimulus on the heart rate. Overall, reactions to the trigger pulse were characterized by a high degree of interindividual differences. Thus, we conclude that there is no direct and simple correlation between the musical tempo and the HR contrary to what is often suggested in everyday psychology.

中文翻译：

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节律性脉搏对心律的影响：关于节律性“夹带”和“同步”的证据很少

在这项研究中，我们调查了音乐节奏对心率的影响。先前的研究显示出模棱两可的结果。考虑了两个影响：首先，使心率频率适应音乐刺激的节奏（“引诱”），其次，刺激发作和ECG中的R波之间的相位同步（“同步”）。 。对调节反馈回路进行了编程，该回路不断地测量实际心率。一个简单的Djembé节拍被用作音乐刺激，并实时与实际心率耦合。为了测试“夹带”效果，我们将刺激的速度通过比基准速度增加25％，40％或55％的速度来实时调整以适应实际的心率。为了测试“同步”效应，我们以恒定速度呈现了刺激，跟踪测试人员的实际心率。根据循环统计数据，结果表明没有证据表明刺激对心率产生“夹带”或“同步”作用。总的来说，对触发脉冲的反应以个体之间的高度差异为特征。因此，我们得出结论，音乐节奏和HR之间没有直接和简单的关联，这与日常心理学中经常提出的相反。