Curiosity, Stress Tolerance, and the Perception of Groove

This study looks to uncover the relationship between curiosity, specifically the factor of curiosity called stress tolerance, and the perception of groove, which is commonly operationalized as the pleasurable feeling of wanting to move with music. We hypothesized, based on prior research, that individuals with low stress tolerance would experience groove at lower rates in comparison to their highly stress-tolerant counterparts, and that the gap in groove ratings across groups would grow as rhythmic complexity increased. A sample of 190 participants were asked to rate three different audio clips varying in rhythmic complexity on how groovy they were. Participants then completed the Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale Revised, which was used to measure stress tolerance. Participants were then split into two groups, consisting of individuals with high stress tolerance or low stress tolerance, before having their groove ratings across the different rhythmic complexities compared. This method did not produce any evidence that suggests stress tolerance and groove perception have a meaningful relationship. However, this lack of significance may lead us to a better understanding of the purpose of groove, and learnings from this study will be useful when pursuing further research on this topic.