Perceived sensorimotor synchrony enhances pain modulation and attenuates laser-evoked potentials

Sensorimotor synchronization to music, referring to the temporal alignment of movement with auditory rhythms, has been associated with immersive engagement and enhanced pleasure. In the present study, we investigated its analgesic effects by three main experiments involving 224 healthy participants. Pain modulation was assessed by changes in responses to noxious laser stimuli before and after auditory stimulation (listening vs. no listening) and drumming activity (drumming vs. no drumming). Participants in the drumming-and-listening group exhibited greater reductions in pain intensity and unpleasantness than those in other groups, highlighting the analgesic advantage of such combination (Experiment 1). We then manipulated the perceived synchrony and revealed that participants in the in-phase synchrony group reported stronger perceived synchrony and greater pain reduction, when compared with asynchrony group (Experiment 2). Electrophysiological data further associated this analgesic effect with reduced laser-evoked N2 amplitudes (Experiment 3). Our findings indicate that perceived sensorimotor synchrony facilitates pain reduction, suggesting that rhythm-based interventions are a promising non-pharmacological approach to pain management.