[音频]Workout musicWhy do we like to listen to(1)______when we exercise? Psychologist Tom Stafford searches for answers within our brains, not the (2)_______we are exercising.Perhaps you have a favourite playlist for going to the gym or the park. Even if you haven't, you're certain to have seen (3)_______running along with headphones in their ears. Lots of us love to exercise to music, feeling like it helps to reduce effort and increase (4)________. As a psychologist, the interesting thing for me is not just whether music helps when exercising, but how it helps.One thing is certain, the answer lies within our brains, not the muscles we are exercising.The benefit of thinking about the movement can (5)______for over half of the benefit of practice. So asking people to carry out an(6)_______practice task allows us to see the benefit of just thinking about a movement, and separates this from the benefit of making it.Imaginary practice helps because it increases the(7)______of the signal sent from the movement areas of the brain to the muscles. Using electrodes you can record the size of this signal, and (8)______that after imaginary practice people are able to send a stronger, more coherent signal to the muscles.The signals to move the muscles start in an area of the brain called, (9)_______, the motor cortex. It's in the middle near the top. Part of this motor area is known as the supplementary motor cortex. Originally thought to be (10)______in more complex movements, this area has since been shown to be particularly active at the point we’re planning to make a movement, and especially crucial for the (11)_____of these actions. So, this specific part of the brain does a very important job during exercise, it is responsible for deciding exactly when to act. Once you've realized that a (12)______part of most sporting performance is not just how fast or how strong you can move, but the effort of deciding when to move, then you can begin to appreciate why music might be so (13)______.The benefits of music are largest for self-paced exercise – in other words those sports where some of the work involved is in deciding when to act, as well as how to act. This means all(14)_____exercises, like rowing or running, rather than un-paced exercises like judo or football. My speculation is that music helps us perform by taking over a vital piece of the task of moving, the (15)______travels in through our ears and down our auditory pathways to the supplementary motor area. There it joins forces with brain activity that is signaling when to move, helping us to keep pace by providing an external timing signal. Or to use a (16)______metaphor, it not only helps us out of the starting (17)______but it helps to keep us going until we reach the line.Of course there are lots of other reasons we might exercise to music. For example, a friend of mine who jogs told me: "I started running to music so I didn't have to listen to my own laboured (18)_______." He might well have started for that reason, but now I'll bet the rhythm of the music he listens to helps him keep pace through his (19)______. As one song might have put it, music lets us get(20)______.