The Influence of Dancesport on College Students’ Rhythm Perception Ability

Objective: This study investigated the effects of a 10-week dancesport intervention on rhythm perception ability and its multisensory correlates in college students. Methods: Forty students were randomly assigned to an intervention group (dancesport) and a control group (Health Qigong). Rhythm perception was assessed across different task difficulties (Experiment 1) and through somatosensory, visual, and auditory channels (Experiment 2). Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA with Bonferroni-corrected pairwise comparisons. Results: The dancesport group showed significant improvement in rhythm perception accuracy at all difficulty levels. Furthermore, they achieved superior post-test performance compared to the control group on pooled-difficulty tasks. Significant enhancements were also found in somatosensory reaction time and in both the accuracy and reaction time of auditory processing. Visual channel improvement was restricted to accuracy. Conclusions: A 10-week dancesport training program led to significant within-group improvement in rhythm perception across all difficulty levels and enabled superior performance relative to the control group on pooled-difficulty tasks. It also enhances multisensory processing, particularly in somatosensory and auditory channels.