Finding Kinesthetic Empathy: A Study to Discover Metrics to Measure Kinesthetic Empathy During Interactive Music Performance

Ryan Ingebritsen; Daniel Evans; Christopher Knowlton

Finding Kinesthetic Empathy: A Study to Discover Metrics to Measure Kinesthetic Empathy During Interactive Music Performance

Abstract:

Kinesthetic empathy is a term used in performance and kinesthetic interaction, defined as the ability of participants to “read, decode and react to each other’s input”. In prior studies, performers of interactive music self-reported sensing the presence of other musicians. The purpose of the present study was to identify kinesthetic empathy between two individuals in a live electronic performance reported as perceived interactivity. Participants viewed eight videos, both real duets, and spliced solos appearing as real duets, rating each video. The questions guiding this study were: (a) is there a difference in perceived interactivity between the live and spliced duets, (b) is there a relationship between performance rating and perceived interactivity. Results showed a significant difference in the perceived interactivity of the video conditions. Further, the results showed a significant relationship between performance rating and perceived interactivity of the performers.