In three experiments, we investigated the behavioral consequences of being absorbed into music on performance in a concurrent task. We tested two competing hypotheses: Based on a cognitive load account, captivation of attention by the music and state absorption might slow down reactions in the decisional task. Alternatively, music could induce spontaneous motor activity, and being absorbed in music might result in a more autonomous, flow-driven behavior with quicker motor reactions. Participants performed a simple, visual, two-alternative forced-choice task while listening to popular musical excerpts. Subsequently, they rated their subjective experience using a short questionnaire. We presented music in four tempo categories (between 80 and 140 BPM) to account for a potential effect of tempo and an interaction between tempo and absorption. In Experiment 1, absorption was related to decreased reaction times (RTs) in the visual task. This effect was small, as expected in this setting, but replicable in Experiment 2. There was no effect of the music's tempo on RTs but a tendency of mind wandering to relate to task performance. After slightly changing the study setting in Experiment 3, flow predicted decreased RTs, but absorption alone - as part of the flow construct - did not predict RTs. To sum up, we demonstrated that being absorbed in music can have the behavioral consequence of speeded manual reactions in specific task contexts, and people seem to integrate the music into an active, flow-driven and therefore enhanced performance. However, shown relations depend on task settings, and a systematic study of context is necessary to understand how induced states and their measurement contribute to the findings.

中文翻译：

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沉浸在流行音乐中的同时进行手动运动反应。

在三个实验中，我们研究了沉浸在音乐中对并发任务中表现的行为后果。我们测试了两个相互竞争的假设：基于认知负荷帐户，音乐和状态吸收的注意力吸引可能会减慢决策任务的反应。或者，音乐可以诱发自发的运动活动，而沉浸在音乐中可能会导致更自主的、流动驱动的行为以及更快的运动反应。参与者在聆听流行音乐节选的同时，执行了一项简单的、视觉的、有两种选择的强制选择任务。随后，他们使用简短的问卷对他们的主观体验进行了评估。我们以四种速度类别（80 到 140 BPM）呈现音乐，以说明速度的潜在影响以及速度与吸收之间的相互作用。在实验 1 中，吸收与视觉任务中的反应时间 (RT) 减少有关。正如在此设置中预期的那样，这种影响很小，但在实验 2 中是可复制的。音乐节奏对 RT 没有影响，但有一种与任务表现相关的走神倾向。在稍微改变实验 3 中的研究设置后，流量预测减少了 RT，但单独的吸收 - 作为流量构造的一部分 - 并不能预测 RT。总而言之，我们证明了沉浸在音乐中会在特定的任务环境中产生快速手动反应的行为后果，人们似乎将音乐融入了一种积极的、流动的驱动，从而提高了表现。但是，显示的关系取决于任务设置，