Techno on the Brain: Investigating the Effect of Auditory- Visual Synchronization on Visual Sequence

Can the rhythmic pulse of techno music sharpen how we remember the order of events? Drawing on Dynamic Attending Theory, this study examines whether auditory-visual synchronization enhances episodic memory for temporal order. Participants encoded sequences of neutral scene images under four conditions: in-sync techno, out-of-sync techno, ambient drone, or isochronous metronome, before completing temporal order judgments in silence. We predict that beat-to-image synchronization will yield superior accuracy and faster reaction times, as rhythmic entrainment optimally allocates attention at each stimulus onset. Using naturalistic techno music rather than simple tones bridges laboratory rigor with real-world relevance. Controlling for individual differences in anxiety, musicality, and attentional control, findings will extend Jones & Ward (2019) and clarify how rhythmic structure shapes episodic memory encoding.