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Objectives: This study assessed how exposure to slow (SBM) versus fast beat music (FBM) during high-intensity rowing intervals affects performance, heart rate (HR), lactate levels, relative perceived exertion (RPE), and recovery. Methods: The A/B crossover design involved 21 participants performing 5 × 500 m rowing intervals under two conditions: FBM and SBM. Primary endpoint was the difference in total rowing time. Secondary endpoints included average HR, average RPE as well as rowing interval times, RPE, and HR per interval. For exploratory purpose, HR and lactate drop during the initial 5 min post completion was analyzed. Results: Listening to FBM resulted in significantly shorter total rowing times (p = 0.009, rB = 0.59), especially during the 1st interval. The 1st interval was also significantly faster than intervals 2-5 (p < 0.001), with the greatest performance drop between the 1st and 2nd interval during FBM. Average HR was significantly lower when listening to SBM (p = 0.03, rB = 0.48), while average RPE showed no significant difference (p = 0.47, rB = 0.02). Lactate values after interval 5 were significantly lower in SBM (p = 0.05, rB = 0.41), but no significant difference was found for lactate drop (p = 0.21, rB = 0.21). However, participants exhibited a higher HR drop rate with SBM (p = 0.05, rB = 0.42). Conclusion: FBM improved performance without increasing RPE, while SBM proved superior for recovery. Systematic customization of music based on intended training stimuli holds broad potential for the competitive sports, fitness, and health sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental research has shown that pairs of stimuli which are congruent and assumed to ‘go together’ are recalled more effectively than an item presented in isolation. Will this multisensory memory benefit occur when stimuli are richer and longer, in an ecological setting? In the present study, we focused on an everyday situation of audio-visual learning and manipulated the relationship between audio guide tracks and viewed portraits in the galleries of the Tate Britain. By varying the gender and narrative style of the voice-over, we examined how the perceived congruency and assumed unity of the audio guide track with painted portraits affected subsequent recall. We show that tracks perceived as best matching the viewed portraits led to greater recall of both sensory and linguistic content. We provide the first evidence that manipulating crossmodal congruence and unity assumptions can effectively impact memory in a multisensory ecological setting, even in the absence of precise temporal alignment between sensory cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our daily lives, auditory stream segregation allows us to differentiate concurrent sound sources and to make sense of the scene we are experiencing. However, a combination of segregation and the concurrent integration of auditory streams is necessary in order to analyze the relationship between streams and thus perceive a coherent auditory scene. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigates the relative role and neural underpinnings of these listening strategies in multi-part musical stimuli. We compare a real human performance of a piano duet and a synthetic stimulus of the same duet in a prioritized integrative attention paradigm that required the simultaneous segregation and integration of auditory streams. In so doing, we manipulate the degree to which the attended part of the duet led either structurally (attend melody vs. attend accompaniment) or temporally (asynchronies vs. no asynchronies between parts), and thus the relative contributions of integration and segregation used to make an assessment of the leader-follower relationship. We show that perceptually the relationship between parts is biased towards the conventional structural hierarchy in western music in which the melody generally dominates (leads) the accompaniment. Moreover, the assessment varies as a function of both cognitive load, as shown through difficulty ratings and the interaction of the temporal and the structural relationship factors. Neurally, we see that the temporal relationship between parts, as one important cue for stream segregation, revealed distinct neural activity in the planum temporale. By contrast, integration used when listening to both the temporally separated performance stimulus and the temporally fused synthetic stimulus resulted in activation of the intraparietal sulcus. These results support the hypothesis that the planum temporale and IPS are key structures underlying the mechanisms of segregation and integration of auditory streams, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avatars and social robots offer new opportunities for communication and raise questions about how trust is built and maintained in hybrid social interactions. We wonder what kind of trust people build with these technologies, especially where they are no longer simply tools but rather partners in interactions and affective exchanges involving vulnerability and reciprocity. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a systematic review on how trust in humans and technology can be shaped by social touch, which is the bodily contact occurring between two or more parties that express and share affective signals. Based on the n = 15 papers that meet the inclusion criteria, the evidence on the power of social touch to facilitate trust appears limited. Especially in the realm of technology-mediated interactions, mixed and inconclusive results emerge in different social contexts. Individual differences and neurophysiological correlates that could shed light on the effects between touch and trust are rarely investigated. Our positive proposal is that future studies should overcome the divisive conceptualisation of trustor and trustee, and rather explore the phenomenon of trust as a two-person bridge built in synergy between the parties. Outlining some key directions for future research, we discuss the extant solutions and applications of technology-mediated social touch, delving into the sensory and contextual factors that make it similar but different to unmediated social touch. We propose that if social touch were to be effective in promoting trust in specific technologies, this would have important consequences on various application domains such as telecommunication, healthcare, and education. • Trust in a specific technology is crucial when the technology is not only a tool but also a social partner. • Social touch has the power to make us feel connected to others and potentially help us build trust. • Evidence on the effects of mediated or unmediated social touch on trust is limited, mixed and inconclusive. • Future research on mediated interactions should delve into the sensory and contextual aspects of social touch to boost trust. • We need new ways of interacting through mediated social touch, tailored to the specificities of technology and human parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]