[GIORDANO]

GIORDANO PEREZ GAXIOLA  asked the Naked Scientists:

Hi,

Love your podcast. I listen every week.

I have a question.

I usually listen to music while driving. I've noticed that after playing
tennis or working out, when I get back to the car and listen to the same track that I was listening before exercising, it appears that the music slows down.

Let's say, for example, that I've been listening to a song that has a rhythm of 80 beats per minute. When I listen to it after exercising, it seems that the same track has 50 or 60 beats per minute. It seems to slow down. It obviously has the same beats as before, but it sounds slower.

Am I imagining this? or is it because my heart rate and metabolism is faster after exercising and the rhythm of the music is relative to this?

Greetings from Mexico,
GIORDANO

What do you think?

[wannabe]

The neuro-physiological environment determines all of our perception, indeed is the perceptional machine. This environment is under the influence of all external and internal inputs, the range of which includes foods we eat, dreams we have, physical behaviours we engage in, chemicals we are exposed to and so on....
Exercise being a significant shift in metabolism influences the neurophysiology determinately and often perceptibly, re: runner's high, perceptions of "the wall" encountered by marathoners at the 20 mile mark are well established examples. Your experience is another example of perceiving the synchrony of neural networks adjusting to altered neuro-chemical states.