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The Rhythm Effect

CSEF · 2026 Behavioral & Social Sciences (Junior Division)

Willa Weaver

Overview

This experiment studied how listening to different genres of music affects heart rate. Because music can affect mood, energy level, and nervous system activity, it was predicted that faster, high-energy genres would produce higher heart rates than slower, calming genres. The participants listened to 60-second samples of ten genres: country, lofi, acoustic, classical, rock, pop, jazz, metal, EDM, and rap. Heart rate data were collected during each trial. The data was analyzed by calculating the median, range, and standard deviation for each genre. While some higher-energy genres showed slightly higher median heart rates compared to calmer genres, the overall change between genres was small. Heart rate measures overlapped across categories, and variability within each genre was high. The results indicate that music genre can contribute to changes in heart rate, but personal and environmental factors can influence the significance of the contribution as well.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2026 Behavioral & Social Sciences (Junior Division) · Entry J-03-09

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