1 Effects of Synchronous Music on 400 - Metre Sprint Performance

1 The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of motivating and 2 oudeterous (neither motivating nor demotivating) synchronous music on 400-metre 3 sprint performance while controlling for the potential confound of pre-performance 4 mood. A panel of volunteer Caucasian males (n = 20; mean age = 20.5, s = 1.2 years) 5 rated the motivational qualities of 32 musical selections using the Brunel Music 6 Rating Inventory-2. An experimental group of volunteer Caucasian males (n = 36; 7 mean age = 20.4, s = 1.4 years) completed three 400-metre time trials under 8 conditions of motivational music, oudeterous music and a no-music control. Pre9 performance mood was assessed using the Brunel University Mood Scale (BRUMS). 10 A series of repeated measures (RM) ANOVAs with Bonferroni adjustment revealed 11 no differences in the BRUMS subscales. A RM ANOVA on the 400-metre times 12 showed a significant effect (F1.24,42.19 = 10.54, P < 0.001, 2 = .24) and follow-up 13 pairwise comparisons revealed differences between the synchronous music conditions 14 and the control condition. This finding supported the first research hypothesis, that 15 synchronous music would yield superior performance to a no-music control, but not 16 the second hypothesis, that performance in the motivational synchronous music 17 condition would be superior to that in the oudeterous condition. It appears that 18 synchronous music can be applied to anaerobic endurance performance among non19 elite sportspersons with considerable effect. 20 21