2015/10/01 by Zachary J. Cole, Zachary Cole, Hotaka Maeda
Arts and Humanities · Health Professions · Neuroscience · #Diverse Music Education Insights #Neuroscience and Music Perception #Physical Education and Pedagogy
paper · doi:10.2466/06.pms.121c20x9
crossref issued 2015/10/01 · crossref published 2015/10/01 · crossref published-online 2015/10/01 · crossref published-print 2015/10/01 · openalex publication_date 2015/10/01 · crossref created 2015/10/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2026/05/01 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Music is a common accompaniment to exercise, but some running environments do not allow for personalized control over the music stimulus. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of listening to preferred versus non-preferred music on sex differences in running performance. The sample consisted of 20 women and 15 men (M = 20.7 yr., SD = 2.3) who reported running at least once per week over the previous year. The participants completed three 12-min. Cooper Tests (i.e., aerobic fitness test) accompanied by preferred, non-preferred, or no music in randomized order. A 2 × 2 repeated-measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the effect of music preference and sex on endurance running performance while controlling for the distance run with no music. Women ran further in the preferred music condition. However, music selection did not significantly change running performance for men. Listening to preferred instead of non-preferred music had a larger effect on the endurance running performance of women than men.