Neurobiological slowdown in later life manifests in tempo of popular music

Abstract

Degradation of motor control across the adult lifespan due to neurobiological decay is well-established. Correspondences between the dynamics of motor behaviour and the timing of musical performance are also well-documented. In light of the former, the conspicuous absence of age as a mediating factor in investigation of the latter reveals a remarkable gap in our understanding of creative performance across the life course. To examine effects of ageing on musical timing, physical tempo of almost 2000 songs released by top-tier recording artists over their decades-long careers were annotated via a listening and tapping task. A series of regression analyses revealed i) an age-driven downward trend in performance tempo for all artists, ii) significant between-artist variation across time, and iii) within-artist variation that was independent of broader musical trends. Overall, tempo decreased by almost one and a half standard deviations from artists early twenties to their late fifties, a rate of decline comparable to that observed in studies of spontaneous motor tempo. Results are consistent with the slowing-with-age hypothesis, and reveal that, not only is such tempo decline discernible in commercial recordings, the impact of age on tempo is overwhelming for artists most physically connected with their music.