To conclude from the outset that [the function of syncopation in eliciting pleasure and body-movement in groove is unknown.] or that....[ the role of syncopation in promoting pleasurable sensorimotor synchronisation remains unclear.]

This is to forget....... or even to ignore the composers of groove music or dancing musical forms.
Most groove music composers will have a musical or instrumentation formula that they use to elicit body-movement or pleasurable bodily sensations from the listener.



[However, what it is about music that offers a pleasurable desire to move is unclear.].....[However, it is still unclear how structural components of music associated with groove elicit pleasure.]

This is true, because the more astute composer will seek to hide it well. Just as the human eye is able to see and process many different shapes,and things simultaneously so too can our ears/hearing,if we were to walk into a room that was full of clutter, things would certainly be [unclear]....it is my job as a composer to clutter your ear,but not always with a random mess but organised sound....or.....I organise the cluttered room so that you can now utilise it according to your own will, purpose and etiquette,Walk in ,stay standing,sit down........etc.



[However, it is unclear to what extent syncopation within the repeated patterns influences the experience of groove.]

Again a groove music composer worth his or her salt could tell you just what's going on here: the repeated patterns of linear time length, or duration, is called a phase,(theme,or period) ,a musical phase is linked to the human bodily functions/actions/ocupations/muses, heart beat cycle, breathing cycle,even our blink rate or attention span......I as the groove composer choose my sounds or instruments and syncopate them within the repeated patterns of the groove to influence the listeners audial perception of time, and thereby influence his or hers audial perception of their own physical location, in other words, I can utilise and control the simulated properties of time,progression,occurrence, and many more elements that the human mind believes as being a part of or having a correlation to time,progression,occurrence,or activity etc.......giving me the groove composer the power to enforce a stagnant,static place,circumstances or location, or a mildly cluttered room fit for only one real purpose....to Dance in....or not to.

(I have many friends who would choose death rather than to dance......in public!)

This makes the repeated phase, the perceptible, yet invisible container of time or the blue print boundary lines for our room....that seems to be repeatedly cluttered with sound so favourably.



[While drum-breaks with too much syncopation may prevent successful entrainment and thus inhibit the desire to move, it may be that feelings of pleasure are still elicited that are unrelated to groove – for instance, high levels of syncopation may be associated with ‘free jazz’, in which irregular and unpredictable metre is common and aesthetically appropriate.]

Yes indeed, or to put it another way, in a sonically cluttered room the listener has nowhere to place his or her feet*....but lots of things to feast his/her ear's on.(But this may not be a problem if we were extremely well trained or proficient in a dance principal,then we may view 'free jazz' as a welcomed challenge, or view a popular hit as too simple to engage or challenge our abilities)

*After all he/she may trip-up, this is a fear of decorum and yes I have to import musical devices in the groove to combat this apprehension.



[In dancing and foot-tapping to groove-based music, body movements are beat-directed and periodic, so that sensorimotor synchronisation to syncopated rhythm becomes a corporeal enactment of metre. In this way, syncopation in music associated with groove could be seen as an invitation to the body to synchronise with the metre, the desire to move may be a response to this invitation and the pleasure a result of the fulfilled desire.]

This is true, the groove music composers tool box contains many weird and wonderful musical tools and devices, and this comes close to discovering their existence.
In that he/she will

1)Set the stage,
2)Import the characters,
3)Simulate, causes and effect of human action, activity or behaviour,
4)Pressurise and coerce the listener to depict,exhibit,or elicit involvement and movement from them that harmonises with the sonically depicted communal or singular, bodily muses, time-span,actions, sensations or feelings within the groove.

In conclusion. it's sad to say, that the art of, or even the need to compose a groove from the 'ground up' is near foolishness in todays musical arena, the fallout of this is the lost of the understanding of Syncopation, Body-Movement and Pleasure in Groove Music, with all the free samples loops and software aided groove programs available many modern day groove composers never have the need to understand the 'why' or 'how' Syncopation, Body-Movement and Pleasure in Groove Music works, they simply choose one that does.